More Control: A Mantra, Part 2

“The word mantra comes from two Sanskrit words man, (“to think”) and tra (“tool’). So the literal translation is “a tool of thought.” And that’s how mantras are used in Buddhist and Hindu practices, as tools that clear your mind of distractions. Because when you focus on repeating that mantra over and over again, soon the noise will die down and all you will hear is your inner voice.”

~ Russell Simmons, hip-hop mogul from Do You!

Mantra = “Tool of thought.”

So ... what mantra are you knowingly, or unknowingly, chanting in your head?

The cool thing is, when you finally hear your inner voice, you realize all the other voices aren't yours. Hmmmm ...

By the way, one of my mantras, for those that asked, is "Now is the only thing that's real, so be here now!" - The past doesn't exist and the future doesn't exist. It's always NOW. NOW is where it's at. But, the past got you to this moment and your future is decided in this moment, so NOW is where the change is made. The mantra is a tool of the NOW. While training for and racing an Ironman, that mantra, for me, is everything.

I Can part with that.

A Bodhisattva mask for the dance

"What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him."

~ Viktor Frankl from Man's Search for Meaning

Wow.

Too often, we want to live in the “tensionless” state we can find watching television or, for some of us , in the state of meditation in meditation—transcending the throes of our daily challenges.

But that’s not the point of life.

The point?

To find a goal worthy of us and to spend our lives “striving and struggling” to fulfill the potentiality within us.

As we truly engage in this passionate pursuit of our potential, an effortless effort comes in that beats any idea of benign “tensionless-ness.”

Our potential is calling.

Let’s answer.

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Interesting Thoughts ...

My friend Ed is running the Ironman with me and is raising money for a local charity called the Tempe Community Action Agency. If you can help in anyway, that would be awesome. Here is the link:

http://edtheironman.blogspot.com/