Indigenous Ability

  [See the like titled podcast episode of Mark Hatmaker, Rough & Tumble Raconteur for the Comanche version of the below.] I am Awake I See… I Hear… I Smell… I Taste… I Feel… Everything. I Live Here… I Live Right Now. I Live Freely. [More Completely: I Live Freely Wild.] [BTW-Puewats’i the name of my sailboat.] Do not be a Coward. Free Your Mind… Free Your Body. Live Unconcernedly. [More Completely: I always prepare so I can live without concern.] Live Well. [More Completely: I live and enjoy each Blessing.] Be Good. [More Completely: I Walk the Right Path, I Assist on That Path.] I am Grateful or I am Unwise. Ura Tahp’i [More completely: Thanks to God/Nature/The Great Spirit/The Fates/The Unknown. There is no attempt to “solve” simply to live Gratefully.] The Black Box Warehouse for all your Old School Training Needs

  Buckle up, Crew, as we’ve got some ground to cover. First, “ Face under pressure ” is, obviously, a reiteration of Ernest Hemingway’s original quote on the concept of “ Grace under pressure .” Some refine to simplicity and say it was his definition of courage/guts, but in a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, he makes it clear he has something more in mind than sheer guts. As a matter of fact, he’s a bit disdainful of guts or courage on its own. “ It makes no difference your telling G[erald] Murphy about bull fighting…. [I] Was not referring to guts but to something else. Grace under pressure. Guts never made any money or anybody except violin string manufacturers .”-A letter dated April 20, 1926. Hemingway was expressing a courageous ideal as something more than mere bravado, he reaches for something that might be closer to the Italian concept of Sprezzatura, a word that appears in the 1528 volume titled The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione. The Book of the...

  Mr. Muldoon Roadwork. That word, to the combat athlete, conjures images of pre-dawn runs, breath fogging the morning air and, to many, a drudgery that must be endured. Boxers, wrestlers, kickboxers the world over use roadwork as a wind builder, a leg conditioner, and a grit tester. The great Joe Frazier observed… “ You can map out a fight plan or a life plan, but when the action starts, it may not go the way you planned, and you're down to the reflexes you developed in training. That's where roadwork shows - the training you did in the dark of the mornin' will show when you're under the bright lights .” Roadwork has been used as a tool since man began pitting himself against others of his species in organized combat. But…today’s question . Has it always been the sweat-soaked old school gray sweat suit pounding out miles on dark roads or, was it something subtler, and, remarkably slower? And if it was, why did we transition to what, and I repeat myself,...

  [The New Year's Resolutions Clock is ticking, if you want to train like a geriatric, well, here's some fodder for thought.] What follows is a summary of how I incorporate the excavations of Old School training into a typical day. A Few Preliminaries ·         The photos range from my 55 th birthday to my 56 th , a scant 5-days ago. ·         No special allowances were made for photos, meaning, no “weight-cutting” or “ Let’s get that bathroom light just right as I bust a gut and choose the non-bum selfie number 17.” ·         The photos are impromptu, on the spot, or playin’ around. ·         They are all walk-around weight. Also… ·         I do not diet. ·         I eat according to Old-Timer’s principles and dropped 16 pounds in the first 2 months of esche...

  Two Gas-Soaked Men Post Demolition Derby: T'SUH!! [An addendum to The Suakhet'u Program. To learn how to engage in this practice see here .] First, to Answer the Question : “ Mark, what exactly is, T’suh!? T’suh! Is a Comanche Warrior word/concept that broadly means, “Ready!” Second Question : “ Mark, why do I always see you hit it with an exclamation mark?” Well, my kind interrogator, that is because the word is always meant to be emphatic. Shouted if the environment and circumstances permit and always accompanied by a gesture. An emphatic use of the body that marries the physical with the word with the cognitive intention. Such tripling of language [word/intention/action] is common in indigenous thought. It was thought to better prime the organism for action and not merely be more drippings of unfulfilled words from mendacious mouths. I have found my own adoption of this language tripling mighty vivifying. T’suh! is not merely a stand-in for our version of th...