This morning as I start my second cup of coffee, this title becomes the mantra I’ve decided too many of us use as we go through life. One of the reasons I like Crete is the feeling of both neighborliness where we live, but also that sense of relaxation I can find in nature there. I have less tasks to accomplish, take more satisfaction from each small one, and have nicer blood pressure readings—I think, because I get the above order correct instead of what you see in the title.
Interestingly, I often accuse my partner of using the ready/fire/aim order as she sets out. While I strongly expect she’ll outlive me, I’m aware that I may be left to clean this mess simply because she often moves forward without thinking through what she’s doing, For example, years ago while changing the light bulb over the garage door, she forgot she was on a stool that sat on a chair, and stepped off the stool to land on concrete a bit further down than she expected. That kind of ready/fire/aim makes her a candidate to find some way to foolishly injure herself, leaving me to aim towards cleaning up our past.
Well, I point this out because I’ve always believed that when one points a finger at someone else, three come back to accuse you. So I have to honestly look to see that I an exhibit this trait as well. I think if each of us was honest with self, they’d realize they are somewhere on a spectrum in terms of impulsiveness seen by or perceived from another; as careless. Their ‘antagonistic’ side or even enemy, for want of better words in the moment, would be deliberative person. To the impulsive person, to be deliberative translates to being slow and thus dull! And this morning I realized a major and deep pattern of ready/fire/aim that has prompted this blog. I’ll start there, and see where we land.
I usually get a mile walk in laps around my house, sometimes followed by a good workout. This morning, somewhere after the walk but as I was ready to get the coffee down to the computer, I had a quick flash of insight that I’ve had and lost many times. I realized I got ready for my day in the order the title defines. I stood up and started moving before I thought to put my body on straight. Wow. What a remembrance!
My mentor from the Rolf Institute/Guild for Structural Integration in Rolf training was Emmet Hutchins, now deceased. He carried the torch for Ida Rolf’s dedication to ‘the line’. While everyone has their concept or definition of this line, for me it’s an imaginary line that goes from the top of the head, thru the spine, dividing at the pelvis to travel down the inside of each leg and eventually into a spot between and behind the first and second toes; called Bubbling Spring in Chinese medicine. The point of the ‘aim’ step in this process of finding it is to stand and put the blocks of head, heart, gut and groin in the longest, straightest line one can imagine. Often one can think head upbacklong. Waist downback. Groin downfront. Gut straightbackslightup. Find that spot as close as you can, hold that spot, beathe a while, and only then move from that spot. As you go about life, hopefully you can feel a difference in energy and attitude.
For me, this mis-fire, (above title) suggests that around the world, individually but also as a society, we’d benefit if we’d each to take that moment to aim. It might look like this:
Physical: Groaning out of bed, standing, then going in a body that got no warmup could be replaced with groaning, stretching in bed, getting out of bed and sitting long enough to feel your body, standing, finding that line, thinking long enough to know where you’re headed, then striking out. While this seems foolish to break down thus, if you reflect, chances are you can see this would do no harm and well may do good.
Mental: Knowing one’s boundaries before getting into situations, in more and more of time and life (this is called aiming!). None of us will always have the perfect words at hand to deflect someone who wants to take away our balance, but we can learn, even if it’s only through “,,,I should have said….” With aim, we can get better. With practice, we get closer to perfect.
Emotional: Realize that some sources including Mister Live to 100 and Blue Zone diet say four commonalities are found in people whose population in a specific geographic area is notably long-lived: diet, exercise, social connection and purpose. I feel like most of us fall down on at least two of those traits that keep one going for a longer and happier time. But focus on the last two…staying emotionally connected and focused on where and why one wants to go (AIM!) This suggests to me we could benefit from getting out of the hand-held and shrinking , socially disconnected life too many of us lead in some kind of fear, or in the overachieving result for some of us: that old “I’m not good enough) feeling.
Affirmations: Nothing like that groan above to get one off to a great start! What about instead something as simple as “I’m good enough, and I have the energy for the day…? Or either half of that affirmation could help one move into a more thoughtful awareness of bodymindcore.
I have many more thoughts about how these words from the title and their order could change the world for the better. I think we’d be in better shape if more of us aimed more carefully at what we’re wanting, with slow and patient reflection before pulling the trigger. In politics. Corporations. Climate. Pandemic. On and on….so many ways I’d like to see this idea applied in more situations.