A college professor of mine drew on the chalk board two arrows side by side, one pointed up, the other next to it pointing down. He asked our class, “What does this mean?” Not knowing where he was going with his questions, we all began to spout out the most obvious answers such as, “what goes up must come down”.
He patiently listened to us and then said, “Each arrow represents emotion. When your emotion goes up, your ability to think and reason clearly goes down.” While some of the class was probably less than impressed, I was impacted by the simple yet profound lesson. I thought back to times as a competitor when I would get too caught up in the emotion (exactly what some I competed against wanted me to do) and end up losing because of it.
One of the Most Valuable Skills Every Child Should Know
Posted: December 26, 2017
By Master Christopher Rappold
Have you ever been in a place where you are in a room full of people and you don’t know anyone? Remember how that feels? What’s the quickest way to go from a feeling awkward to empowered? The quickest way I have found is to introduce yourself to someone.
I remember being in a local gym working out. A few minutes after I started, a big, strong bodybuilder- type man came in and was lifting heavy weights near me. He had a very stern look on his face as if he was coming from or about to get into a fight. Though he was not offensive at all to me, his presence created a vibe in the area that caused other people to conveniently move to other workout stations. I waited a couple of minutes until the timing was right and we were both between sets and resting at the same time. I went over complimented him on what he was doing and introduced myself. I watched his face magically transform from an intimidator to a gentle giant. His exterior was really just a mask to hide his inability to relate to the people around him. Once I made the connection he never went back to the same stern look for the rest of the workout.