NINE STEPS
“If you can change your mind, you can change your life.” ― William James
A Step has to do with your narrative, your story. You must become the man to achieve the goal, to do the deed, to win through. And you do this by making the Steps real within you. You must change your story. In Star Wars Luke is a farm boy till events catapult him into a situation wherein he must change or die. Neo in The Matrix is offered the choice of the Red Pill or the Blue Pill. The real choice is change or stay the same. Consider the changes that each of them goes through, and these changes write their new story. They acquire discipline, purpose, and value. When you do this, you see yourself differently, and you are different. Both of those heroes had dark moments, and they stayed the course. All these things that write and change your life story I call Steps. I have nine of them for you, and they are the building blocks of a new story in which you are the hero.
The Man in the Arena
The Man in the Arena has made the decision to use his everyday life as a training ground. He has chosen the arena over the mob.
The Martial Artist
Rocky strives to become the man who can meet the challenge. For us Martial Artist means; Value, Purpose, and Discipline
Ronin is a free agent
The Ronin of our mnemonic would never be a vassal. He derives great power from a unique value system that makes him free of any culture.
1eye The Big Step
The portion of the iceberg above water is you now in your daily life. The portion that is below the waterline we call 1eye.
Laughing Pirate
Most are filled with doubt, inhibitions, and concerned with appearances. I am asking how comfortable are you in your own skin,
Searching for beauty
Beauty registers with a deep part of you, it expresses who and what you are, deals intimately with life, and is very close to Meaning & Purpose.
in a strange land
You have a map of “reality,” in your head that if you keep following, will take you over cliffs and into dead ends forever.
Gratitude
“And all the sights these eyes have seen, will vanish into time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” This is true for you also.
The Adventure
You know, your life will end. But in your heart of hearts you don’t really believe it. As soon as you acknowledge this, your life becomes something of an adventure.
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle