Above: Half-way training at the IJmuiden South Pier, this morning. The ship¹ coming in is the passenger Vessel Saga Pearl II, from Cuxhaven Germany heading for Amsterdam.

Preparation for awesome wintertraining started these days! Discomfort is the best place to start. To prepare for worse (the winter) to come. To learn to adjust to discomfort creates:

a) Feeling of acceptance and well being with(in) the present circumstances (things can and will be a hell-of-a-lot-worse soon);

b) Prepares for what lies ahead as you built resiliency.

The best moment to start preparing for winter-training is... NOW.

How?

Easy does it. Look at adversity and discomfort as your coach. It shows you what needs to be learnt or you'll end up falling prone to finding excuses in it for not doing anything at all. Feeling a slight chill this summer? Don't panic and complain. Use it as a modest introduction to building up resistance and learn to deal with it: when it will get colder you will be much better prepared.

Remember that breath and breathing controls the heart beating. Every emotional-state has a corresponding breathing pattern². The reverse is true also. By introducing deep, relaxing breathing exercises, states of anxiety and its corresponding high heart rates will be brought within a reasonable zone.

To keep your well being within your reasonable zone is extremely important for your training to be effective, healthy and pleasant. You'll burn up and run out of breath soon other wise.

Breath is what is given, heartbeat what you make of it!

Your training should be designed to control that and the result will be that you will have fun.

Does that require fancy equipment attached to my arms to monitor my wellbeing?

If you are a robot or are part of a special program to become one: yes sure you do. In all other cases the less equipment, pretensions, high-tech stuff and fear based neurotic believes and superstition, the better of you are. Allowing you to fully concentrate on what you are doing; it introduces one to the essence of what is there and to make it stronger. Though this is not always a pleasant feeling to begin with; it is the best place to start (and go easy from there)!

¹See also: "O my brothers, who braved 100.000 perils to reach the west, choose not to deny experience of the unpeopled world. Think of the seed of your creation. You were not born to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.": http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/160-sar-sarsential-23

² See: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/180-wuwei

Above: Haarlem, 52° 24' 3.7656'' North and 4° 38' 22.7148'' East, today.

"So it is said, he who practices the Way does less every day, does less and goes on doing less, until he reaches the point where he does nothing, and yet there is nothing which is not done. [...] Wuwei does not produce by effort or force but accomplishes trough allowing what wants to happen." (1)

"[ Wuwei ] is [...] a course of action [ free from ] any purposeful motive, gain or striving [ it is ] 'inaction'. Zhuang Zi himself [...] repeatedly cautions against a misconception of wuwei. When people hear about wuwei, he says, some think that "laying down is better than walking". They have missed the point completely [...]" (2)

"One must be able to let things happen. I have learned from the East what it means by the phrase "Wu-wei": namely, not-doing, letting be, which is quite different from doing nothing. Some Occidentals, also, have known what this not-doing means; for instance, Meister Eckhart, who speaks of "sich lassen," to let oneself be. [ W ] ait for what the unconsciousness has to say about the situation [...] A way is only the way when one finds it and follows it oneself." (3)

"Laziness of which a man is conscious and laziness of which he is unconscious, are a thousand miles apart." (4)

"When you are learning something the universe keeps giving you opportunities [ for practice] [ Mark Divine: Every emotion has a corresponding breathing pattern, right? ] The breathing wants to click into this pattern; [ so ] why don't we just use this breathing pattern and see if it triggers the transformation? And voilà, the technique was invented! You don't need a psychotherapist or psychiatrist or some expert. We try to keep the process simple […] just stay with the breathing, keep relaxing until it [ the transformation, healing ] resolves itself." (5)

"I’m lazy in principle" (6)

Above:picture of Anne Frank, dated 10 October 1942, reads: "Dit is een foto zoals ik me zou wensen, altijd zo te zijn. Dan had ik nog wel een kans om naar Hol[l]ywood te komen. Anne Frank 10 Oct. 1942" (This is a photo as I would wish myself to look all the time. Then I would maybe have a chance to get to Hollywood). Learn about Anne Frank: http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/

Above: Haarlem, today. Clicking on Image will start sound: Dutch Anthem performed and recorded by The United States Navy Band. 

General Dwight D. Eisenhouwer's Proclammation: "Proclamatie. Nederlanders: De dag der bevrijding is aangebroken. Er ligt een lange harde weg achter u en ons. Tot nu toe hebben wij gescheiden van elkaar de strijd gevoerd Gij op uw wijze wij op de onze tezamen met onze heldhaftige Russische bondgenooten aan het Oostfront. […] Nu kunnen wij met Gods hulp gezamenlijk den vijand uit Uw land verdrijven en de eindoverwinning behalen. Onze soldaten zijn daartoe de Uwe en de Uwe zijn de onze." (Proclamation. To the people of The Netherlands: The day of liberation is close. There is a long, tough way behind you and us. Until now we have fought separately. You doing it your way and we on ours with our heroic Russian Allies on the Eastern front. […] With God's help we will join forces to defeat the enemy from your country and claim victory. Our soldiers will serve you, as yours will serve us.")

Above: Haarlem, May 4 (Remembrance Day), 2000 Hours.

See Original 1945 affiche: http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/nl/items/NIOD01:48348

The United States Navy Band: http://www.navyband.navy.mil/national_anthems.shtml

 _____________

(1) Zhuang  Zi, quoted by Michael M. Tophoff on page 31 in 'Chan Buddhism: Implications of Awereness and Mindfulness-Training for Managerial Functioning', published in 2003

(2) Ibid, page 31 

(3) C.G. Jung quoted by M. Esther Harding on page 44 of 'Psychic Energy', first published in 1947

(4) Ibid, page 45

(5) Dan Brulé, Unbeatable Mind Podcast with Mark Divine: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/unbeatable-mind-podcast-mark/id955637330

(6) From a conversation with Director of Photography Robby Müller: here (in English: here)