“Before each one of my fights, I make a point of saluting my opponent. I salute the other fighter out of respect, even though he is trying to take something away from me. Not many people understand why I do this, but it’s simple: without the other guy, there is no me. That’s why I pray for the both of us, and not just myself. By stepping into the octagon, my adversary completes me. He makes my life possible. He becomes a part of my existence. To disrespect him is to disrespect myself. Thanks to him, I become a better man. Thanks to his presence, I am a true martial artist. Thanks to his willingness to face me, my life takes shape and moves forward, my path evolves and my life goal nears.”
– Georges St-Pierre, The Way of the Fight
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“Be honest. Your own life experiences have been far from ideal. But what you have experienced is what is real, not what you would like to experience. In short, the nature of reality is this: Life includes pain and adversity. The future is uncertain. Accomplishment of any kind requires discipline. You are not special. No matter what you do, you cannot avoid these aspects of life. This will never change. There is love, joy, surprise, transcendence, and creativity as well, but these never occur separately from the above five points.”
– Phil Stutz, Lessons for Living
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My problems at the moment are the twin tyrants of Time and Energy. I seem to be in constant battle with these wily adversaries. They give very little quarter, always on the attack. I can only strike back in very short bursts before they overwhelm me.
I am forced to create in snatches of time using reserve energy. It’s not easy publishing a post here every day.
Yet I do it. Haven’t missed a day all year.
Time and Energy have not beaten me, though I realise they also cannot be vanquished.
I have accepted that I will never have ‘enough time’ or ‘enough energy’ to write for long stretches. But do I need that? Haven’t I proven that I can write under these adverse conditions? If I have done so for six months, surely I can continue indefinitely.
I’ve had plenty of wide open days in my life. Hours to myself. Wasted hours on the whole. I’ve never created anything with all the free time I’ve had. It’s only when I realised I had to write that I started. Nothing changed to provide me with extra resources to accomplish this except the inner resource of desire. I found the time, still do. I have energy enough to continue.
Nothing is perfect, except the refusal to wait for perfect conditions.
Conversations With Quotations 