…there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so… – Hamlet Improving one’s quality of life requires expanding the space between stimulus and response (I picked that up at a buddhist lecture years ago and it stuck). For me the tool for doing this is reflection of some sort. This can take the form of sitting meditation, which I love, but more typically occurs while walking, running, swimming in the freezing pacific ocean!
Lately though this most occurs between sets of heavy weight lifting. I used to think of strength training in terms of the lift itself. But I’ve recently come to appreciate the space between sets as my favorite part.
You get mentally pumped – an excellent way to prime. This space between is where life’s inputs get synthesized and non-obvious connections made. It’s where I can decide how to act in an authentic way to life. I think that’s because that decision would have passed through the imagination – probably because I do a lot of daydreaming/visualizing between sets (I’m the guy with the spaced out look staring off in the distance, if you see me say hi). It’s where I tend to make hard decisions.
And for me this space is where free will lives (never mind for now if G-d plays dice!). Regardless the circumstance we find ourselves in there always exists the possibility to decide how we will respond.
How that response is shaped and executed offers a strong indicator on the quality of one’s life. Enough rambling for now…
