...every so often, train just one thing really hard for a week.
This week, for example, I'm focussing on something very physical - strength training. In concrete terms, that means I'm going to double my usual "maintenance" regime and do one thousand push-ups and five hundred squats this week.
Naturally, that may mean some other physical training items take the week off, and that's okay. The value of this type of focussed training far outweighs any potential downside.
I should emphasize that you can do this with ANY element of your usual training - your meditation, any aspect of your spiritual life, your interactions with others, etc. Your imagination's the limit!
The next two weeks happen to be a fasting period in the Orthodox Church, and fasting periods have been used since ancient times for more demanding spiritual training. What most people don't notice these days is that this "spiritual" training usually involved more physical work too. So it's a nice coincidence for me.
Using a week to focus on a single aspect of training yourself (and PLEASE remember, every single thing you do IS training you for better or worse!) has some huge benefits:
- You improve dramatically in one area in a very short time (yeah, you may be a bit sore, but you'll still be light years ahead at the end)
- You'll often find it hard to go back to your usual regime once you discover what you're really capable of
- You'll feel dramatically better about yourself and what you can do when you put your mind to it.
- You'll have lots more energy to burn and less stress to deal with
This kind of training gives you a victory over yourself and I can't say often enough that in the world of self-transformation, you have to experience frequent victories. They're vital to your progress and to your morale.
So why not pick something over the next few days and just do more of it than you're doing now? Give yourself that victory you deserve. Take a week to test yourself and enjoy the benefits!
~Dr. Symeon Rodger
No comments:
Post a Comment