This morning I woke up a little later than usual so I only had so much time. Couldn’t work out before work but able to get in my meditation (that’s a non negotiator in the morning).

It was a nice morning so I decided to meditate on the front porch. I always start with 36 PC pullups. The reason for this is efficiency. I figure why not combine semen retention practice with meditation. Yes, I practice semen retention and recently completed 14 months of it. She did a few moves man, what are you going to do? However, I was able to harvest some, due to a technique I learned from Mantak Chia. I’ll hang my hat on 14 months for now I’m one month and a half into a new cycle. I’ll write an article on the benefits of semen retention some other time. Youngblood Elixir.

The PC pullups also allow the kundalini energy to rise. I do this to the head and allow circulation throughout my head. Then I rotate my lower dantian 36 times to get the cauldron stirred. Once this is complete, tongue to the roof of the mouth so my microscopic orbit can descend and do it’s rotation.

I had just finished the rotation a few times when the landscapers come out in full throttle. Like I said, woke up a little later than usual.

I decided to ride with it. They were blasting all around me. I never opened my eyes and kept my smile.

Thoughts of course came to me. I wonder what they are thinking. I was wondering if they would be louder on purpose. I secretly was hoping they would, and I would remain smiling.

However, my theatrics were not what was important. This wasn’t an ego on display. Back to the task at hand. Get through the chaos and remain centered and calm. No matter how long it takes.

This was a practice I am very grateful for. I remained after they left. I never stirred nor lifted my eyes, nor thought “why did they have to come now?” No, I welcomed it.

The true test of mental and emotional resilience is how will you react in the face of chaos. I don’t only do this for situations amongst life with people, but also for violent confrontations.

No matter how skilled one may be in the martial arts, street violence inacted on one, is just that, violence.

I meditate for many reasons. The spiritual is obvious. I also meditate for calmness in the face of possible attack. I want my skills to do the work and my emotions take care of themselves. As I said above, it’s all about efficiency.

In John Little’s “Wrath of the Dragon, The Real Fights of Bruce Lee,” which is a thoroughly researched book on the real fights Bruce Lee undertook, John relays a story that Bolo Yeung (Bolo from ‘Enter the Dragon’) told him.

Bolo entered Bruce’s room at his home and found him with a wired ring around his head.

“I am training my nervous system to transmit reactions faster. It is for agile body and hands.

How to do this? I tried many experiments. I finally figured out that a person’s reflexes are fastest when he is sleeping. When he is almost completely relaxed. The more relaxed you are, the faster the reflexes are. When a person’s external and internal systems are relaxed, the nervous transmission is the fastest. When you know this, you can possibly recreate this condition. How? During sparring you are very tense and cannot relax. What to do? You must want to sleep! You must get yourself into a condition that is the equivalent of sleep even when you are sparring or fighting.

I invented a machine that teaches me to do that

…I strap this on my head and I have tow [cassette] recorders. I can make the sounds from each recorder louder or softer. One tape has very loud sounds - automobile traffic, airplanes, taking off, gongs, and drums. The other tape is the sound of water slowly dripping - very rhythmic and hypnotic. I switch on both and mix the sounds, but turn the quiet sound louder than the noisy one. Slowly I decrease the dripping water and bring up the loud noises. But I can still hear the hypnotic sound no matter how loud the sound of an airplane gets. I have complete concentration on the dripping water no matter what. Internally, I hear it. I can hear this sound —- tap, tap, tap.”

Incredible insight. I thought of this story after my meditation this morning. I will be looking to see if there is an app that does this same method. By the way, I can’t recommend “Wrath of the Dragon,” enough. I read it in three days. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bruce could really fight, and how fast and powerful he was. He was a magician, just one in a different practice.

Most of us cannot live on a mountain and meditate all day. We must live in the world. Combine the way of the fakir, the way of the mystic and way of the yogi into Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way.

It is relatively (I say relatively) easy to meditate in serene and/or quiet surroundings. However, bring loud noises and chaos into the mix and the mind tends to focus on those things. Become emotional, judge the situation, instead of riding the wave. Once you lose control, the control of YOUR situation is lost.

Meditation is great for honing focus but the situation that calls for focus might not always be rosy. This is where knowing oneself comes into play of course, but if you have trained the mind AND the body to unconsciously remain calm, that is mesmerizing.

Storms of life, both big and small confront us. Have we prepared ourselves? Preparation is practice. Daily steps over time lead to big changes.

I’m now working in a homeless shelter as a case manager. There is much stress that comes from this both with my clients and co workers who can also get stressed. Different personalities, coupled with trauma. I must keep my cool so that I can assist in the best way I can. Not only will this help my clients, but also make me stronger. This rewarding work is what I get paid to do. Win, win win. Efficiency. Squeezing the nectar out of life.

Looks like Thursday morning routines will be reversed now. Workout first, meditation second. Unless it’s going to rain Thursday. Then best believe I’ll be out there on Wednesday. I wonder if they will be annoyed after a few months of this and start on the other side of the neighborhood. I’ll only wonder about that now, not again, and not during.

Good thing I got The Roots because “I Remain Calm.” And yes, lyrically I got the bomb when you put me on.

AND HE FELT WHAT WAS CREATED OUT OF CHAOS AND SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.