The DotWritten by Dr. Freddy Davis
We have all grown up in an age where exploration into dramatic new territory has become routine. We have had people travel into space to live for short periods of time. We have sent people to explore moon. We have built machines to take people under ocean to live and work. And we have even built machines, as extensions of ourselves, to go to places where we could not go physically and send back pictures and other data. There is another arena that it is possible for us to explore - one that we can do personally. It requires a “risk taker” mentality and an adventurous spirit, and I want to give you instructions on how to get there. I am going to take you on a philosophical journey beyond yourself. This may seem a bit esoteric and mysterious, but humor me for a moment. Begin by getting for yourself a clean sheet of white paper. Now, take a pencil and draw a small dot in middle of it. For our purposes here, that dot represents something very important about you. It is sum total of your entire life. Now for most people, what dot represents, and territory inside dot, is most important thing there is. It represents their life, their understanding of reality, and all of their experience. But there is something else on page with dot. Look at all of white space. The white space represents your potential. This is where you could explore if you had a mind to. It represents all of knowledge you don’t have, all of experiences you have never had, all of people you don’t know, and all of activities you have never done. But most people don’t ever spend much time and effort probing outside of dot. Perhaps as many as 95% of entire population of planet are satisfied to live in their dot. Now, certainly, as life is lived, dot expands some. Everyone learns new things and experiences new experiences in course of their lives and this naturally expands dot. But it is a relatively insignificant expansion compared to what is possible. For most people there is no intentional activity that they create to expand dot. It just, sort of, happens. But, this need not be case. It is possible to blast out of dot in every direction and create a life that explodes with new knowledge, relationships, activities and experiences all time. But, it doesn’t just happen. This kind of life must be crafted and intentionally lived. It requires expending energy and effort, which few are willing to do.
| | More and More and More and MoreWritten by Dr. Freddy Davis
About six years ago I began to study tai chi. When I began, I had already been studying karate for several years, but my instructor encouraged me to add tai chi to enhance my martial arts abilities even further. It seemed interesting to me from very beginning, but I was totally unprepared for what I have received. What I have learned is far beyond anything I ever expected. Tai chi is a martial art that takes you through a series of very slow movements. You have probably seen people do it on TV commercials to advertise arthritis medicine. It seems rather strange and exotic for people who have never been around it. And because it is so slow and easy going, it seems like it would be very easy to do. But I assure you, it is actually a very powerful and practical form of exercise. When I first started practicing these moves it was quite awkward. It is amazing amount of strength and balance it takes. But as I practiced over next several months and years, I began to notice a number of things begin to happen in my body. I began to develop greater leg strength. My balance improved. I gained better posture. I began to be able to control and conserve energy. I gained more powerful breath support and control. I also saw my ability to concentrate become stronger. If you did a deep examination of tai-chi training, these things should really be expected because of nature of exercise. But there is one other thing that has happened in my experience that, even to this day, I continue to marvel about. No matter how far I seem to progress, there seems to be further to go. I make a major advance and think I am mastering art and, behold, a whole new level unfolds before me. This has happened so many times that I have come to believe that there is no limit to amount of progress I can make. As I have discussed this with my instructor, he has assured me that this is so. Now, this is a significant realization, and is particularly helpful with an activity like tai-chi, where movements are so slow. In our fast-paced society, slow is very difficult. In fact, many people who start tai-chi don’t end up staying with discipline very long because activity and progress seem so slow. But, there is a much broader application that needs to be recognized that has very profound implications for every area of life. No matter where you are in your life, no matter what activity you engage in, no matter how much of an expert you are, you have only taken baby steps compared to where it is possible to go. But, don’t be fooled by this statement. It is easy to accept this as an intuitive intellectual understanding. It only becomes profound when it is discovered in course of experience. Consider this. There are four areas of your life where your humanity is expressed. The four areas are emotions, body, brain activity, and spirit. And profound truth is this: in each of four areas it is possible to literally explode beyond where you are now to ever higher and higher levels of development. You can develop control over your emotions so that you are always positive and upbeat. You can overcome depression and negativity. You can put yourself in appropriate emotional state for any situation you find yourself in. You can develop control over your body. You can provide it with nutrients, rest and exercise that will keep it healthy. You can sculpt your muscles so that you look good.
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