Bruce Lee Podcast

We return to Bruce Lee's Library to examine another book that greatly influenced Bruce Lee's philosophy. Bruce would underline and annotate his books, and would journal about them creating his own version of a book report after reading. In his volume of Zen in Japanese Art, A Spiritual Experience by Toshimitsu Hasumi, Bruce highlighted passages, made notes throughout, and wrote a long note at the beginning of the book. This book, Zen in Japanese Art, A Spiritual Experience by Toshimitsu Hasumi, is about the notion that Japanese Art, or Zen in Japanese art, is a spiritual experience that is connected to nature, the Tao, the artist, and the viewer of the art. There is a spiritual essence woven within the art so that through the simple nature of the art much more can be felt. The first excerpt that Bruce Lee highlighted in this book is: "Art is the form-language of the human soul." For the full podcast notes and excerpts from the book go to: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

What does it mean to be healthy in our mind, body, and spirit? Health is not limited to our physical wellbeing, but encompasses our mind, body, and spirit. In order to get to optimal health, we have to be willing to look at the unhealthy parts of ourselves. Bruce Lee pursued not just his physical health, but also his mental and spiritual health. "Health is an appropriate balance of the coordination of all of what we are. A healthy person has both a good orientation (sensoric system) and ability to act (motoric system). So if there is no balance between sensing and doing, then you are out of gear." We all experience the issue where we know in our heads what we should be doing for our health, but avoid acting on it because it is hard or inconvenient. "Just as the maintaining of good health may require the taking of unpleasant medicine, so the condition of being able to do the things we enjoy often requires the performance of a few we don't. Remember, my friend, it is not what happens that counts; it is how you react to them. Your mental attitude determines what you make of it, either a stepping stone or a stumbling block." We can complain about the tasks that we do not enjoy, but we enjoy the results. Such as not wanting to do laundry, but enjoying having clean clothes, or not wanting to go to the gym, but wanting to be more physically fit. In order to maintain good health, where good health is the health of the soul, it is going to require us complete the tasks which stepping-stones towards the bigger picture of what we want. The aesthetics of physical health are heavily influenced by our society, but even though those ideals are what we think health looks like, if it is not total wellbeing of mind, body, and spirit it is not true health. It is important to take stock of how we feel physically, mentally, and spiritually on our health journeys. Be sure to ask yourself, "What is healthy for me?" Find out what works for your individual health instead of following along with what everyone else is doing. Pay attention to what your body is telling you because it will tell you what it needs. Do not listen to just what your mouth craves, but what your whole being needs. Full Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

"Don't think, FEEL." This line comes from a scene in Enter the Dragon where Bruce Lee is instructing a student. He tells the student to throw a kick, the student kicks, and Bruce says, "What was that? What is this an Exhibition? You need emotional content." The student kicks again and Bruce says, "I said emotional content not anger! Try again, but this time with me. Don't think FEEL." When Bruce Lee says, "Don't think," he means, "Get out of your head." When he says, "FEEL," he means really feel into the situation and sense what is happening here. When you are kicking you are kicking a person who is present, you are not trying to perform the perfect kick. That is what Bruce was saying when instructing the student to, "Don't think, FEEL." Often we are not fully present because we are instead trying to categorize, calculate, and think of the next five steps, or the situation is uncomfortable so we mentally checkout. When you "Don't think, FEEL," you are turning your body into a sensing organism. What you are feeling in that moment becomes useful information about yourself. When you are not focused just on your emotions, but are sensing with your whole body, you are more open to the use of your intuition. "Don't think – FEEL. Feeling exists here and now when not interrupted and dissected by ideas and concepts. The moment we stop analyzing and let go, we can start really seeing, feeling – as one whole. There is no actor or the one being acted upon but the action itself. I stayed with my feeling then – and I felt it to the full without naming it that. At last, the I and the feeling merged to become one. The I no longer feels the self to be separated from the you, and the whole idea of taking advantage of getting something out of something becomes absurd. To me, I have no other self (not to mention thought) that the oneness of things of which I was aware at the moment." Bruce Lee is saying in this quote that if we feel what is happening in the now, and we do not over analyze it and we stay present, then we can truly feel the whole of the experience. Then, we feel the whole experience instead of segmenting the parts of the experience we want to analyze. If we can do this without judgment, then what we are feeling and experiencing becomes one thing. We are no longer separate from what is happening around us because we are fully present in the experience. "Freedom requires great sensitivity." To actualize yourself, to truly know yourself, you have to feel yourself. "It is futility the maintaining of a façade to act in one way on the surface when actually experiencing something quite different inside. Being one's self leads to real relationships and acceptance of self leads to change." In our current culture, we often have an automated response when someone asks us how we are or how we are feeling. We will say that we are "fine," "okay," or "good", even when we are not any of those things. We hide our true feelings behind a façade of niceties because it is easier. It is harder to fake it when we are asked if we are truly "fine," and by diving deeper we can have a more meaningful exchange and conversation, which can be very nourishing. "We do not analyze, we integrate." In order to integrate, we have to let in the information and experience. If we analyze, then we are keeping the experience at a distance. Thinking is linear and feeling is expansive. A whole universe opens up when you feel into experiences. Feeling into something does not mean that you are hanging out in an exposed, vulnerable space, but instead it can help you decide how to navigate different situations. Emotions are clues to things we need to examine more closely. "To express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, is very hard to do." Full Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

