Warrior Introduction

This focus element is the heart of all our practice, it’s the doer inside of us that makes the impossible possible. It’s an attitude, it’s courage in the face of fear, it’s resoluteness and mental fortitude, it’s strength to overcome obstacles and adversity. Inspiration and awareness gives us the desire and understanding we need to walk this path of change, but without a more heroic disposition towards the difficulties that will attempt to derail, confuse and obstruct our journey, we may not get very far.

 

Can any of us claim to truly have the heart of a warrior? To be able to face any threat, any situation with a steely glint in our eye, never wavering, not even for a second, in the face of certain death? Highly unlikely. This practice is not about being a warrior so much as cultivating a warrior-like attitude towards everything we think, feel and do.

 

This means we’re always challenging ourselves to go beyond our limitations, beyond what we believe we are capable of, to challenge our fears, apathy and lack of motivation. We question our views of ourselves, our tendency to stay small, to do just enough, to not bother paying attention to details and doing what needs to be done.

 

A warrior-like attitude can be trained, more quickly than you might imagine. It’s a mental shift that helps us relate to life’s hurdles, in fact everything, as energising challenges rather than burdens to be avoided, that make us shrink. We develop an indomitable will and sense of fortitude towards all struggle and strife, to overcome everything that life throws at us, to dwell in a strong sense of confidence and self-actualisation.

 

Once we catch that wave, there is no stopping us, never again. When we call out those undermining and self defeating voices, and the people that would bring us down, we prove them all wrong, we stand taller, with impossibility in our hearts.

 

This doesn’t mean we have to be constantly smashing it, achieving great things and being at war with the world, or working ourselves to the bone to get a result, driving ourselves ever onwards. It means we don’t sit on our laurels, we dot the i’s and cross the t’s. When we’re tired and think we can possibly finish what we’re doing, we do it anyway, and in the process we prove how much we’re capable of.

 

We constantly strive to excel and better ourselves, improve whatever situation or task presents itself to us. We stretch ourselves, even if it’s only by one percent. If today we feel like we’re a three out of ten, we aim for a four. We don’t try to be a seven or an eight. If we can make it four, we can make it five, then six and so on.

 

Life isn’t about perfection, that’s a trap and sets us up for failure. It’s about a commitment to constant improvement, of being a better person today than we were yesterday. This is not about comparison to others, but about our own personal progress, we simply continue to make a good account of ourselves in life. If we continue to strive in this way with goodness and decency in our heart, we go to sleep every night with certain knowledge that we did our best, and sleep peacefully with a clear conscience.

 

Being more warrior-like is about coming into one’s grounded confidence as opposed to that false bravado that over compensates for a lack of personal character and conviction. Confidence is built through continual positive and assertive actions which also builds our self esteem, strength and character. At the same time, we cease unconfident actions and thinking that undermine our certitude of self.

 

We also stop listening to the doubters that want you to fail so they have company. People can be so careless with their speech, they may not even realise they are denigrating you. Confidence comes from knowing who you are and what you stand for. It’s about being fully connected to your values and how important they are. When you have conviction in what you’re about, you become prepared to protect what’s right, at any cost. 

 

We not only build that confidence by traversing the difficulties that we experience in life, but if we continually seek out challenges that expose our unseen weaknesses and insecurities, the harder it is for people to use those shortcomings against us. Continually testing ourselves and building positive actions is vital as confidence is a living thing, it’s dynamic and needs to be nurtured and stimulated. We constantly remind ourselves of why we feel confident, of our strength and tenacity. If we don’t, passivity, doubt and insecurity are waiting for us.

 

It’s also important to be familiar with what are actual shortcomings versus what we perceive as imperfections. Are these real or are they views we’ve picked from society in general or friends, family or partners? Work out what you can actually change, if it truly needs changing, and if you can’t change it, can you accept it for what it is? It’s utterly wasteful to expend a single extra moment of mental or emotional energy on it once you’ve addressed it in this way.

 

Being more warrior minded is about cultivating bravery and courage but this doesn’t mean being completely fearless. I’d be suspicious of the person who says they don’t fear anything. We all experience fear, even if only subtly, and who doesn’t fear their own demise?

 

Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s feeling the fear, fully facing it and acting anyway, it’s ‘fear walking’. Fear is really just a feeling and besides the rare occasion when there is real danger, those feelings are mostly not representative of the true reality of what’s happening.

