I love watching the Olympics. Always have. I, at times, prefer the winter Olympics because those are truly sports I cannot do. First off , I don’t like the cold. Second, my level of coordination related to anything involving snow is abysmal. There is no third. That’s it. What I also love about the Olympics are the stories and narratives that come about from the high stakes drama.
One key storyline that seems to rise above all else is the “redemption” narrative. Take men’s figure skating. Nathan Chen is phenomenal. He has been. However, in 2018 he didn’t do so well. Expectations were extremely high and no matter how far us he turned in the air it wasn’t enough. He did manage to fall as well. This year, is another story. He landed all his jumps with finesse and confidence. And, they seemed to be very hard jumps to put in in non-technical terms. He landed an incredible five quad jumps in his free skate routine. A similar timeline pattern and story happened previously with Scott Hamilton who in one olympics had his hopes dashed to only rise well above four years later. Redemption!
It’s that journey and story that keeps us hooked. I certainly like to think that when I fall, I can get back up and to aim even higher. We want that inspiration and aspirational goal.
“We can be redeemed only to the extent to which we see ourselves.”
– Martin Buber.
Categories: Culture, current events, identity, mental health, Psychology, society, sports
psychologistmimi 
SMiLes Hehe, i Had to Ask the
Nice Military Gym Assistant if
‘That Was the Olympics’
on TV This Week And
He Said Don’t Feel
Bad It’s ‘Only’ The
Winter Olympics And
Then i Said True After
All This is Florida And Although
Everyone is Complaining About This
Cold February So Far i Still Persevere
Not to Wear Anything More than Shorts
Since the Winter of 2013 True i Don’t Do Pants
On the Other Hand When Folks Ask me How i Handle
the Cold i Say it’s Because i Don’t Wear Pants i Adjust
i Accommodate
To The Environmental
Challenge More Within
Than Wearing More Clothes
to Make me Actually Less Vital
Than Naked, Enough, Whole, Complete
Yet True Not After Any Award or Gold Medal
It Just Feels Cool to Dance Under An Umbrella
in Freezing Rain in Reverse Against The Below
Freezing Wind Chill in Shorts And T-Shirts So Very
Invigorating to
me the Thrill of
Being Alive And
Just Mastering the
Environment At Hand in Balance
Enough Not Only to Survive Yet Thrive!
It’s True There are No Gold Medals for Dancing
A Ballet/Martial Arts Free Public Dance for 16,166
Miles in 101 Months. It’s True There Are No Gold Medals
For Writing the Longest EPiC Long Form Poem in the History
of Humankind at 10.1 MiLLioN Words in 101 Months With 11
Subchapter EPiC Long Form Poems Larger Than the Old King
James Try in Biblical Size Efforts as i Continue This Practice of Autotelic
Flow Now of course including the Current Solo Celebration of 6 MiLLioN
Words of “FB Profile Pic Bible” in 56 Months of Effort Where the Words are
Included in Facebook Profile Pic Description Areas in Series of around 20 FB
Profile Pics That Fully Illustrate on Average Each Tiny MicroVerse of Around 8,000 Words
Where Last Year About 2100 Profile Pics Housed Around 16.8 MiLLioN Words Haha and
i Bet You Thought i Write a Lot of Words in this Free Rental Space in New York, New York,
You So Graciously Provide on Your Blog Site Without Blocking me For All this Perseverance
Or Perhaps What Some Folks Might Attribute to my Autism Spectrum Condition As Pointless
Perseveration Like the Autistic Child Who Spins Without Goals or Reasons in Life However
Intuitively Regulates Emotions And Integrates Senses This Way Until they Are Told “Quiet
Hands And Feet” And Meanwhile Self-Destruct Within, Somedays You Have to Experience
The Discomfort
to Understand
Why and that
Reminds me of
Forrest Gump When
The Old Dude in the Restaurant
Rotting in His Chair Said “That Boy
is sure one Running Fool” Yet it’s True
“Build It and He Will Come”
Built It and He Will Come
Somedays You Just Go out for
A Long Run or Build A Baseball Diamond
For Intuitive Introspection That May One day
Lead to A Practice of Autotelic Flow in Some way
of Truly Building Heaven Within that Never Ends only Just Beginning
Now Then When You Become the Savior of Your Own Life With A Huge
Grin Greater Than Infinity As True There is No Measure of the Depths
And Expanse
That May Come
in Loving Life Eternally Now
For Real Where The Experience
Needs no Redemption or Gold Medals to Be Fulfilled
Ironically What The Song “Yellow Brick Road” By Elton
John Really Means Leaving the Labels and Expectations Behind
And Simply
Doing the
Best Version
of You Now No
Matter What Anyone
Else Cares to Think or
Feel About it As the Practice
of Life is Affirmation Enough As Heaven Within Now For Real…
Anyway Back to the Gym Last Night With my Usual Warming up
Routine of Gathering up Thirty 45-Pound-Plates From the Other
