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You’re The Storyteller

David Goggins

The most beautiful stories always start with a wreckage – Jack London

David Goggins retired navy seal and ultramarathon athlete says, “If you are a storyteller you suffer.”  Just as a journalist finds stories to cover in his line of work, the storyteller’s job is to find challenges and conquer them.  The storyteller knows that to create amazing stories he must learn the skill of growing and conquering challenges.  If the storyteller can’t take suffering and overcoming obstacles, then he does not truly know the hero’s journey.  

Stories that resonate with people are made by storyteller’s who put themselves at rock bottom and learn to climb up; they enroll in the class of the hero’s journey.  Sylvester Stallone was 30 years old, broke and lonely when he created Rocky.  James Cameron was living in his car when he was trying to create the Terminator, and Jack London became a famous writer as he tested himself as a sailor, gold hunter, and vagabond. 

A storyteller puts himself in stressful environments because he is looking for answers.  Where others are too scared to go, he ventures out.  A storyteller creates stories from the lessons that he learned.  He knows that their is a prize, strength in the suffering that we encounter.

It’s your story so love the suffering you are in. If you are suffering it means there are answers to discover.  The hero’s journey is finding those answers and becoming a light for others.  By knowing how to suffer the storyteller discovers what gives a character his depth.

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Stitched-Up-Warrior: Suffering

Every Stitched-Up Warrior is created, not born. Forged from pain, loneliness, courage, and passion, and molded into a single being whose journey is to hunt down what it desires.

This journey begins with a simple question;

“How can I be Happy?” the warrior asks,

“When you are Strong?” the Goddess replies.

To live is to suffer and those who learn to endure the pain prosper.  Let pain become a sign for celebration, for growth and for change. “Pick up your heavy sword, those with the toughest battles become the strongest.”

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Make Yourself Laugh

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The post I wrote a couple days ago Learn To Smile reminded me of a quote I was trying to ingrain into my subconscious. The quote is “A warrior knows how to entertain himself.” Back in Alexander the Great’s time, armies had to travel thousands of miles to reach the battleground. The journey consisted of many days of walking and a few days of proving their strength and courage.

This 1,000-mile journey is like our lives, 90% is walking towards the place that will define our lives and the 10% is the climax ( meeting our next love, getting the dream job, buying a house.) But many of us take for granted 90% of the journey and we fail to reach the dreams we had.  Josh Waitzkin in his book The Art of Learning says this about the 90% of the journey,

Not only do we have to be good at waiting, we have to love it. Because waiting is not waiting, it is life. Too many of us live without fully engaging our minds, waiting for that moment when our real lives begin. Years pass in boredom, but that is okay becuase when our true love comes around, or we discover our real calling, we will begin. Of course the sad truth is that if we are not present to the moment, our true love could come and go and we wouldn’t even notice.

Real warriors know how to make the 90% of the journey count. They have fun, they celebrate it, they sing songs, develop their strengths and get stronger. They are masters at not getting bored, they know how to laugh and keep moving.

Those who can’t make the journey get sad because they don’t have everything they want right away. They don’t know how to have fun waiting or make themselves laugh when things get boring so they become depressed.

This skill of being able to have fun with ourselves allows one to control the energy when things are tough or boring. When I am out with a girl I am not trying to entertain her and keep her smiling. I am trying to entertain myself. If it things get boring it is up to me to have fun, “I’m like let’s kiss her, let’s see what happens if anything it is going to make things interesting.

Because for me it is making my journey fun and entertaining. You can try to make other people happy but it may never work.

If I can be fun and tough when things are mundane, then watch out when situations arrive that are wild and hot.

It all happens with not taking for granted the boring. 90% of our life will be boring if we let it.

 

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Clark Kent Syndrome

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There is the saying “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Greg Plitt uses this phrase and puts it like this, “If you finish washing your car and you see that you missed a spot, you have to take out the soap and the water and finish it.” If you don’t have the intensity to finish something easy, what is going to give you the strength to persevere when it gets hard.

How we do things everyday wires us to persevere through things and get the job done, or get bored, scared, and run away. Eric Thomas says “A true hunter is wired differently.” A lion is wired to hunt and a gazelle wired to run.  The intensity by how we do things may not reveal itself while we are folding clothes, but it is revealed in duress.

A Clark Kent character will never be able to turn into Superman because he practices timidity and spinelessness.  I used to get mad at myself when I first started my restaurant job because I would lose my cool when I got overwhelmed with guests. I would become introverted and fumble with my words, be short with others and look dumb for not knowing what to do next.  This would happen because before work I would be closed off inside my head, listening to depressing music and scared to step out of my room.

What I did was close myself off and cause my instinct to become one of hiding. Now I don’t play music, I smile when things get hectic and laugh when a wave of panic is heading over me and my coworkers. Because I know I can’t become Superman at night if I play Clark Kent in the daytime, I always have to keep my smile intact and my breathe deep. I have to practice my intensity at the gym when washing the dishes or writing blogs because I don’t want my intensity to be one of stress and laziness.

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Learn To Smile

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Is humor the skill all mentally strong people need to have? Since I heard the phrase “The hero is a fool” by Jordan Peterson, I have been diving deeper into the comedy world. Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Joe Rogan bring thousands of people just so the audience can hear what they think about life.

