Stop thinking when you should be feeling

Learn when to listen to heart and silence the mind in training

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Don’t let the mind take over

I’ve been talking all week about ‘opportunity.’ It’s my new word for the next 12 months or so, the one that will animate and orient all of my actions and decisions. This season of life calls for that type of optimism, open stance, and exploratory curiosity.

Yesterday, I wrote about how opportunity can open up in the world of fitness through dedicated consistency, using my own fitness and a case study of one of my athletes, to give you a great foundation on how to aim properly in fitness and see new opportunities arising directly out of your action.

This is how you open up opportunity

Today I want to empower you to go fully into the heart as the way to aim your fitness. And in particular, I want to take aim at you mind that too often gets in the way of the feel and blocks us out from the meaning of any activity.

It’s heart over mind for good reason

“Something goes wrong when the consciousness attempts to regulate acts which normally take place, so to speak, without thought” Viktor Frankl

When I tell you to aim your fitness out from the heart, it’s a subtle way of directing you away from the analyzing power of your mind.

You can’t be doing the thing fully while you are thinking about how you are doing the thing while you are doing it. There’s simply no way to get into the activity and learn anything about yourself or why it’s meaningful. You’ll be too busy ‘thinking’ of all the things that aren’t going well, are going wrong, and how you’re the problem behind all of it.

You can’t override intuition with analysis without losing a part of yourself in the process.

It’s faith, belief, assuredness, and confidence in yourself you give away by overthinking.

This is why playing sport from the heart works so well in helping you live an authentic life.

You gain courage in self knowing by blocking out the mind and just letting the body move us towards where you need to go. The spirit wills it and the mind has no choice but to come for the ride.

Sports are serious but only when you seriously play them, and not with your mind either.

• You must enjoy them

• You must love them

• You must feel them

Then you can access their deep power in helping you become your best self.

It’s a heart thing, not a mind thing.

An Example for You to Follow

Yesterday on both of my coaching calls, my guys desired to me internal changes they’ve recently experienced around running.

The first used negative motivation as his fuel for running, attempting to come to terms with past trauma’s and use the release of running as a form of self-healing. This was only possible through confronting and accepting the truth of his own responsibility in these past situations. Yesterday he mentioned that he no longer can easily tap into that negative emotion, he needs something more positive to get him out the door and moving now.

The second described how he’s been feeling the way his foot moves and responds during his long runs. In the past, this athlete has had some internal doubts about his ability to ‘become a runner’ due to past physical issues in big races popping up consistently. But through letting go of this anxiety and trusting himself, he’s opened up the activity to a point where he interrogates his foot instead of letting anxiety about how it will react dictate how he feels about running.

The funny thing about both calls is that each ended with an direct act; signing up for running races as a way to cement this new authentic identity forged through playing sports from the heart.

It’s opened opportunity to allow that intuition to further grow inside of them, to aim and guide them to the next place they need to be challenged.

These are not transformations that come about through analysis. In fact analysis paralyzed both of these individuals, hence why the came to me for this style of fitness coaching through the spirit.

Instead they both gave themselves over to the feel of the activity, showed up consistently, and allowed the action to determine the course. The let the body lead. They put the mind in the backseat. And they found the breakthroughs they were looking for.

So the takeaway for you is clear. If you desire to know more about yourself through physical training and sport, you CANNOT have the mind in the lead position.

Just as Viktor Frankl tells us something goes wrong when the mind overtakes what your intuition is meant to handle.

This means letting the heart lead the way to what the body should be doing.

So let these words dominate your mind when it comes to fitness

• Fun

• Passion

• Creativity

• Enjoyment

• Enthusiasm

These are the not the ONLY words that you’ll need in the process, but they are the all important foundational FIRST STEPS that will aim you properly.

And just like my two coaching clients, you’ll begin your journey towards a deeper knowing of yourself, and more courage to live as you should will be your deep reward.

Happy Training Team