Thoughtful Reflections and Global Stories

Bruce Lee often carried notes to himself or affirmations on notecards in his wallet. One of these read: "Be aware of our conditioning. Drop and dissolve inner blockage." "Inner to outer – we start by dissolving our attitude not by altering outer conditions." We are all raised in a culture, whether it is a family, community, or national culture. We all have a way we view the world depending on how we entered or experienced it as a child. When Bruce says, "Be aware of our conditioning," he is saying that it is good to acknowledge and be aware that we are not bias free. Drop and dissolve inner blockage by freeing yourself from things having to be a certain way. This returns to the concept: "Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation." We start by dissolving our inner attitude, not by altering our outer conditions. "Do not have an attitude; Open yourself and focus yourself and express yourself. Reject external form that fails to reject internal reality." One of our current dominant cultures is the workplace and we let it seep into our personal life more and more. "One should get rid of the obtruding self and apply himself to the work to be done as if nothing particular were taking place at the moment." You don't have to have a rigid framework around everything, take off the rigidity and just do what you need to do. "The mind itself is endowed with infinite mobilities that know no hindrances. " It's clear that these philosophies were helpful to Bruce Lee, especially because during the time Bruce was alive and working towards his goals, other people were constantly putting limitations on him. "Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out as it will." Bruce was in a whole practice of Mind, Body, and Spirit. His gateway into this mental and spiritual experience was through martial arts and teaching. "Man's mind and his behavior are one, his inner thought and outer expression cannot contradict each other." Many of us have personas or masks for every situation and it can be exhausting. Dissolve your attitude and judgment; take off the masks to let your true spirit out. Take Action: Ask this: Can I take off the masks? Can I be myself no matter where I am? Take a step back and ask what your heart really wants. Try being truthful with your spirit and dissolving your attitudes. #AAHA This week our #AAHA shout-out goes to Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and youngest Nobel Prize Laureate. She's best known for her human rights advocacy for the education of women in Northwest Pakistan where the local Taliban had banned girls from attending in school. In 2009, when she was 11, Malala wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life during the Taliban occupation. In 2012, the Taliban made an attempt on her life. That murder attempt sparked an international outpouring of support for her. She has since started the nonprofit the Malala Fund, has co-authored a book "I am Malala", been the subject of numerous documentaries, and been on Time magazine. The most important thing is that Malala has become a voice against the suppression of children and women and for education as a right. Malala, as everyone already knows, you're awesome! #BruceLeeMoment This week our moment comes from Darrel M.: In my spare time I run RPGs (D&D) well I run a Star Wars version. We are having great fun, and this campaign I have introduced a character based on Bruce Lee. It has been fun to try and translate his philosophy into the game. In fact we had a rather long debate (in my gaming group) about the Dark Side, evil, morality, and the like. This made me stop and consider what I had learned from your Bruce Lee podcast…" 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