Outpost Beginner…..

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” ~Shunryu Suzuki

And so it began.

QIC:  Squirrel

 The Pax:  Snickers (Guest from F3 Cape Fear), Aruba, Dos Equis, Mad Bum, Striker, FNG Kelly Dawkins (AKA Matlock), Huckleberry, Dimples, Flying Tomato and Fro Yo.

THE THANG:  Warm-up: Side Straddle Hops, Windmills and Good Mornings

Exercise:  We started off with the obligatory jog around the pitch then dropped and did 20 Merkins before picking our “dates” up. (Every guy knows you gotta get the pecs up before picking up your date).  Once we had the girls we proceeded to:

20 Squat thrusters

20 Curls

20 Upper half curls

20 Lower half curls

20 Full curls

20 LBDs

Jog around the pitch

20 Curls

20 Upper half curls

20 Lower half curls

20 Full curls

Jog around the pitch to stop at the wall

20 LBDs

20 Step ups

Jog over to the Bocce ball court to do Neo’s patented Merkins Around the Clock

Back to the grassy knoll and finish off with:

Bruce Lee (30 each WWII Situps, LBCs, Heels to Heaven, American Hammers, WWII Situps)

Long Slow Flutters……….6 inch hold…..Long Slow Flutters

Freddy Mercuries, which Fro Yo’s looks oddly similar to Long Slow Flutters.

Great work by all the Pax, really great workout.

 

MOLESKINE:   I used to think I was an expert, the best in the field, making no mistakes, I was “the guy” that everyone came to.  Then as I stepped away from making no mistakes [insert hearty laugh here] and embraced being a beginner I realized that being a beginner left me more flexible around people and situations.  Being an expert made me brittle, brazen and aloof.  Ego is a bitch….believe me, you don’t want to be an expert.

The devil on my shoulder would tell me, and sometimes still does, “But I do want to be an expert. I feel dumb being a beginner. I feel like people are judging me.”  What I’ve come to find is that people actually respect me more when I have the mindset of a beginner.  I still have the knowledge and experience of someone who has done a lot, learned a lot and knows a lot, however no one wants to interact with someone who thinks they know it all.

Grant yourself permission to be a beginner and I’ll keep reminding myself to do it too.  Be a beginner, not only when you start something new….all the time. It takes so much pressure off.  For you dad’s with kids under four or five take a lesson from them, try-fail-try and ask/receive praise when you do whatever it is you are beginning at.

Matthew 11: 25-26; Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

Go out and live today like it were your first!

Aye!