Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. It has been longer than I would have liked since my last post. Life has a way of getting in the way.
I’m reminded of this scene from The Matrix.
But, I digress.
It seems like summer was a blur, and school is now back in session, brining with it routines, and schedules, and deadlines that were left behind back in May.
It is easy to get caught up in it. The routine. The monotony. The unending pile of small tasks that seem important at the time, but that you cant quite seem to remember them even five minutes after completion.
Just a constant stream of tasks floating across the screen of our consciousness. And still, they have to get done, and they arent going to start themselves.
The whole thing brought to mind a quote from my summer reading list.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Rober Pirsig is an interesting read and tackles some of the major societal issues of it’s time.
Published in 1974 as a fictionalized autobiography, Pirsig explores philosophy, romanticism, logic, and a life worth living through the lense of a motorcycle trip with his son and some friends.
“In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
Pirsig never uses these terms, and I’m not even sure what the vernacular for them wouldve been in the 60’s and 70’s, but, it sounds very similar to groundedness, or being present in the moment.
It’s hard to do that in a car. It’s hard to do that with the never ending stream of tasks infront of you. Heck it’s hard to do it at all.
One of the things that makes us human. Hell, one of our super powers, is the ability to think abstractly. The ability to plan. The ability to predict trends and possible future outcomes.
All of that thinking, and planning, and predicting, comes at a cost. You can’t be in the moment, and think about the future. They are the definition of mutually exclusive.
One of the things I have grown to enjoy most about my cycling, my running, and jiu jitsu, is that it removes the frame. It removes the planning, and prognosticating. You are there. Here and now is what matters, and there are very real consequences for forgetting that.
Even if your thoughts do drift, It is much easier to be reminded of the present moment when someone is trying to choke you. Or when you are flying across the pavement at speeds that will definately leave a mark if you lose your balance.
When you remove the frame, like you do on the mats, or the road, or the trail, the present moment has a way of bringing you back, like a magnet, if you are even able to drift away in the first place.
Beyond just being present, removing that frame is my favorite way to really see something.
I’ve “visited” lots of places. Sometimes even spent multiple nights in cities at different times of the year. But there is a different level of familiarity, intimacy even, with finding a way to take that frame off in a new place.
Running along a local trail, over the river and through the woods as it were. Cycling along roads less traveled. Rolling on the mats with people who sometimes don’t even speak the same language. You’re no longer watching the scene, you’re in it.
Sitting in a local cafe or dive bar can do the same thing, but, its much less socially acceptable to be sweaty in those scenarios, so I usually try to save that for afterwards.
It is difficult to remove the frame and be present within the moment, unless you make it a deliberate act. Even more so for us overachiever, Type A, self masochist do’ers. The temptation to check a box or cross an item off a list is a siren’s song luring us away from groundedness and appreciation of the present moment.
Removing the frame requires a deliberate slowness that can feel suffocating. It can feel like treading water when everyone around you is paddling forward.
Its hard to resist the urge of forward momentum and keeping up with expectations, real or percieved.
I think if you can get over that intital urge, fight the temptation, and remove the frame, you’re likely to find a moment worth waiting in.
There is probably serenity to be found there as well.
Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.
