Hi, this is Brian.
Welcome back to another Areté +1°, one of 451 micro-chapters from our new book, Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential.
Bless all of you who have already gotten a copy.
Today we are going to talk about…
OMMS
THE HERO’S MANTRA
I love Spartan Races.
There’s something about paying to face obstacles that so perfectly captures the spirit of everything we need to do to activate our Heroic potential.
Joe De Sena, founder of Spartan Race and grit exemplar extraordinaire, tells us that we want to become “immune to obstacles.”
Imagine being IMMUNE to obstacles such that they have no effect on you. In fact, let’s take it one step further and remind ourselves that, when properly framed, obstacles literally make us stronger.
Of course, the obstacle course is simply a physical representation of the mental and emotional and creative obstacles we all face every day.
We want to get immune to those obstacles. We want to see that they make us stronger. And we want to see that truth IN THE MOMENT the Heroic gods are blessing us with an unexpected challenge.
That’s why I created the Heroic mantra to help me internalize this…
OMMS. Obstacles Make Me Stronger.
OMMS. The hero’s mantra.
OMMS. Chant it with me now, with a fierce determination in our souls and a smile on our faces, knowing we have what it takes to meet any and every challenge life throws at us.
OMMS. OMMS. OMMS.
All day. Every day.
Especially…
TODAY.
P.S. This isn’t just a pom-pom waving, peak performance idea. The great spiritual teacher Sri Swami Satchidananda uses the same metaphor of an obstacle course in his brilliant book The Golden Present.
And, know this: His book is laid out as a series of daily inspirational readings one can enjoy throughout the year.
On January 1 (Day 1!), he tells us: “Life must be a challenge. Only then is it exciting. In an obstacle race, you are forced to surmount all the obstacles: to jump over the hurdles, go through the barrels, crawl under the rugs, climb over walls.
What would happen if, to avoid all that, you went around all the obstacles and asked for the winner’s cup? Would they give it to you? No. They would say, ‘You must go back and face all the obstacles.’
… Make your life as exciting as possible, but always think of it as fun. The adversities as well as the harmony should be enjoyable. Don’t become sober and morose and have a castor oil face in the name of spirituality. Just be happy. Jump with joy. Even if you make a mistake, say ‘Hey, I did this? Great! What a wonderful lesson I learned!’ If you really want to, you can make everything fun.”
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