Taking action, the physical act of "doing" can be like salve to the soul. It can be a tool, a medicine, a cure, something that actually leads us on a path to healing and what we want to accomplish in our lives. If we get caught up in our thinking and thoughts it can be paralyzing. In order to free ourselves from that paralysis we have to take action and do something. A simple example is just to get up and move your body. If your body is feeling stiff, get up and stretch, go for a walk, and by moving your body will feel better. The actions can be small actions; they do not have to be big actions. Bruce Lee was a philosopher and he wrote a lot about his thoughts and how he thought that life should be lived. He did more than just write; he put his theories into practice and lived his philosophies. Bruce Lee was a normal person who lived his own philosophies and became a globally loved icon. "Action is a high road to confidence and self-esteem. Its rewards are tangible. The cultivation of the spirit is elusive and difficult and the tendency toward it is rarely spontaneous, whereas, the opportunities for action are many." When you put your mind to it, and you accomplish what you need to, it is empowering and boosts our self-esteem and confidence. In order to accomplish anything you have to take action. We must take conscious action. "Only actions give to life its strength." "The doer alone learns." "Action is our relationship to everything. Action is not a matter of right or wrong. It is only when action is partial that there is a right and wrong." When you only halfway do something, you do not learn anything and it does not help you grow. The quality of your action is important, even if it is small. "To be balanced is to be more or less at rest. Action, then, is the art or method of unbalancing toward keeping oneself striving and growing." "I've always been buffeted by circumstance because I thought of myself as a human being (affected by) outside conditioning. Now I realize that I am the power that commands the feeling of my mind and from which circumstances grow." Many times we feel as if we cannot take action because of how it affects others or outside influences have too much hold on us. Bruce Lee is saying that it is ourselves who hold the power, affects how we feel, and it is us as an individual who chooses the direction we want to go. "Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand." "When actions are directly related to the problem of life and death, recollection and anticipation must be relinquished for the sake of fluidity of thought and lightening rapidity of action!" Full Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

"Using no way as way; having no limitation as limitation." The idea of being limitless was a core tenet of Bruce Lee's approach to his art and his life. He lived the philosophy of being limitless and took action. The idea of being limitless is a mindset and a sense of freedom within one's own life; it does not mean that you have no boundaries or that you are negligible of your environment or others around you. Being limitless is the ability to make the decision to be and do anything that is centered in your heart and in harmony with you and the world. You do not have to ask for permission or get approval from any outside institution, person, or society. Most of our excuses or rationalizations for why we cannot do something is us giving voice to a fear we have about it. Sometimes we limit ourselves because we fear criticism. It is inevitable that we will receive criticism when we follow our hearts, and that can be really hard, but it is important to stay true to our hearts. "Limitless means infinite mobility." When Bruce says, "Having no limitation as limitation," he is talking about the limitations that we put on ourselves. When we do not put ourselves in a box then we can move in any direction. Being limitless is to have infinite mobility, not that you have no path or direction. Being limitless means you have the freedom to pursue any direction to create your life in the way that is the best and most enjoyable for you. We do not have to limit ourselves to one pursuit in life. If we follow Bruce Lee's example then we can pursue many different interests and be an Artist of Life. Being limitless is to never feel trapped. "Be a practical dreamer backed by action." Dream something that is achievable, and then go for it. In order to be limitless you have to be present. You have to be present in your thoughts, feelings, and environment so that you can be infinitely mobile and take action. "If you are in the now, you are creative. If you are in the now, you are inventive." "Unlimited living is turned into something dead for the sake of security. Pattern = limit. One ought to throw away all ideals, patterns, styles and throw away any concepts about what is ideal. Can you look at a situation without naming it? Naming it causes fear." We must be willing to examine things in the present moment. If the path is not working for you give yourself permission to turnaround from it and find a different route. Being limitless is skillfully and thoughtfully following your enthusiasm in your life. "The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement. To spend your time sitting in what might be." You do not learn anything in the avoidance of difficult situations or choices. "It is indeed difficult to see a situation simply. Our minds are very complex." We want to complicate everything. We want to think of every possible way and outcome and this can carry us away from the center of what we want to do. When living limitless, we have to be present, and not judge with our preconceived notions, so that we have the freedom to consider that there might be a path to take we would not normally consider. "To bring the mind into sharp focus and to make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere, the mind must be emancipated from old habits, prejudices, restrictive thought process, and even ordinary thought itself." "To realize freedom requires an alert mind, a mind that is deep with energy, a mind that is capable of immediate perception without the process of graduation, without the idea of an end to be slowly achieved. Preformations simply lack the flexibility to adapt to the ever-changing. At this point, many would ask, "how then do we gain this unlimited freedom?" I cannot tell you because it will then become an approach. Although I can tell you what it is not, I cannot tell you what it is. That, my friend, you have to find out all by yourself." "Create immediately and atmosphere of freedom so that you can live and find out for yourself what is true, so that you are able to face the world with the ability to understand it, not just conform to it. One can tell for oneself whether the water is warm or cold. In the same way, a man must convince himself about these experiences, only then are they real." "A mind that has no dwelling continues to flow ceaselessly and ignores our limitations and our distinctions. Do not localize the mind anywhere but let it fill up the whole body; let if low freely throughout the totality of your being." Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

