It is times of changes. We are living through a weird situation that for most of us, it resulted in the shift of our ideas, priorities and lifestyle. Human beings are afraid of changes; it is often connected to anxiety, as in general we are not very good with dealing with the unknown. In day-to-day life, we do not tend to actively prepare to face “black swans”, as described by Nassim Taleb. I see it as a big mistake. Changes are needed, the universe is always moving forward and so shall each of its individual components. We constantly change without noticing it: the person you were half a year ago is not the person you are today. Not even taking into consideration extreme events such as those that are happening right now that can shake an individual’s views on life down to the core.
We are a part of the constantly evolving organism whether we talk about the nature itself or societal structures. Without examining yourself, the current can drag you into the direction that you would not chose otherwise, so learn to see and recognize it beforehand. Teach yourself to observe and analyze both internal and external changes. It the times of uncertainty, it is important to be light on your feet and react fast. For whatever comes next, the only option is to adapt. For that, you have two options – be overridden by circumstances or rise above them on your terms. It is hard to have a grip on things at every moment, but it is possible.
There are few tools you can use to stay on top of the wave and not under it. Develop a philosophy of life. Socrates said: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. According to Cambridge dictionary hilosophy as a concept is defined in the following ways:
- A group of theories and ideas related to the understanding of a particular subject
- A particular system of beliefs, values, and principles
- The study of the nature of reality and existence, of what it is possible to know, and of right and wrong behavior, or a particular set of beliefs
There are different philosophies and of course everyone is free to choose their own belief system. What I think is unacceptable is living a life that has no meaning, just rolling through existence with closed eyes. The meaning in and of itself is a very subjective matter, it is a quality of the human mind to create it. It is questionable if it even exists outside of the mind, but it is a completely different story. Beware of falling into the passive category, choose philosophy that allows you to have control over yourself in any circumstances. Because you cannot control the circumstances, but you can control your response to it. Stay on the horse, be in charge and take responsibility over your actions and decisions. I myself for many years have been following stoics and it helped me in many ways to develop a strong core and capacity to adapt to changes. By following this link you can visit an article I wrote previously on human behavior in this regard and following this link my take on how to approach current crisis.
Meditation and movement practice are by far the most efficient tools to develop the capacity to look inside and prepare yourself for the unknown. I have been talking more in detail about this before; you can follow these links to get redirected to the corresponding articles: Looking inside and Movement and cognition
The place we built is the place where we try to involve people in the active practice of self-sufficiency, mental and physical strength and agility, responsibility and adaptability, capacity to make decisions and be a reliable part of the community. We educate people about movement practice that becomes a practice of life itself if it is looked at through a different lens. We offer different perspective and open space for everyone who is interested in connecting with the ideas we propose. The school exists for almost 3 years by now. By this point, it has been reshaped and redirected to a different path compared to the one that we set at the beginning. Our ideas and approach became more clear and practice became more representative of what it is aimed to be. We appreciate the whole path we made so far but also courageously looking forward to step into the new phase. All the decisions we made to restructure our way of presenting the material we teach and how we view the path of our community are accompanied by the changes of the whole visual representation of our school that we happily announce and present you. From now on we will be represented by the imagery that is symbolizing better things we are trying to transmit and that we feel more connected with. Everyone who is willing to walk this path with us is always welcome!