‘As long as you live, keep learning how to live’
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This is the second edition in our 5-part Always Learning series:
Voluntary Struggle Toward an Ideal
– A framework for identity transformation and values-driven living.
Clarify | Embody | Recommit | Align | Serve
These are the five interwoven steps we’re walking, week by week.
In Part 1, we clarified our core values. We asked:
→ What do I want to stand for?
→ What values am I willing to suffer for?
But now comes the real test:
Will you fight to embody those values in discomfort, under resistance and through deliberate hardship?
It is easy to speak of virtue. It is easy to believe in one’s principles.
But it is only through action, consistent, costly action, that a value becomes real.
You don’t embody courage when you write it down; you embody it when your voice quivers and you speak anyway. You don’t embody discipline when you set your alarm; you embody it when you get out of bed while your mind crawls at your resolve not to.
This is why challenge is necessary. Not for the sake of hardship, but for the opportunity to prove to yourself what you actually believe.
At the Ironmind Institute, we train values the way others train strength. Because to truly change your identity, your values must be embodied under tension – repeatedly.
How?
Simple, not easy.
Values need to be acted out under duress. The duress is the inhibitor, the blocker, the resistance; why? – because it fucks with the way you think. The effects of physical pain, discomfort, stress insert negative emotions like fear, doubt and overwhelm into our internal narrative. This happens through an ancient evolutionary wiring that gets one to focus on things outside of our control. This is not only you who feels these states, it’s everyone! It’s unavoidable, but you can train yourself to respond optimally to the experience of the state.
So if it’s vital for spiritual evolution to embody meaningful values in these states of stress and duress, how much good do you think saying, ‘I need to be brave on this next rep’ is?
Unless you have a very strong visual of what that looks like to you and you can easily connect with the emotion that visual elicits – honestly, it’s fuck all good.
And this is why I say simple, not easy – what one needs in those states to embody values that are important or desirable to them is a simple cue. A sentence that’s psychologically easily accessible. Here’s some examples we use in our ‘Train Your Values’ program and you should try in your training:
This is what physical training can be when it’s done right:
A values practice. A spiritual practice. A path to becoming
What value have you convinced yourself you hold, but let it slide once the pressure comes on? This question in itself is an opportunity for you to practice an empowering virtue – honesty.
If you can get truthful clarity on what this might be and prepare yourself to uphold it a second longer next time it comes under fire – it will be a huge win and something you can sincerely build on in your training practice.
‘As long as you live, keep learning how to live’
~ Seneca