These comedians share these views about life. We are all f*cked up and we want to become better people, so they ask questions about how they can grow. Joke telling is figuring out what it means to grow up.  It’s making meaning out of the gifts life throws at us. Humor uses those scenarios to find the good in everything.

When other people fall to the ground because of life’s obstacles, comedians have an acceptance, a certain grace about life. They know it sucks and that is why they laugh about.  The fool can become a hero because he can transform his mess into joy for others.

In school I didn’t want to be a clown because I thought people were just laughing at me. But the hero doesn’t see others laughing at him, he sees them laughing with him

The difference in how you see laughter determines if you will rise or fall. Laugh with me and I rise, laugh at me and I fall.

The hero only sees people laughing with him. When the hero makes mistakes he is growing, when others humiliate him his courage grows, and when he is confused jokes will be his answers. The fool rises through his misery, while others fall down never to get back in front of an audience.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Lee, and Conor McGregor are all great joke tellers.

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Story is Transformation

I use the pre-workout Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Of all the pre-workouts out there I find it funny I stuck with the one about a guy turning into a monster. But monsters are like heroes, they are both on the road to transforming themselves. In a sense, the hero is learning to become the monster.

A domesticated mouse cannot defeat an unruly snake.  If a mouse wishes to fight predators he has to learn to grow bigger fangs. The only way Peter Parker can defeat other monsters is by becoming a giant spider who doesn’t eat people. Good thing Spiderman doesn’t have a taste for human blood because New York would be a different place.

To fight evil, you must know what evil is capable of.  The hero on his journey is tearing down naive thinking that no one wants to hurt him.  He discovers that there is evil wishing the worst for him, but he develops the paradigm that the world is still good.  That there is evil so he can become stronger to defeat it.

I want to grow fangs and wings so I can help others. A tame man who is taught to be soft and polite will only be fodder for the monsters who will take advantage of his harmless thinking.

To be a hero he must be capable of aggression.

 

 

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Happy People See Stress Like This

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I was exploring Jocko Willink’s podcast and he said that his happiest times where in times of war.  When there are tasks to complete, people to beat and things to get better at.

Some people need the stress to make their dopamine rise.  I’m like that.  Stressful situations make me feel accomplished.  It shows that I’m doing things. Without stress I get bored and I fall into a rut, even a little depressed. The stress wakes me up. If something scares me it means that there is something to overcome.  I have to keep getting stronger, become more disciplined because the stress reveals your weakness. And like a stain on a nice shirt, I move to make my weaknesses stronger.

I go after stress like a dog after rabbits.  When I see that I am weak in one area I get happy because I found something where I can train and get stronger.  Right now that stress is revealing that I need to work on my assertiveness and my aggression.  For men, knowing how to get the job done gets respect. Assertiveness gets respect. And yes people will talk behind you, but they are behind you. You lead the pack because you know how to lead them to victory.  You are strong to carry the criticism others have about you.

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But this relationship with stress took me some time to get to.  I used to be overwhelmed by it.  Because I thought stress meant that I was a coward, insufficient and weak.  Stress would stifle me into inaction instead of moving forward.  I associated stress with humiliation and freezing up.

Just like there are people who have everything and still feel like they don’t have enough, our perception with stress can turn negative by how we see it.

John Wooden says, “I’m positive doers make mistakes. If you don’t make mistakes you are not doing anything.” Director Ron Howard says if you are a director you are going to look stupid sometimes.  For happy people stress is getting stronger every day. If there is no stress, then I am dead, a coward for not trusting in myself to succeed.

The pain of stress is the weak version of me dying.  The pain of now will make me stronger for tomorrow.

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Stitched-up-Warrior: Sword Of Light

The Stitched-Up Warrior has seen an abundance of men lose women, wealth and faith in themselves.

“Things come and go,” the warrior tells himself, “But I am still here. I have my sword. I will make the most of what I have.”

The warrior has with him a Sword of Light called Gratitude.

With Gratitude close to his side, nothing can be taken away from him. It cuts through the darkness. Gives the warrior sight of what he has power over, and what is up to the gods.

Many a day would he have been swallowed up by demons had it not been for Gratitude. He sharpens it daily, for without the daily habit it will become a useless tool.

Inscribed on the blade is written: “GOOD.”

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I Use These Quotes To Get Back Up in the Morning

 

 

 

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I carry these 5 quotes on my phone for when I need a jolt of motivation. Usually after a bad day when I have to go back and do it all over again.

When I read these quotes my mentality stops being about perfection and starts to be about how fast I can get back up, center myself and have fun again.

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J.K. Rowling Quotes

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Stitched-Up-Warrior: Untamed

The Stitched-Up-Warrior hears jokes about lions and tigers being caged for amusement, but he has seen worse.

He knows that all dogs were once wolves, that in being tamed comes a change in mind and appearance. True danger lies not in being locked up, but in forgetting we are a prisoner.

But the warrior is awake, others take notice of his eyes; open, observant, unflinching. Eyes that can kill. The warrior has felt the freedom in pursuing his dreams, the fulfillment in achieving, and the growth in failing and being alone. “Comfort and safety make one weak” the warrior smirks. “Why give in to becoming small.”

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