Happy New Year! To kick off 2019, Shannon and Sharon wanted to share their goals for the New Year and have a discussion surrounding creating goals, working towards them and maintaining momentum. When creating and pursuing goals it is important to have awareness, intention, clarity, and the will to take action. Bruce Lee was a man with many goals. He had big, visionary life goals and he also had smaller daily goals. Bruce believed that goals often just serve as a target and that the important thing about goals is that they give you something to work toward, but not to lock you down if something is not working. Goals are as big as you want them to be to facilitate your dreaming, but it should not overwhelm you or make you feel trapped in any way, you should have freedom to pivot if needed. Bruce had the big goal to share the beauty of his art and culture with the world. Initially, his path to this goal was to open martial arts schools all across the US, but this shifted as Bruce learned how he liked to teach, how to reach a broader audience and the logistics of actually running multiple martial arts studios. His path to sharing his art and culture with the world shifted to sharing through Hollywood movies. Bruce ended up having to go to Hong Kong to get Hollywood to notice him, but he finally succeeded. His big goal did not change, just the path to his goal changed. "The spiritual power of man's will removes all obstacles." –Bruce Lee "Know what you want. I know my idea is right, and, therefore, the results would be satisfactory. I don't really worry about the reward, but to set in motion the machinery to achieve it. My contribution will be the measure of my reward and success. When you drop a pebble into a pool of water, the pebble starts a series of ripples that expand until they encompass the whole pool. This is exactly what will happen when I give my ideas a definite plan of action." – Bruce Lee Shannon's 2019 Goals: Finish writing her book "Be Water, My Friend." Execute in a full and complete way personal creative projects on an ongoing basis Change the way her business functions and grows Sharon's 2019 Goals: Optimum physical health. Creative Play. Get back to her own writing and writing whatever wants to be written. "The doer alone learns." – Bruce Lee What are your 2019 goals? We would love to hear from you! Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

Thank you to all of our listeners for a wonderful year! In this episode Shannon and Sharon reflect on the lessons that they have learned in the past year. We want to encourage all of you to look back on the year and notice your progress. It is important to not only look forward, but to reflect on what we have learned. The end of a year is a good marker to reflect back on the progress we have made and we wanted to share the lessons we have learned over the past year with all of you. Bruce Lee was big on learning: constant discovery, self-knowledge, growth, maximizing one's potential, and self-actualizing. Bruce Lee was conscious and optimistic about continuing his own evolution. "Learning is discovery, the discovery of the cause of our ignorance. However, the best way of learning is not the computation of information. Learning is discovering, uncovering what is there in us. When we discover, we are uncovering our own ability, our own eyes, in order to find our potential, to see what is going on, to discover how we can enlarge our lives, to find means at our disposal that will let us cope with a difficult situation. And all this, I maintain, is taking place in the here and now." Sharon had some podcast episodes this year that really resonated with her, the first being "#99 Someone Real." She has found herself returning to the concept of "being real" repeatedly throughout this year. Not everyone responded well to realness, but the ones that did were those closest to her, her husband, her kids, and close friends. She found that she was craving more of the "real." Bruce Lee sought realness and wanted to be someone real. This realness is the reason that he is so engaging and that we are still talking about him all these years later. Shannon had a lot of learnings this past year around solid personal safety and self-love. She had realizations about feeling safe in herself and feeling grounded and centered in who she is; and then being able to go forth into the world as herself entirely. Sharon found that the episode "#119 The Nature of Water" struck home with her. She has always had a strong spiritual connection to water, and this is one of the Bruce Lee philosophies she uses constantly. Sharon has found that any time she is in a sticky, challenging situation, she can always throw water on it. The water philosophy can come into any situation and always show a way through it. One of Shannon's big learnings for the year has been about consistent forward motion. Like her father's philosophy surrounding the flow of water, Shannon has been cognizant of having less points of stagnation in her flow. She found that taking a rest was good at times, but when she finds herself going in circles, she has to take a step in any direction to get the forward motion she needs. Rest and Flow, rest and flow, has become a good rhythm for Shannon that has resulted in more productivity and forward motion. Sharon's third lesson came from the episode "#120 Letter to Pearl." She had read this letter many times before, but when they did this episode Sharon felt a strong resonance with the section where Bruce described his spiritual realization of how he has a vital spiritual force within him. Sharon has felt this vital spiritual force build within her throughout this year. Shannon's third lesson for this past year was to hear her intuition as her own voice. Ideas and thoughts would pop into head and she would discount them because they came to her in her own voice. This past year Shannon as been working on hearing that intuitive voice instead of ignoring it. "Daily discovery and understanding is the process of growth and learning. I am happy because I am growing daily and honestly don't know where my ultimate limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery that I can obtain." Full Notes and links to other episodes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

