Keep the Faith

(Reposted from RepairKylesAchilles.blogspot.com)

Screw what the doctors, the experts, and all those fancy specialistis with appellations and suffixes to their names.  They make a living on making you feel small.  Have faith in yourself and your body's ability to heal itself.  Watch this man's remarkable transformation from obese paraplegic to conditioned athlete.

Arthur Boorman was a disabled Gulf War veteran, who injured his knees and back from paratrooping and thought his life as he knew it was over.  Then he took his life into his own hands and starting being proactive.  He started doing yoga even though he had to wear knee braces and was falling over while doing it.

My mind tells me to give up, but my heart won't let me.

-Lao Zi

In 10 months, he lost 140 lbs.  

Thanks to Serdar for posting this on Facebook.  When I watched this last night there was only around 4,000 views.  This morning, I saw shared on FB by a few of my FB buddies and the count was up to 200,000.  Now it's 409,000!  It's spreading like wildfire.

(It's always nice when something uplifting and inspiring like this becomes viral rather than a video of some douche getting kicked in the nuts... It'll probably be put on Reddit soon, if it's not already on there.)

I don't have "Shazam" because I don't have a smart phone.  Can someone tell me who sings this moving version of "Fix You" by Coldplay?

A Tribute to the Legend — Bruce Lee

I'm in dire need of some inspiration so I decided to do a post on one of my all-time favorite individuals that ever graced this planet with his presence, Bruce Lee.

(*FYI:  I do NOT own the copyright to any of these images or videos, I just appreciated the power of images over words.  I have posted the URL links to the original sources were I procured the images below the photos in a caption.  If you would like for me to remove your image, please e-mail me and I will do so as promptly as possible.)

http://benotdefeatedbytherain.blogspot.com/2011/05/manny-pacquiao-and-bruce-lee.html

Bruce Lee — the icon, the fighter, the lover, the family man, the teacher, the philosopher:

Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own. 

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. 

Simplicity is the last step of art. 

A teacher is never a giver of truth - he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst. 

When an opportunity in a fight presents itself, "I" don't hit, "it" hits all by itself. 

The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering. 

A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough. 

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind. 

A goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at. 

There's no challenge in breaking a board. Boards don't hit back. 

Don't think, feel! It is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory. 

To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. If you want to understand the truth in martial arts, to see any opponent clearly, you must throw away the notion of styles or schools, prejudices, likes and dislikes, and so forth. Then, your mind will cease all conflict and come to rest. In this silence, you will see totally and freshly.

 (While the credit goes to Bruce Lee, of course, these quotes were compiled by an individual posting on this forum.)

Chuck Norris gets his ass kicked from here to Timbuktu:

 

"Be Water, My Friend:"

 

Question: What are your thoughts when facing an opponent? 

Bruce: There is no opponent. 

Question: Why is that? 

Bruce: Because the word ''l'' does not exist. 

A good fight should be like a small play...but played seriously. When the opponent expands, l contract. When he contracts, l expand. And when there is an opportunity... l do not hit...it hits all by itself (shows his fist). Any technique, however worthy and desirable, becomes a disease when the mind is obsessed with it.

Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.

(The previous B. Lee quotes were transcribed from this site.)


The following were from the Facebook group, Bruce Lee One, specifically the album titled, Bruce Lee Art Martiaux:

With his Wing Chun Master, "Ip Man:"

Vintage

Speed bag work

‎Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. 

Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.  

Never waste energy on worries or negative thoughts, all problems are brought into existence -drop them.

Bruce and his son, Brandon Lee:

http://sok765.tumblr.com/post/3011505733/bruce-lee-and-brandon-lee

http://www.thisisnotporn.net/tag/bruce-lee/

http://fuckyeahbruceleeandbrandonlee.tumblr.com/

Failure = Opportunity

"Not many people are willing to give failure a second opportunity. They fail once and it's all over. The bitter pill of failure is often more than most people can handle. if you're willing to accept failure adn learn from it, if you're willing to consider failure as a blessing in disguise and bounce back, you've got the potential of harnessing one of the most powerful success forces. 

Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity." 

-Joseph Sugarman