While this post may not be about gymnastics or tumbling, it is about making better choices for a better new year. And if any attitude can help us train and grow better in our sport it is the desire to understand our choices and their consequences.
Of all the wishes and sentiments for a happy New year, the only one that matters is the wish for happiness. And the most critical understanding about being happy is that it is a process, not a state.
Focusing on this understanding will give you a clear perspective on your own accountability and responsibility for your own happiness.
Think, as you read this, of the choices that made you unhappy – the choices you wish you didn’t make. Of course, this exercise is subjective and different for many of you.
You may regret missing a workout or not going to bed in time when you knew you had to be up early the morning after. Others may regret being mean to their friend, who they knew needed a hug.
Still, others may have more profound regrets.
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I hope that your regrets are few, but I also want to remind you that you should give them credit if you have them, however insignificant they may appear. Ignoring the choices that make you sad will prevent you from making better choices in the future.
As I’ve said before, shame is powerful emotion as it can prevent some of us from revisiting our worst mistakes.
The Challenge is in learning to use it for self-improvement.
Notice I deliberately stated that your regrets come from your choices, and this is what I want to remind you of today. I want to remind you that you can minimise the negative consequences of your bad decisions on your life with a bit of mindfulness.
Remember, as I said in the first paragraph, that happiness is a process, not a state. And understand that you have the power to affect that process if you examine it correctly.
I will leave you with a post I made at the beginning of 2018 on one of my social media accounts about the power to choose.
Once again I ask you to go forth this year knowing that life isn’t only stranger than you imagine, but stranger than you CAN imagine. All I wish for you today is that when you look at the world you see this potential, this magic, thus all I wish for you is power.
And whilst I’ve never believed in dates, or time as society sees it, I am now going to remind you of your responsibility to make changes. Remember that every event that takes place in your surroundings – good or bad – could have been influenced (or prevented) by you. Remember, more importantly, that as life, the world, and the universe are complex, so are you… and therefore worth much more than you think… do not limit yourself to base experiences, do something different, something new. Through the right kind of gestures you CAN alter reality.
I do the same
Monday, January 1, 2018.
Happy New Year! And thank you for stopping by.
— Coach José