Zen and the Art of Gunfighting

(Wikimedia Creative Commons)

If you want to kill 'em right, you gotta take your time….

Speaking to his biographer, Wyatt Earp said this, in the Saturday Evening Post.

While it is unusual to post about violence on a positive thinking blog, trust me and read on.  There is method to the madness.

"The most important lesson I learned… was the winner of a gunplay usually was the man who took his time…"

"When I say that I learned to take my time in a gunfight, I do not wish to be misunderstood, for the time to be taken was only that split fraction of a second that means the difference between deadly accuracy… and a miss."

"Perhaps I can best describe such time-taking as going into action with the greatest speed of which a man’s muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick-shooting involves."

"Mentally deliberate, but muscularly faster than thought, is what I mean."

Want to be the best at what you do?  Be relaxed, while you draw on that hair trigger.  Renaissance courtiers and philosophers called this "sprezzatura," or "studied carelessness."  Wikipedia explains it further: "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it."

In the common parlance, you've got to practice hard, sharpen your chops, and when it comes time to draw, don't give a damn about it, while giving a damn.

Master Swordsman Miyamoto Musashi explained it this way: "To wield the long sword well you must wield it calmly…"

"…when the enemy is agitated and shows an inclination to rush, do not mind in the least. Make a show of complete calmness, and the enemy will be taken by this and will become relaxed. When you see that this spirit has been passed on, you can bring about the enemy's defeat by attacking strongly with a Void spirit."

Here is the method to the madness.  All that we do, all that we seek to learn or accomplish, from the ball court to the work place, can be done masterfully if we do it with Sprezzatura.

You can read more of Wyatt Earp's comments here.

Mr. Milton's Miraculous Depression Cure

This next one is an old saw that's been tossing around the inspiration blogs for awhile.  Sort of like that meme graphic where President Lincoln says something about quotes you find on the Internet.  I still think it's cool, anyway.

What makes the story remarkable is that it presents a very simple, very obvious solution to a deeply ingrained problem many people deal with.  Its a solution I've written about on this blog more than once.  Often I have to keep reminding myself to practice it.

The story describes a depressed disabled spinter wanting to die.  Her nephew arranged to have her visited by Milton Erickson, a psychiatrist and hypnotist know for his unorthodox methods of getting spectacular results with patients.  He gave her purpose.

The solution was very simple, but it saved her life.  She lived another twenty years and passed away mourned by thousands. People pay large sums of money for help with what Erickson solved for free, with AFRICAN VIOLETS.

Bill O'Hanlon, one of Erickson's colleagues, shares the story:

Eat Me.

When they gave Darshan Chandan poor service in a restaurant, he started something.

Darshan fired off a complaint to the resataurant management, who apologized and offered him some free food.  He told them to feed it to hungry children. They did.

In his surprise, Darshan started thinking. "What if...?" he asked himself.

What he started went on to move a multitude of people, all of them acting in a coordinated network, doing things they would have not considered doing before.  The network fed starving children and motivated a few of them to reach for higher things.  A popular movement actually accomplished what it set out to do, and is still doing it.  All according to plan.

The rest, as they say, is history.  Here is his story.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/1215/how-a-disappointing-restaurant-experience-turned-into-an-effort-that-now-feeds-1200-kids-meryl-garcia/

Hustle Me, Baby

There are some who say Orson Welles is a cinematic genius.

He fought a drawn out battle to get his film "Citizen Kane" shown in enough theaters to break even, against an empire of people who did not want it shown.  Eventually it produced modest returns, but far short of expectation, and for awhile it faded into artistic obscurity.  Since then, critics the world over have hailed it as one of the greatest movie works of all time.

Out of frustration over the battle, he remarked that film artistry is "about two percent movie-making and ninety-eight percent hustling."  The rest of his life he struggled to get his vision across with projects that never quite panned out, many of them ending up in disaster.  He swam in debt continually.  A talented genius, he never fully mastered the business side of his work.

Very often in business I used to hear people say "Don't bother me with the details, I'm a big picture person."  They use creativity and talent as an excuse not to do other things necessary to succeed.  While it is true that delegation can be a secret to success, one still has to take the time and make the effort to oversee and manage what is delegated.  In short, one must hustle, regardless of vision.

I saw a movie once, where a salesman spent a lot of time sitting at the bar despondent about his lack of success.  "Oh that's easy, sugar..." said the cocktail waitress.  "Like my granpappy used to tell me, if you want to hustle up the honey, get out and hustle, honey."

Wisdom in The Men's Room

During a visit to a local grocery store, I went to the bathroom.

Prominently on the wall, hung one of those decorative plaques with a motivational quote.  The plaque read, "have faith that service rooted in good character will yield the best outcome."  I assumed it was mainly for the benefit of the employees, but after pondering it for a moment I realized it could benefit a more general audience as well.

In addition to the surface meaning about work and business there is deeper, more spiritual and universal meaning.

A common theme in many mystical traditions, as well as the writings of Catherine Ponder, is that to begin receiving you must start giving.  In fluid mechanics this is known as "priming the pump."  You send material through the front end of the device to create movement that draws material back out the receiving end.  Spiritually you do this by sending out good into your environment persistently, and in time good comes back to you.

"But that's just it," some people say.  "I lack so much, I have nothing to give."  Catherine teaches that if you look around yourself and look within yourself long enough, you will find bountiful good to give.

I find this to be true in my own experience, many times over.  For example: one time I was out of work, with a questionable work history and some burned employment bridges behind me.  I had almost no cash I could tithe to my church, much less meet my needs and pay my bills.  Going on what Catherine taught, I made this plan and stuck to it for weeks:

• I prayed, affirmed, and visualized that I could find or be given things I could use for sending good out into my environment.  I asked for guidance in finding opportunities to serve people.
• Every chance I got, I would perform small random acts of kindness I noticed could be done for someone.
• If I had a little extra of something I was using or eating, I shared with others wherever I could.
• I said prayers for specific persons, asking they be blessed in ways specific to their needs.
• I worked on forgiving people.  (As much of a crank as I am sometimes, this was a real hard one for me to do. To this day there a couple of things I struggle to forgive, but God is helping me to do it.)
• In tiny amounts, I still contributed cash to my church, even though it wasn't a full tithe at the time.  I released the funds into God's hands, I let Him be the Judge over how they were used,  and I spoke words of forgiveness for anyone who might misuse it.
• I gave away or donated things around the house I didn't need but were useable to others.
• I reached out to people who were down and lent them my shoulder or my ear.
• I performed small tasks for others to help them in whatever ways they needed help during their day.

The rest, as they say, is history.  After a lengthy search I found a job that I enjoyed doing for quite awhile after.  People stepped forward unexpectedly and gave me help in all sorts of ways, financially and logistically.  During this process, I kept up my trust in God and kept persisting.  My efforts paid off.