Today, I got up and went on a hike through Runyon Canyon above Hollywood. It was a nice little hike, but I was hurting a little from Jiu Jitsu last week. I joined a couple of weeks ago and the first week, I chose not to start rolling/grappling and just stuck to the instructional part. This week though, I started rolling again. I have noticed that this is a great exercise for me since I like to wrestle or have a little pent up rage that for some reason, this is the avenue for me to release it. Other people seem to like other forms of release---going out to a venue and fighting, etc. That is not my choice personally.
But, there is always a price to pay for gain and today on the hike going up hill, I started to pay for it. Of course, I am a person that loves to feel the pain of gain during exercise. During the process, you think that your body is going to give up and when you make a mental decision to keep going, you see what your body is made of. This is similar to the quote that is said to the Navy Seals during training, "Mind over matter, if you don't mind it does not matter." The body is beautiful. Most people give up or talk themselves out of something. I guess from running long distance off and on over the years, when you really are in pain, that is when the action really happens. It is critical that you or for me choose a course where when it gets difficult, there is no way out except to walk back, which is not bad at all. The major point is, you just can't make a call and get a cab back, you have to make it back mentally or physically. Call me strange, but this is how I think anyways, it was great.
Now, at the end of my last post, I mentioned that I would like to talk about various ways of learning that might not fit the traditional pathways. Ironically, genes have once again shone through without even having any communication about it---I will explain.
A few months ago, I was reading and I have always been frustrated by how slow I read. Kayla reads very fast compared to me. But if we read the same article, I get something different than she does out of it. We have discussed this difference at length in previous years and came to the conclusion that there are two styles that are prominent---Scanners and Slow thinking readers. I tend to read slowly and think about the article, while Kayla reads quickly or scans and extracts what she wants from the article. Neither style is better than one another. "To each his own.." But back to my style. I chose to find a path with my style to read faster. I started keeping a journal on my laptop that I would type an article word for word. Surprisingly, I learned alot about myself doing this....
When I started I noticed that I am terrible at spelling and would struggle to complete a sentence without going back and correcting my mistakes. I would get frustrated and just read the article. But after practicing a few times a week mostly, sometimes daily, I realized that there were multiple benefits from this practice. I learned to let go and keep going on the article and complete the paragraph before returning to correct my mistakes. Overtime, I started not even going back to correct the mistakes, who cares it was my journal what does it matter. I might not even ever go back and read it.
I was reading an article 3 weeks ago and noticed, "Damn, I am reading very quickly and I remember a lot more than I did a few months ago. I was very happy with the realization that I figured out how to "tap" into my own ability to indirectly improve myself. Plus, I realized that I felt less anxiety about reading slowly, because I would either read it and get through it or not read the piece and skip it. Major improvement for Mike.
Here is the very strange aspect about this ability and here are where genes come into the picture.
Last Sunday, I was sitting on the beach at Venice Beach and was talking to my father on the phone. He was asking me the usual questions about work, etc. Then I asked him how he was doing with his business, etc. My father has always kept a unique schedule. He usually would be up all the time due to operating/surgery when we were children, or he would love to be up early in the morning doing laundry-waiting for the paper to be delivered. I love my father and understood why he likes either being up late at night or early in the morning when people are asleep. This is his time to think and not be bothered. I am turning into him--up late at this time. Although, I think that I might be turning more into a morning person. Here is where this thought gets great.
The medical profession is moving away from paper/files for medical records and into the digital domain to report a record--Electronic Health Record--EHR. My father is not computer literate, but expresses his wish to be. Alot of people in our family write him off on this matter, which is probably more than I should say. Anyways, I know that my father has the "will" underneath and determination to make it happen--when he wants to.
So, I was asking him what major improvements have you made in your life lately dad? He mentioned returning to running, which I am deeply proud of him for---great for mental fitness. Secondly, he mentioned his transition into the EHR domain. The method of his transition is similar to mine to read faster. He said that he was getting up early in the morning and trying to learn how to type faster.... I asked about his exact methodology. Here I am sitting on the beach looking out at the water listening. He said that he chooses to type an article out on the computer in order to improve his typing ability and his hesitation with correcting himself while typing!!!! I thought, I have never told him about my methodology--this is a trip--GENES.
I know that he is excellent at spelling and grammatical structure, but to hear that this helped him and know that I was using the same methodology for a different reason was a TRIP!!!
I know that I have been long winded in this post along with the last. I just wanted to catch up for the last twenty years. In addition, I would like to be open and honest about the improvements/struggles that I go through to improve my mental health. Returning to Martial Arts has helped me deal with my mental anxiety and so has seeing that what I thought that was strange but helped me actually is chosen by a person from whom I came from. My goal is to share this awareness with you. I hope that you find your own awareness about yourself. I hope that you use my experience to find what works for you. Have a great weekend!!