Fellow students, "tough guys don't meditate." Really?
"Basketball is eighty percent mental." So why don't we practice working out the mind?
"Meditation is not easy. It takes time and it takes energy. It also takes grit, determination, and discipline. It requires a host of personal qualities that we normally regard as unpleasant and like to avoid whenever possible. We can sum up all of these qualities in the American word gumption." - Bhante Gunaratana in Mindfulness in Plain English
"People have always doubted whether I was good enough to play this game at this level. I thought I was, and I thought I could be. What other people thought was always irrelevant to me." - Steve Nash
We know Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski for many achievements, but I value his emphasis on "next play." Be here now, in the moment. Your last game, your last shot, your last turnover are over.
What is our now? Literally, now means being present, fully engaged. In Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why Laurence Gonzales writes, “The maddening thing for someone with a Western scientific turn of mind is that it’s not what’s in your pack that separates the quick from the dead. It’s not even what’s in your mind. Corny as it sounds, it’s what’s in your heart.” We need to be able to edit our thoughts, real-time.
Meditation is a tool to simplify and clarify NOW. It dampens distractions. It feeds sustainable competitive advantage. The best of the best use it. Why not you?
Gandhi meditated daily. His power and effectiveness flowed from his lack of ego. He served the people, never having an official title, as his authenticity and courage drew others to him.
This is the most important moment in our life. Today. Now.
Bonus video: