New to Ready Force, Talk the Talk is designed to produce a topic of interest and connect you directly to the forum page of the Ready Force website by clicking on the link. You can comment on the topic of this newsletter or on any of the topics featured there by going through the simple sign up procedure. I will respond to anything you want to bring up and this is a great chance to get input from other people on anything you want to sound off on. The best comments posted on the Forum will be featured in the end of the year newsletter in a special section! In addition, in the month of January 2007, one person from the forum will be selected to win an autographed copy of my book, The Warrior’s Mantra, and a one-on-one training session with me on the topic of their choice. You name it; fitness, nutrition, stress management or anything from the warrior sciences, it’s up to you! This is a great way to start off the New Year, so let those comments flow!

This month’s Talk the Talk topic is:

Intuition. It is my belief that most of us walk around in a state of having our melons packed so far up our biscuits that we are in complete denial about listening to our intuition. Why? Simple, it’s because we are living in one of the safest societies in the history of mankind. Because we feel safe a majority of the time, we are not prepared when something happens that challenges our survival. Caught off guard we become victimized by circumstances. I’m willing to bet that you can recall a time where listening to your intuition saved your biscuits, but I’m also willing to bet not listening to your intuition has been the dominant experience in your life. You know what I’m talking about, where after the fact you beat yourself up because you “just knew” something was wrong, but you did it anyway. Let’s hear what you have to say about this important topic. I’m most interested in the lessons you learned from those harsh experiences and how you have learned to listen to the gift of intuition. Just click http://www.readyforce.net/forum and have your say on this or anything else that is on your mind!

Are you trying to save the world?

Dag Hammarskjold (say that three times fast) has provided the quote for this month’s inspiring words and with them a powerful lesson. Back when I was working as a police officer and teaching weaponless defense, I noted that approximately ten percent of the officers who attended our training were there to improve themselves and would seek additional training in their own personal lives. Eighty percent were there just basically going through the motions, more concerned about getting done so they could grab a cup at Starbucks. The other ten percent were, frankly, totally useless. They only possessed the lowest passable skills and had no interest whatsoever in trying to improve. This means that about 90% did not fully embrace their warrior spirit.

I will confess that this used to frustrate me significantly. I was providing them with solid, foundational training in hand to hand combat that was street proven. They were the people who were beyond the average martial arts hobbyist because they would actually use their skills on the street, and yet the vast majority ranked this type of training very low on their list of priorities. That’s right, the very people who risked their lives every day they worked shunned training that could save their lives. I heard every possible reasoning and excuse and I used to smash my melon against a wall trying to figure out how the hell I could inspire them to seek higher levels of proficiency. I would loose sleep over what I still believe to be an abominable situation when it comes to safety training. I would spend hours trying to create realistic training scenarios that were success oriented. I provided a training environment that was conducive to inspiring motivation. Some saw the light.

Sometimes I could light a spark in people and get them excited about their training. Positive reinforcement through training can be an amazing experience when done correctly. However, within a few weeks for most people the initial excitement they felt had disappeared, the spark had dulled, and the old habits of missing or skipping training seeped back into their lives. Back to square one, frustrated over why I could not reach the majority of people.

This is why Dag’s words are so important. I was trying to save my entire world and sacrificing my very soul because the result did not meet my expectations. I have learned over the years to always train others to the best of my abilities, to give them everything I possibly can and to help them in any way feasible. I strive to create training that is both fun and inspirational, to create that positive environment where I can empower people toward positive change. I always make sure they know that I’m there to support them after the training is over with anything they might need. However, once the training is completed I let it go. I no longer worry about reaching one-hundred percent of the people who attend my training sessions. I now focus on those people who want to continue to improve themselves. That is where I now choose to spend my energy. Anyone who knows me also knows that if you show me you are sincere I will do whatever I can to help you reach your goals.

I think many of us find ourselves in these situations, wondering how we can save the world. It’s simple, just start with one person at a time and let things cultivate naturally, don’t try to force it! This is the reward of training; when you can give yourself completely to someone and motivate them to not only develop, but to move past you to rouse even greater heights of expansion. As a trainer and mentor there is no greater reward than to have someone you have helped succeed.

I’ve been working with Dr. L. John Mason, owner and founder of the Stress Education Center, (www.dstress.com) for several years. Dr. Mason was my consultant on a wellness project I was working on where I developed 24 hours of training, and the central theme was to help people, specifically those engaged in emergency services, to understand how to recognize and manage stress. After becoming a certified stress management trainer through Dr. Mason, we began team teaching law enforcement personnel throughout the state of California. As we were putting on our training an interesting theme began to emerge. It boiled down to the fact that people in the classes were surprised, skeptical and unconvinced that the simple techniques we taught were really effective. Many people wanted “the advanced” techniques and felt we were holding out on them!

Here is the simple truth; the only thing complicated about managing daily stress is actually taking the minimal amounts of time to practice the techniques. John and I realized that some of the people who were attending our training felt that the techniques we were helping them to learn were at their essence to simplistic. They just could not believe that practicing them could change their lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. Helping to reduce tension and stress should not be complicated. I feel the same way about fitness and nutrition as well. People seem to think that unless it is insanely complicated it just won’t work so why bother trying. Well, if you won’t even try simple, easy to use techniques, what makes you think you would do something that is very difficult?