 

We’ve built up these conditioned fear responses for all manner of reasons and we can remove their power over us with awareness. Ultimately, all our fears come back to our attachment to the things we rely on to make us feel safe and comfortable. Once we realise this, we can simply turn to our fear and investigate its core reason, what’s driving it.

 

The greater awareness we have of this process, the more we free ourselves from fear’s vice grip. We see through its insubstantiality, we call its bluff. It’s like realising that the projected shadow of a monster on a wall is really only a tiny rodent scurrying in front of the light.

 

Something I’m very conscious of nowadays is that allowing fear to control my actions means that it keeps my life small, it keeps me in a cage and limits my ability to see possibilities and opportunities that might arise. We never know what doors might open in our life, some may have the potential to profoundly change the course of our life, but we'll never know if our fears stop us from taking advantage of these situations.

 

I now have a practice point that says ‘Never let fear get in the way of an opportunity, of living a vibrant full life in any way’. It's a reminder to see and challenge all fears and negativity that would otherwise confuse and muddy my thinking. They can distract us from our purpose and priorities, preoccupy us with seeking security from baseless anxieties and worries.

 

Another preoccupation for us can be the past and future, to the detriment of the here and now. Regret is almost completely useless, we can spend so much time in this state and it is an utter waste of time and energy. Regret, or thinking of past misdeeds and missed opportunities is only useful where it reminds us of lessons to be learnt, and we should only go there briefly. We remind ourselves that the past is ancient history and as far as we’re concerned, has ceased to be.

 

The same goes for the future. Sure, we can make plans and set goals, but these are highly provisional and serve only to keep us engaged in what needs to be done in the here and now. Leave all fears and concerns about the past and future where they belong and focus on what is most important in the present moment. I do occasionally dwell on regrets, but I’ve mostly trained it out of myself because I honestly see that there’s absolutely nothing useful about it. When I catch myself doing it, I just firmly say in my mind, ‘here and now’.

 

Not being conditioned by our fear means that we become more action oriented. Being more comfortable with facing our fear, we don’t experience the doubt and lack of confidence that could normally obstruct and limit our intentions to act, so we’re more affirmative and positive. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, we make it work, we engage one hundred percent instead of whinging or whining about the situation, wishing it was otherwise, or about how unfair life is.

 

These tendencies are negative and empty of self-actualisation. The readiness to face fear means that we also embrace adversity, we eagerly engage with whatever hardship we’re traversing and in the process discover our inner grit and real strength. Another side effect of this is that we become a person that can always be relied on to get the job done, someone dependable and trustworthy in a pinch, someone who gets on with it, solves problems without complaint.

 

An essential aspect of being more warrior-like is training ourselves to be more disciplined in all areas of our life. We become more aware of our impulsive egoic desires and whims and see if they align with our overall objectives and values. So in that sense, discipline is about self respect, self care, we’re investing in our future self, not giving in to momentary desires. In that, discipline is about self control, and no person ever achieved great things in their life without it.

 

This doesn’t mean being cold, hard and ascetic about everything we do. Discipline can be used to punish ourselves if we’re not psychologically and emotionally healthy. Discipline cares deeply, it’s a forward thinking attitude that puts off momentary escapist pleasure for much greater lasting future gains.

 

Self control also comes from this caring place, from a healthy perspective about what we need and what nurtures us versus desires that serve only to temporarily avoid our suffering and its causes. A great quote about discipline that sums this up beautifully is ‘We must all suffer from one of two pains. The pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.’ I’ll be publishing an article dedicated to the topic of discipline so keep an eye out for it in the Resources section.

The practice points contained in this focus element came together in a natural way over time. I also shifted them around in order at times in an intuitive way to help the flow and focus when I read them everyday. They have been in this form for some time now and as you’ll notice, the first three points address the negative aspects of mind, the type of mental states and emotions that can obstruct our progress.

 

This wasn’t done purposefully but is a very useful method to support our sense of progression of practice. We move through the first three points that bring awareness of the greatest hurdles to our progress at the outset, then on to positive and affirmational practices that inspire and strengthen our mind and emotions. So with that in mind, I encourage you to read on through the practice points beginning with ’Despondence, apathy, petty minded worries? Sisu!’