The Power to Reset: What have you been training for all your life?

Have you ever noticed how powerful your mind is?

Like, it is not only your calculator and figure-it-outter, but also your filter, your feeling producer and processor, your body’s puppet master, spirit receiver and soul feeder.

Technically, nothing should get in or out, done or felt without your mind having the final say-so.

Tricky thing about our minds is, we’ve spent our entire life training it like an athlete would their body… But we had no clear plan, purpose or intention behind our mind-training.

Por ejemplo.

A sprinter knows they need to build lean muscle and strength to run at top speed, so they design their meal and exercise plans to build that body type.

A football player knows they need heft, speed, power, aggression, quick-thinking, strength and agility so they add to their plan the mental training of a warrior.

Athletic dancers (like gymnasts, synchronized swimmers, ballerinas, figure skaters, etc.) know they need control, flexibility, strength, speed, balance and grace… All of which are heightened with a certain body type.  So dancers typically train from a younger age to not only work daily to develop those physical qualities, but to shape their body as it is developing into the type needed for optimal performance.

They work closely with experts from an early age to develop the right tools, techniques, styles, and processes to succeed in masterfully controlling their bodies in executing this dangerous but beautiful art form without risking injury or death.

Blessed with a passion for using their gift, they are compelled to constantly hone and sharpen themselves.  But even the most gifted and passionate dancer knows their life can’t begin or end with their art: Art is an expression of life.

Our lives must be full, with an understanding of the beauty and purpose in being alive for any art to truly reflect meaning and depth.

Training begins young (between 5 and 10 years old) to let dancers get in front of physical development to shape and mold the body for performance.  That’s their choice.

Whether we like it or not, we begin our life-training the second we enter the world:  Peaceful birthing instills love early, a perfect breeding ground for emotional security and self-confidence.  Violent childbirth plants a seed of fear that can manifest in low confidence and insecurity.

Training starts so early for us, there’s a whole lotta stuff we had no control over or even interest in, that  got in front of not only our physical, but our mental and spiritual development.

We’ve been shaped and molded for life.

Just because we didn’t call it training or instruction doesn’t mean it didn’t do exactly that.  Passive or active, learning is still learning.

And it won’t stop until we step in and reset our training, redefine our patterns.

Which starts with figuring out how we were trained, knowing what our patterns are.  And, what’s that even mean, to train?

Train:

To direct the growth usually by bending, pruning, and tying
To form by instruction, discipline, or drill
To teach so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient
To make prepared (as by exercise) for a test of skill

But here’s the awesome thing.

No one, no matter how perfect their parents are, had a childhood 100% full of fun, learning, adventure, acceptance, spirituality, discipline, love and freedom.

That’s the training you need to become your best you.  Becoming you is not age-exclusive.

So do some soul-searching.  Some retraining.

Athletic dancers practice regularly.  So do you.  With every choice.

Try this exercise:  

Next time you face a decision, ask yourself “What training have I had to qualify me to make the best choice for me?”

If you’re like any other human, the honest answer is either:

(a) None.  Or,

(b) Dang. I might have been trained to make the worst choice.

Then, the fun begins.

All of a sudden you acknowledge you’re not bound by a training plan.

You’ve jumped past your limits and can get real.

You were made by design.  That means there’s a plan for you, and it’s good.  

You weren’t trained to think wrong, you were given a reason to study your design plan with its designer.

So pray to scrap all that bad training; To heal and repair all the damage it caused; To forgive and bless all your trainers and yourself; To give you the right training plan and trainers; 

To restore your thinking for your best you.