Dr. Mason shared a great story to illustrate this point. At one of his trainings on stress a person attending came up to Dr. Mason and explained that he was beside himself because he felt he simply could not do anything that he was asking him to do to manage his stress. Dr. Mason gently pushed and got this man to agree to one simple technique; to give sincere complements for the next two weeks to everyone he came in contact with. This man told John that no one ever approached him at work and that most people were afraid of him because he was “grumpy” most of the time. He was perceived as a jerk by his co-workers and in essence shunned from contact unless it was necessary for work. The man agreed to try giving sincere complements for a couple of weeks.

John was contacted a few weeks later by this man who was once again beside himself. He was in a state of awe about how his life had “literally changed” by using this simple technique. People changed their attitudes toward the man and saw him as a friendly and caring person. Employees opened up to him, started to seek him out on breaks and after work functions. Within a couple of weeks this man was no longer grumpy and his whole outlook on life improved by implementing one of the most basic and simple techniques possible, just being nice! How profound it was for him to discover that you get what you give.

The new featured article on the Ready Force website is called “Ten Timely Tips”. These simple stress management tips are provided by Dr. Mason to help reduce and manage daily stress. They are so simple you will just not believe they can work. I would encourage you to pick two or three that appeal to you, give them a whirl and watch the amazing results! Check http://www.readyforce.net/circle/articles for this article.

Special Notice: Dr. Mason has agreed to provide everyone associated with Ready Force a discount on his popular relaxation CD’s. Dr. Mason’s CD’s are an outstanding way to manage your stress with a time investment of only 20 minutes daily. Dr. Mason has relaxation CD’s to help combat pain, high blood pressure, GI disorders, sleep problems, healing, anxiety and panic issues and much, much more! Make sure if you order a CD to call Dr. Mason directly to receive your discount. If you order on-line you won’t be able to get the reduced price!! Not to mention you can ask Dr. Mason which CD might be best for your personal situation. You can reach Dr. Mason directly at (888) 795-0095.

OH MY GOD, DROP THE SPINICH!!!! Well, here we go again. Our fear based culture has latched onto the latest panic based spin and this time the target is spinach. Great, let’s just freak everyone out so we cut out all the fresh fruits and vegetables in favor of processed chemical laden foods. Brilliant, because God knows we can’t possibly take a step through life unless we are totally, absolutely guaranteed we will be safe. There’s a mass departure of horse feces! Here’s a dose of reality for you: life has no guarantees. Pull your head out of the sand and let’s face a bit of reality.

In case you missed this one, and it’s not likely you did, there was a very serious outbreak of E. coli infections that lead to at least one death and many people becoming seriously ill due to a contamination of fresh spinach in those pre-made salad bags. Some people were blown away that a vegetable like spinach could be affected by dangerous bacteria. And with E. coli we are talking about a dangerous and potentially fatal reaction. The media was right to announce the problem and the solution, but I fear they went way too far. It was typical media hype to the point that I assure you a good many people will never eat another leafy green again.

To prove this point I went and talked to the produce people at my local supermarket. They confirmed my suspicions, produce sales are dramatically down. Not just spinach, all produce. This is a very typical over reaction to something that is a serious threat, but we must keep our perspective. We are talking about one product, spinach, limited to the California Central Valley, probably from one farm in particular. Ok, so we don’t buy spinach for a while until the problem is worked out. That would be prudent. But to simply stop buying fresh fruit and vegetables is totally ridiculous.

This is not the first time something like this has happened in regard to E. coli being present in lettuce and spinach, but what we must keep in view is that this is a rare experience. If we let our fears about everything in life run the day we will become paralyzed. I don’t want to live a life based on the latest dread. I promise you this will not be the last time you see something like this happen and yes some more people will get sick or even die from similar episodes in the future. In a market of food production like we see in the United States we are so far above the rest of the world in bringing safe and fresh food products to the masses that it makes stories like this headline news when it happens because it is so rare!

Bottom line: take normal food precautions when preparing meals, stay informed for events like this one and make sure you are eating an abundance of those wonderful, healthy fruits and vegetables. There will be many other more pressing issues to fear as soon as the media finds them, I assure you!

This month’s mantra is; “My body and mind are calm, centered and focused.”

Staying calm, centered and focused in the middle of a life challenging event is one of the most important keys to survival. Letting the mind and body relax is counter to the heart pounding, muscle cramping experience that fear can bring. By practicing and developing a calm, centered and focused mental state before something happens, we can set ourselves up for success when life brings us a challenge.

Now, sit or lie back comfortably. Take three deep breaths, pausing after you inhale and then exhale fully and completely. After you have taken your first three breaths, just breathe normally. Close your eyes and let any tension you may be holding in your muscles just begin to melt away. After you center yourself and you feel your breath quite down, repeat the mantra; "My body and mind are calm, centered and focused" to yourself for the next five minutes. See yourself remaining calm in all situations as you use your breath to keep you centered and focused.

As many times as you can throughout your day, stop what you are doing, take one deep breath and repeat this mantra. You can do this when the phone rings, or when you look at your watch, or anytime you feel the need to just slow down for a brief moment and focus. The power of setting a positive intention throughout your day should not be underestimated. It can literally change your life. Make this short time commitment everyday and begin on the path of empowering yourself to survive.

Well, that’s all for now. Don’t forget to place your comments in the Forum section!

Stay trained, stay tactical, stay safe!

Rodger.