This week we share wisdom from our podcast listeners. We've selected a few stories to share about how listeners have incorporated Bruce Lee's philosophy into their everyday lives and the impact that the philosophy has had on them. Thank you to all of our listeners who write to us sharing the impact that Bruce Lee and this podcast has had on their lives! We love reading how you all are living your lives fully and authentically. We wanted to share these pieces of listener wisdom because they are all interpreting Bruce Lee's philosophy for themselves and using their own words. These pieces of wisdom resonated with us so we hope they resonate with you too. It is awesome and amazing that you all are taking the Bruce Lee's philosophies and creating your own recipes for life. Thank you all for listening and working with these philosophies in your own lives. Please continue to share your stories with us! Go to our show notes at brucelee.com/podcast to read the listener wisdom shared in this episode. Full Notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

"The autonomous individual is only stable so long as he possessed of self-esteem. The maintenance of self-esteem is a continuous task which taxes all of the individual's power and inner resources. We have to prove our worth and justify our existence anew each day. When, for whatever reason, self-esteem is unattainable, the autonomous individual becomes a highly explosive entity. He turns away from an unpromising self and plunges into the pursuit of pride, the explosive substitute for self-esteem. All social disturbances and upheavals have their roots in crises of self-esteem, and the great endeavor in which the masses most readily unite is basically a search for pride." Bruce Lee had a lot of thoughts around the notion of self-worth and self-esteem. (Many of these quote and thoughts are from The Passionate State of Mind by Eric Hoffer.) Join Shannon & Sharon as they dive into self-esteem, taking action, and feeling worthy. Find our full show notes: BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com

Disclaimer: Some of the language in this episode includes profanity In this episode Shannon and Sharon were joined on the podcast by special guest Mike Vallely. Mike Vallely is a professional skateboarder, owner of Street Plant, musician, actor, tv personality, stuntman, professional wrestler, and FHL hockey player. Mike shares with us his philosophy on skating, how he first encountered Bruce Lee at flea markets, what it was like growing up as a skater in 1980s New Jersey, and how he first started his family-run company Street Plant. Mike Vallely became obsessed with skateboarding when he was 14. He began skating by borrowing friends' boards, but finally got his own board for Christmas that year. From there he skated obsessively, even sneaking out at night to go skating. By 1986, Mike had an amateur sponsorship deal with Powell-Peralta Skateboards and his picture was in skateboard magazine Thrasher. After winning the amateur division in the 1986 "Street Attack" contest in Oceanside, CA, Mike Vallely was featured in a full-page spread in Transworld Skateboarding's September issue. Mike Vallely became a professional skater in May 1987 at age 16. Since becoming a professional skateboarder, Mike Vallely rode for many different skate companies and started many of his own companies. He also played in different bands over the years, most recently performing as Black Flag's lead singer. In 2010, Mike Vallely joined the Federal Hockey League as a professional hockey player. It was in 2015 when Mike started Street Plant with his family. Much of Mike Valley's philosophy on skateboarding is aligned with Bruce Lee's philosophy on martial arts. Both felt a need to portray their craft in a positive light and help others understand it better. It is this alignment of philosophies that led to collaboration between Street Plant and the Bruce Lee Family Company. Street Plant and the Bruce Lee Family Company teamed up to create a few different skateboard designs, and they're now available online at StreetPlantBrand.com. Check out this episode and others at BruceLee.com/podcast Check out our Podcast Bundle on the Bruce Lee Store! Follow us @Brucelee & write us at hello@brucelee.com