Machines at the Gym for Leg Pressing 1380 Pounds As the Plate
to Raise the Weight Weighs at Least 30 Pounds too Beside me is
A Decline Squat Rack That Takes the Pressure off the Center of the
Back as Big Squatters Typically End up With Severe Back Problems
As Let’s use Common Sense Putting 450 Pounds on Our Shoulders
as Humans is Not What We Are ‘Normally’ Designed to Do So Anyway
Four Young Military Men Were Looking For Two 45-Pound-Plates to
Squat 90 Pounds on the Machine And i told them Where to Find one
And Assured them The Thirty on this Machine Will Be Available After
About 100 Seconds of Leg Pressing 12 Reps or So From me as i do
it Very Slowly With my Hands Raised to the Ceiling in Just About Perfect
Balance so
i Don’t Get
Injured doing it
So After i Finished
The Young Men Started
Counting the Plates i Was
Using And i Gave them the
Total Amount And They Could not
Hardly Believe What they Were Seeing
Particularly Since i am Turning 62 in June
As They Remarked i Was one of the Strongest
Humans They Ever met in Life hehe So i Went on to
Tell them When i Was In Middle School Everyone Told
me in their own Ways that i Was too Strange And Weak to
Exist Not talking until age 4 put me a bit behind in the Social
Circles of Life And i Stuttered Quite A Bit Keeping Up with the
Speed of my Mind then Just couldn’t Get IT All out like i Have Developed
A Way Finally
to Do Now in
Laser Focus
That Autotelic
Flow Practices of Life
Do Bring So i told them
the Story of Another Man
Who Works out Who was a Vietnam
Vet Who Rose From Enlisted to Commodore
of the Military Installation that Houses the Gym
As Recently in His 70’s he Was Still Squatting 450 Pounds
And Bench Pressing 450 Pounds too Sadly He Developed
Skin And Prostate Cancer, Had his Hip and Shoulders Replaced
And is Now Waiting For Fusion of Some of The Vertebrae in His
Lower Back As Well and Even With His Testosterone Zeroed
Out for Therapy for the Prostate Cancer He Still Makes it to
The Gym at Almost 80 Years-Old Now And Does What He
Can And Will It’s True That Dude Lifted Enough Weight to
Earn All Kinds of Master’s Age Level Awards in Many Areas
of Competition Yet Like He Told the Young Men As Mentors
too It’s Not About
Competition With Others
It’s About Fulfilling Your Personal
Potential Now And Being Basically
What i Suggest As Well, Naked, Enough,
Whole, And Complete Build it And You May Come
To Be
Your
Own
Savior
And Hero too…
Anyway Jack LaLanne of Old
Towing 70 Boats At age 70
Across A Bay Swimming
Was An Inspiration to me
As When i told my Masters
Level Sociology of Aging Teacher
i Would Retain my Strength in my 60’s
She Scoffed And Said i Was Just Over-Zealous
About Health And That Wasn’t A Reasonable Expectation
As my Sociology of the Family Teacher Ray Oldenburg Who
Authored the Book “The Third Place” (Bars For Social Gatherings
For Social Cohesive Glue and the Such) Said When He was 52 He
And His Friends
Were Already
Bored
And the Thought
of Living Forever was
A Horrible thought as
They Were Already
Spent in their Inspiration
For Life As They Just couldn’t
Find Any Gold Medals to Compete for Now
Which Basically Means Their Inspiration their
Muse for Life Was Limited to External Rewards
Rather Than Generating Happiness Within Yet of Course
They Specialized And Didn’t Learn Much About Eastern
Religions
Philosophies
And Practices of
Life That Focus on
Motivating Souls
That Gather
Their Steam
In Icy Waters As
Monks Do Regulating
Their Body Temperatures
This Way FROM THE FORCE FROM WITHIN
As ‘They Say’ in General “Chi” as Ants And Bees
Don’t Need Books or Schools To Build Fabulous
Mounds And Hives to LiVE-iN to Succeed Intuitively in Life…
“Good Bye Yellow Brick
Road” Good Bye Yellow
Brick Road Don’t Let
The Mighty OZ Fool Ya
It’s All Window Dressing For Sell at Best…
As The Redemption We May Find May Be
THE REAL SAVIOR
WITHIN…
Other than that
Chen’s Performance
Was Incredibly Inspiring
Thanks For Bringing it to
my Attention to find and
Watch…
Only Hope to See Him doing
it at Age 62 and 70 Just for the
Thrill of Inhaling Peace Exhaling Love
Naked, Enough, Whole, Complete that
Way With or Without an Audience or Selling
A Book to
Have
to
See
His Name…
For What
Breathes Within
Eternally Young And Free…
i Hope those Four Young Men
Are Leg Pressing So Much More
than me when they Reach 80 Years-Old
Yet of Course Some Will Scoff That’s Not
Possible And Worthless Without a ‘Gold Medal’
And It’s True Not Unlike Forrest Gump i Really
Don’t Mind if Anyone Reads a Magazine While
i Tale
my Story
in All the
Global Bus Stops
of the World Again
in Hopes That Others
Will Find Their Saviors Within…
After They Complete Their ‘Vision Quest’ too…
Yes, No, Whether Or Not They Are Described As
Living in ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ Or Not So Damned Free..:)
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