Be a Warrior !!!

 

This shout out to our warrior spirit purposely follows on from the previous practice point about being owned by our fear and negativity, but it’s also a final call to arms as the last practice point of this whole practice regime. All our practices, our whole life relies on courageous engagement with whatever unfolds if we are going to forge a new path in life, to truly transform ourselves.

 

A warrior mindset is vital to our progress if we are to traverse and change the difficult and bedded in aspects of our psyche. Changing our life is about training new mental skills, coming into contact with profound and life changing truths, truths that demand fearless action, challenging us to constantly  go beyond what we think we’re capable of.

 

Cultivating a warrior mindset is about continuously building grit, determination and mental strength. Like physical strength and fitness, we don’t just stop once we’ve achieved our goal, we have to keep training to maintain it and grow, so too mental strength. We do this by constantly practicing, stretching and testing ourselves, facing challenges, going outside of our comfort zone and always striving to be better. Just bringing this intention to mind to constantly excel can invigorate and inspire us to greater heights.

 

Being a warrior in spirit is about accepting complete personal responsibility. We may have spent our entire life believing that all the obstacles to our happiness are out there, but the truth is the answers to all our problems and suffering are inside of ourselves. The ‘greatest victor is the person that conquers themselves’.

 

Not only do we need great courage, determination and focus, we need self knowledge and restraint that serves our greater self interest rather than the momentary relief that pleasure seeking and pain avoidance brings. Fully accepting this truth removes all doubts and barriers to achieving our goals, we can now focus our united energies on one front, our conscious evolution.

 

Truly becoming a warrior in one’s life requires certain attributes, many of which have been mentioned already. The following are a collection of some core aspects that will support the life of practice and growth.

 

 

Define your vision

Over and above everything, a warrior is defined by a stoic confidence in their purpose. They know who they are and what they stand for. It is part of that core integrity and authenticity. It is the fundamental drive that all the following qualities express from.

 

Without that clarity of purpose and dedication to it, upholding our own honour and virtue in pursuit of it, who are we? Are we just living an empty selfish life, disconnected and uncaring about our place in an interconnected universe?

Knowing one’s purpose means staying committed to it. If we fundamentally believe in our values then staying true to them shouldn’t even be an issue. 

 

 

Discipline and routine

Discipline is an expression of our commitment to something, but it’s also about believing more in our goal, than giving in to our whims. Whatever is the strongest desire in the moment is what wins out. We have to get across the psychology of this to understand what we need to do to stay focused to achieve our aspirations and goals. Whatever the reasons are, we need to keep them present in our mind.

 

Part of discipline and training is sticking to positive routines, practicing new skills day in day out until they become conscious habits in the most positive sense. It’s important to stay alive to our routine, we’re always at the mercy of our auto pilot mode wanting to reestablish itself, and when this happens we can lose sight of our vision.

 

We can also feel like a prisoner to our routines, a burden that we begrudgingly fulfil without enjoyment. If we’re fully conscious and connected to our reasons for our routine, this is far less likely to happen.We shouldn’t become superstitious or fearful of changing up our routine either. It’s important to keep oneself engaged by switching things up occasionally to keep things fresh and bring in something new.

 

 

Self control

The way of the warrior is the way of self control. A warrior never loses focus of their purpose so they are less prone to their reactions. Being in control means that we have achieved a high level of personal awareness and self understanding. This means that we don’t believe in our feelings and emotions. We’re mindful of when they arise, we don’t get hooked into the story they tell, and we continue to act with clarity of mind and continuity of purpose.

 

Self control builds character, self esteem, protects integrity and engenders trust in others because we are reliable and dependable. It is, like discipline, the highest form of self respect. When we consciously control our impulsivity and actions, we serve our best interests and the greater good. This is how a true warrior lives.

 

 

Mental toughness

The warrior doesn’t quit when they hit adversity or obstacles. They have fierce determination to smash through even the most challenging of situations. They have confidence that they will make good on their objective, no matter what arises, stopping is not an option.

 

Warriors embrace discomfort and see it as just a feeling instead of believing it’s story of woe. They don’t entertain limitations whatsoever, these are just ideas in the mind that can be dismissed. This doesn’t mean they don’t assiduously calculate risk and act accordingly.

 

Mental toughness comes from putting one self in difficult or challenging situations on a regular basis, things we’d normally avoid. We don’t let the fear of having our ego hurt stand in the way of getting things done, in other words revealing a weakness we didn’t know about or don’t like to see.

 

When we’re mentally tough, we are confident in both our strengths and where our weaknesses lie. We're not averse to unpleasant physical or emotional feelings. This doesn’t mean we're a hard or cold person. Being kind and empathic as well as mentally tough are not mutually exclusive.

 

 

Physical and mental resilience

Resilience is the quality of being able to recover from setbacks. Emotionally, these challenges can have a significant impact. Being emotionally aware and practiced at controlling their affect helps us to traverse overwhelming experiences more quickly.

 

The discipline, fortitude and rigour of a committed physical training regime supports our mental and emotional strength, pushing our physical limits and becoming intimate with the pain barrier will go a long way to building our resilience.

 

 

Courage and fearlessness

A fundamental quality of the warrior mind is courage, and not being conditioned by fear. They know fear, they understand it, but it doesn’t inform their actions. Like other emotions, the warrior acts from their values and vision and is not moved by reactive emotions and negative thinking. They act from their true purpose which is serving their best interests, so they can serve the greater good of others.

 

The fearful self is the selfish ego with its small minded agenda, when our life involves a much bigger context and purpose, that ego self gets lost in irrelevance, and its voice can’t be heard over the powerful call to great action. We have a thousand tiny fearful feelings, thoughts and emotions all impinging on our senses and insisting on their story. Turning to fully face everyone of these aspects of our experience brings them into the full light of our awareness and removes their power to control us.

 

 

Grow, learn, adapt

Being a student of life and having a growth mentality prepares one for any situation. It means you also embrace failure and adversity as great teachers. Every moment of life can reveal something worth knowing, we just have to cultivate an inquisitive and curious nature.

 

This attitude means that we are naturally more adaptable than others, not only do we soak up more information, we train a preparedness to engage with whatever life dishes up. These skills mean we will be far more successful in life and overcoming whatever it throws at us.

 

 

Serve a higher purpose

A warrior is a servant of the greater community, even all humanity, all life. Having an altruistic dimension to one’s life means you are already on the road to less selfishness and therefore greater happiness. This frees one’s energies up not being so preoccupied with mundane and self centred concerns. This will naturally put one in circumstances that are conducive to growth and development.