Personal Fitness – What to Do When You Encounter a Fitness Obstacle

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“If You Push Something Hard Enough, it Will Fall Over”

Only those of you older than dirt like me will remember the 1960’s humor/satire group, “Firesign Theatre”. The quote above is attributed to them and it got quite a laugh when it was presented as serious science in the context of a comedy skit.

But just sit with it for a few minutes and you’ll see the beauty of this little gem which they called Fudd’s First Law. Who was Fudd? Who cares! The quote is obviously ridiculous and totally true at the same time!

How about this: “The only way around an obstacle is through it”

What brainiac came up with that one? But again, just sit with it and a deeper message rises through the surface. And that message can be interpreted in so many ways.

Have you ever noticed the subtle, fleeting images that arise when you ponder things like this? They make no sense in the moment, but they’re actually signs, flashes of insight, that point to deeper parts of your nature and help you in understanding yourself.

For me, The first quote tells me that if I just keep on pushing forward toward my goal and refuse to give up; whatever is in the way will finally yield. I am reminded of fudoshin, a Japanese concept meaning a spirit of unshakable calm and determination; courage without recklessness, literally and metaphorically, “immovable heart”.

What comes up for me in the second quote is that sometimes trying to be clever is a big waste of time and looking for a way around an obstacle is perhaps a subtle form of avoiding it. That makes me think about fear, the great immobilizer.

A great shortcut

But truly, the fastest way to make an obstacle disappear is to apply some counterintuitive thinking. We live in a world of complementary opposites. Like north/south, man/woman, hard/soft, or sharp/dull. Think about it.

Aren’t these apparent opposites just two sides of the same thing? I mean how do you know what sharp is unless you can compare it to dull? You need dull to define sharp. It takes two aspects to make one complete concept.

So what’s the opposite of obstacle? Can you say breach? A breach is, “a hole in something that is caused by something else forcing its way through.” So obstacles and breaches are two sides of the same thing.

Question: What would happen if while focusing on your obstacle, you remembered it had another side and shifted your focus there instead?

Congratulations! You just found your way out… or should I say, through!

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