 My Mt.. Everest is a metaphor for including in your life fun, recreational activities that challenge your fear and strengthen your courage. It's a sure way to develop your "courage muscle." First, Your Mt.. Everest. Then, the world.
Newsletters: 2009 2008 2007 September 2006 December My Mount
Everest: July, 2006 My Play Mt.
Everest I think that I should
rename my e-letter and site. It should be "My Fun
Mt. Everest" or "My Play Mt. Everest" or "My
Practice Mt. Everest" - something that doesn't
evoke the painful life challenges that we all must
endure. Instead, I want to summons
up happy childhood images. Children play tag, they
run track, they play baseball. As they play, they
learn and practice skills -- physical endurance,
trust, leadership, coordination. These are
physical, mental and spiritual qualities - all
learned while having such a good time that they
don't want to stop playing. They don't analyze it,
they just have fun without appreciating the value
of their games. But we are adults; we should
analyze and appreciate the value of play - for
children and adults. Pushing to the Edge, But
Not Over Appearing at The Comedy
Store or Hwd Improv is definitely not important for
me. I'm not trying to be a comedian. I am doing it
for fun, to practice. "Practice what', you ask? I
answer, "To practice stretching my skills beyond
their comfort zone'. In the same way that yoga
welcomes your body to find the edge of your comfort
and push the edge without going over it into
injury. It requires great attention to your body.
If you play a game that pushes you to the edge of
your comfort yet always remaining fun, it's just
the same as becoming a kid again. I sure don't need practice
at being serious; I do need practice at having fun.
Can you relate? Creating Muscle Memory
of Your Courage It is no accident that
corporate presidents and major entertainers and
athletes play golf. It is their Mt. Everest. Nobody
else besides them cares how well they do. But
meeting that challenge is practice. It is creating
muscle memory for your body/mind/spirit. Successful people can
afford to take vacations, and it can be a wonderful
Mt. Everest experience. They can learn to parasail.
They can go to a country in conflict. It's fun;
it's challenging; it's a learning experience. It's
a different venue to practice life/business
skills. People of lesser means can
find vacations that they can afford. When I was a
child, my vacation was a week at my aunt and
uncle's with my two cousins. I met new kids; walked
s different neighborhood, had great ice cream cones
after dinner. The change of everything was fun and
a learning experience. It doesn't have to cost a
lot of money. Puritan Work Ethic vs.
Learning Through Fun But if we are playing and
having fun, it can hit up against the puritan work
ethic. Having fun is almost as bad as finding
things easy to do. That was last month's topic and
it seemed to set off some bells in people.
Apparently the conflict of working easy, as opposed
to hard (Meaning with great effort), evoked a
response in several of you. One side-stepped the
issue of our discomfort with ease of doing things
in favor of word games with the homonyms hard vs.
easy and hard vs. soft. Bored with
Easy Boredom is often a
Halloween Mask hiding other emotions i.e. guilt,
overwhelm Another person dismissed
the comedian's dilemma as boredom from the ease of
finding his material. Exactly. If it's not
difficult, we are "bored' or guilty for our ease of
accomplishment. It's as if we are addicted to
difficulty like some are addicted to gambling?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everyone is like
this, but a lot of us are or at least still in
process of liberating ourselves from our
unnecessary angst. Maybe we should pay special
attention to our children and nieces and nephews
and neighbors' children. They have something to
teach us. Armand Morin,
www.armandmorin.com
Please let me know if you
would like to contribute to My Mt. Everest
e-letter: About Merle M. Singer: |