#6 - The (Ir)rational Optimist
Joining the cult, no hablo español, and the late, great, Nelson Mandela
I walked up to the door, deep in Shepherd’s Bush.
What on earth have I got myself in for- I thought.
Clutching a banana, a white handkerchief, and a bunch of flowers, I knocked.
A minute passed. The door opened.
It was time.
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Joining the Cult
This was the start of my Transcendental Meditation course last July. Not dissimilar to joining a cult.
Once the chanting and incense were out the way things got more practical.
For months I’d been trying to crack meditation to no avail.
When I heard about TM I knew it was the answer.
Again and again I heard it mentioned as the habit that had the greatest positive impact people’s lives.
Convinced, I decided to learn.
And it stuck. Like glue.
20 minutes, twice a day. The results have been life changing.
Six months after learning I went back to visit my teacher.
We spoke in length about why some people stick at it whilst others don’t. He had an interesting insight:
The people who stick with it are those most sold on the benefits. In other words, those who have the greatest conviction that it will change their life.
No Hablo Español
Whilst conviction was the secret to cracking meditation, it works the other way too.
There are many things I’ve failed at due to a lack of conviction. Top of that list is my life long struggle with languages.
I’m a twin.
We’re the complete opposite of each other.
Growing up there was nothing that me and Polly, my twin sister, were both interested in or good at. Something was either her thing or mine.
Languages, alas, feel on her side. (Along with every other school subject bar Maths.)
As a result, I’ve developed an unshakable belief that I’m a rubbish linguist. Any attempt to learn a language has resulted in abject failure.
In 2018, I even spent three months living in Uruguay taking private Spanish lessons.
And yet?
Nada.
As for Unplugged?
There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll make a success of it.
Everything else is a detail.
This brings a certain anti-fragility to proceedings.
Conviction
Whilst developing a meditation habit is fairly light weight stuff, strong conviction can lead to remarkable, world changing results.
No story highlights this more than that of Nelson Mandela.
Mandela spent 28 years in jail during the horrors of the South African apartheid.
Rather than break him, his time in prison made him.
Upon his release he led the deal that ended apartheid and took over as the country’s President. Not bad for a former prisoner.
He has a wonderful line in his autobiography about solitary confinement:
Strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation; your spirit can be full even when you’re stomach is empty
It was these strong convictions that kept Mandela fighting for those 28 years.
Bravo.
A final thought:
"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
- Lewis Carroll
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Have a wonderful week,
Hector Hughes
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