What do you Want to be Good At?

     This is a really tough question, when you get down to it. "What do you want to be good at?" I was asked this in the context of physical skill but it is really an existential question. We all want to be GOOD, don't we? To be successful (i.e. comfortable), to be loved, to be interesting, to be at peace.

    What do I want to be good at? I want to be able to do cool "human tricks" like the flag, the one arm lever, Ashtanga Yoga, Chen Style Tai chi... but I also want to be flexible enough to be at peace if I'm in a car accident and can never walk again. I want to still take joy in movement and my body, even if it is sick or injured, even if I can't do the things I imagined I wanted to do.

    So, what can we learn from this question?

I think we can learn a few things:

1) Have a goal. 

    My mom is a Life Coach and she is constantly waxing eloquent on this point. Have a goal, make it specific. The goal is a direction, the goal helps you set your path and know where you want to be.

2) Make plans and take small practical steps toward those plans.

    Have a road map, follow a system, track progress. There are MANY MANY options out there, or you could create your own. But if you run towards the horizon, unless you pick landmarks and know the stops on the path, you'll never know where you are or how far you've come.

3) Be prepared for contingencies.

    Having a goal is not an assembly process, it's a growth process. Sometimes a tree gets cut down to make a chair, sometimes it's firewood. We can do what we can do to make a good life, but there are forces larger than mankind out there, fate, god, whatever you want to call it. Learn to be at PEACE, and move from there, but don't let your peace be dependent on meeting the goal.

    All that being said, I have goals that are physical goals. I want to be able to be a warrior, a monk, at least in my own mind. I'm using a system to get there, a system I believe in made by individuals I respect. It's a fun journey, and playful, but also serious to the point where it intimately touches my personal outlook on life.

I wish you a similar journey. Good luck, godspeed.