Navigating Difficulties Through Bruce Lee's Philosophy

Intuition is often described as your "gut feeling," but Bruce Lee defined intuition in many different ways--as body feel, the root, the creative tide in us, natural instinct, guidance, and free movement of spirit. "What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds "body feel" and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning and imposing limitation and squelches creativity." "The superior man lets himself be guided." "Don't think – feel. Feeling exists here and now when not interrupted and dissected by ideas or concepts. The moment we stop analyzing and let go, we can start really seeing, feeling – as one whole." A truly awake person is using their mind, body, and heart all at once. "Here is natural instinct and here is control. You are to combine the two in harmony. If you have one to the extreme, you will be very unscientific; if you have another to the extreme, you become a mechanical man and no longer a human being." "Trust the life-giving force within." Bruce wrote a letter to his friend Pearl when he was 21 where he discusses this feeling and he writes about all the things he wanted out of life and wanted to do with his life. "I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me, that is greater than faith, that is greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision, it is all these combined. And my brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force which I hold in my hand." At this young age, Bruce is becoming in touch with this inner energy and recognizing that if he can combine it with his dreams and what his mind wants, he can accomplish anything. "Sharpen the psychic power of seeing in order to act immediately in accordance with what it sees." Often we can be too analytical about a situation letting our minds decide everything for us. Bruce was able to accomplish so much in his short life because he sharpened this ability to see the truth and then to act immediately in accordance with that. "Freedom lies in understanding yourself from moment to moment. If you look within yourself and know you have done right, what do you have to fear?" Take Action: Listen to your whole body and follow your gut. Journal about it and create an awareness of repeated themes. Try a test of following your gut and see how it works out for you. Does following your gut work out to be the right choice for you? #BruceLeePodcastChallenge We started the Podcast Challenge on Monday, we're doing it and you should do it too! It's for two weeks and it's not too late to join us. We're excited to have our friend actor Osric Chau participating in the challenge too! Find the rules at Brucelee.com/podcastchallenge #AAHA This week our #AAHA is Indian director Shekhar Kapur. He's known for directing "Elizabeth" which was nominated for 7 Oscars. In 1975, Kapur started his career in film as an actor in the movie "Jaan Hazir Hai" and later moved to directing with the movie "Massom" in 1983. In 1994 he directed the acclaimed "Bandit Queen," and in 1998 he received international recognition for the Academy Award winning film "Elizabeth". Shekhar Kapur, we respect your true artistry and think you're awesome! #BruceLeeMoment This week's moment comes from listener Grant: "I realized that I had allowed myself to enter the pattern and I was punching the water repeatedly and allowing my frustration to build because the results were always the same and that I needed to find a different way. I realized that the place I wanted to be was simply enjoying what time I have with my family and that I was choosing to step aside from that to focus on a sideshow aimed at making me unhappy." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at hello@brucelee.com Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast