Monthly Archives: June 2012

Lesson in Mental Strength

My Mental Strength That I Didn’t Know About

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I fell from my 1100cc Superbike a week ago. No one was to be blamed. The motorist stopped suddenly, but I also should have been more proactive not to have gone so near the car.  It was a good lesson learnt about staying alert and be proactive always. I am blessed that this learning lesson didn’t come together with more serious injuries than what I’m nursing now.

That’s really not the main point of this blog story.

The real story of it all came out when I was narrating the incident to Herman, a dear friend of mine.  From what could been the details of the accident itself, the story line changed to how I picked myself up from the road and my heavy bike, and off I went to deliver the 3 hour  lecture at HELP University despite the shock, pain and injuries, plus 5 days of continuous coaching workshops!

It has never crossed my mind that this simple act of responsibility was about my mental strength. But Herman interpreted it as so, and for him it is a classic example of mind over matter. Being a staunch Buddhist who practices meditation (and the teachings of Buddha), he sees valuable lessons in this accident that he and others can learn from. Truly I am indeed humbled, let alone surprised, by what he discerned at the deep intrinsic level – my sense of destiny and compelling purpose for being!

Let me put it this way. If it is really a case of mental strength where I had put mind over matter, then it is due to my overarching and compelling purpose of wanting to do what I have set out to do in this phase of my life.

Coming back to the accident, I could not let my students down although I knew they would have understood and gave me their support.  However, I could not help feeling that they would still be disappointed to have missed their coach learning lessons if I were to absent myself to nurse my injuries. I didn’t want them to have this feeling at all. It is better for me to suffer than to have so many disappointed students out there.
I thank Herman for insisting that I wrote this in my blog, for otherwise nobody would have ever known that I fell from my bike except my family members and some very closed friends and I would not have discovered about my mental strength from this incident.

One more thing…. I told Herman that, thank goodness, I didn’t carry my laptop in my bag  that day for otherwise the injuries could have been worse. He asked, how come I ‘know’ not to carry it along?  To which I replied with utmost conviction that  the angels ‘told me’ this in advance, and protected me!
Do you have a similar experience to share with the other readers?