When your Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS) are covered in rust, you must start at the lowest increment of forward movement to walk down the path again, or for the first time ever.
Think of a formerly-flexible piece of metal that was neglected and is now covered in rust. It will not flex like it used to. But with gentle starting flexibility, good cleaning, and general maintenance, the rusty metal can lose its rust and become useful and purposeful again.
This metaphor applies to all of us at all phases of life.
Each of our three domains of Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS) are the metal pieces; we must maintain and strengthen each. This is how you have a good day every day. You must start with the smallest bend in each domain, allowing you to bend further and go farther.
When you are trying to shake off the rust, start with the smallest increment of improvement.
Regardless if you are rusty, or a dedicated wanderer on paths to mastery, Body, Mind, and Spirit must be balanced daily, and in all time intervals, and it is a challenge for all, regardless of experience.
Corrosive thoughts
Do not rust yourself with negative thoughts. The mind must be controlled and directed to give counsel, not abuse the individual carrying the mind.
Our thoughts become our narrative, which is our identity. It is the responsibility of every individual to control their narrative so they may control their self-identity.
We call this out because the Spirit sits below the Body and the Mind. If the spirit is self-sabotaging, the body and the mind follow.
You can condition and treat your spirit with your thoughts.
Shaking off the rust – Body
If you have not used the body to progress for a long time, start with the smallest increment of body. A good way to shake off body rust is to walk–the most basic human movement. Start with a five-minute walk outside to benefit from the sun, akin to the philosophy prescribed in Sun & Steel.
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You may also consider pacing. Pace back and forth for ten minutes inside the home, on a flat surface, or going up and down stairs if you have them. While moving you can listen to podcasts or audiobooks, which may further shake off the rust for the mind.
The key to shaking rust off the body is consistent, meaningful improvement. This is why it’s wise to start with the smallest possible increment–one pushup a day that eventually grows to 100 a day is better than trying to start with 20 pushups a day, being inconsistent, and eventually giving up.
Start with the smallest increment you can do consistently. Do more when the small increment is boring–you will know when you are ready for more.
Considerations:
- Walking
- Yoga
- Pushups
- Situps
- Kegels
- Calf raises
- cleaning
Shaking off the rust – Mind
A rusty mind is a mind that has not been used for progress in a long time, or possibly ever.
Progress in the mind domain means developing any mental skill that has aspects of mastery–almost anything that is not the meaningless consumption of pleasure.
Allowing your mind to consume The Best History Podcasts is the body eating vegetables and lean protein, while consuming reality TV is like the body eating candy, but for the mind. Candy isn’t harmful in small amounts, but is lethal in large quantities like how low-quality mental consumption will dull any mind.
Like the body, start the mind with small increments. If you haven’t read for a long time, starting with a difficult book like Infinite Jest, Atlas Shrugged, or the Gulag Archipelago is not recommended. Instead try a shorter book that packs a punch like Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It, The War of Art, or an eyewitness book based on your interests, like The Titanic or The Ocean.
Watching documentaries about interests may help shake mental rust off as well, especially if the rust comes from an overabundance of television programs that have no nutritional content for the mind.
Going to a museum may shake the rust of the body, mind, and spirit. You have permission to follow your curiosity, alone–you can do anything alone. Going to a museum alone is normal, and it can be better than going with a group.
Shaking off the rust – Spirit
Shaking off spirit rust is the most complex and difficult based on the depth of spirit–Body, Mind, Spirit–The body houses the mind, which houses the spirit(BMS).
The spirit is slippery and inconsistent, even with training. Understand this when you are attempting to shake the rust off of your spirit. Managing your spirit can feel like trying to grasp a waterfall.
The spirit can be conditioned by how you speak to yourself. If you haven’t had confidence or belief in yourself for a long time, you can shake off the rust by changing how to speak to yourself.
Know that the spirit is deeply influenced by the body. By training vigorously, you add flammable material to the fire of your spirit.
Understand that “vigorous” is a different bar for everyone. Vigorous training could be 2,000 steps a day, or it could need to be 20,000. You must use your self-awareness to write prescriptions for your Body, Mind, and Spirit.
No matter your condition, you must never neglect the body.
To shake the rust off of your spirit, you will need to change your habits–which includes your negative habitual thought patterns. You may need to stop doing a particular drug or breakup with toxic friends, while finding new ones.
Consider your thought-stream “temperature” as a habit–habitually negative, positive, or blended.
One ease of shaking rust off the spirit is the power of inaction. If you are an addict, one cure is to do nothing. Meaning, if you were in a coma, or meditated for 72 hours straight, you would have space from your addiction.
Doing nothing is a solution; just being.
Being is difficult without training, but you can build up the mental muscle to sit and be and do nothing, like how you gain bodily muscle through training and discipline.
“Once you know the way broadly you see it in all things”
Miyamoto Musashi
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