Sunshine and Olly

by Jonathan Blaustein

Let’s see if this works.

I just went for a walk with Jessie, and wouldn’t you know it, but I took one photo of a green tree, against a yellow one, and then the blue sky.

I wasn’t thinking it might be the one photo that allowed me to blog today.

But here we are.

(A promise is a promise.)

Right now, I’m looking out the windows at the various colored leaves.

This week has been the most beautiful of the year.

75 degree days.

Perfect blue skies.

The occasional breeze to kiss your face, at just the right moments.

Part of how I’ve gotten to this place, (being the happiest, healthiest and fittest of my life,) is realizing it requires an all of the above strategy.

Exercise
Sleep
Proper diet
Community
Family
Creativity
Removal of toxic relationships
Going with the flow
Expressing Gratitude
Time in nature
Canine companionship
Learning

It’s a foundational approach, and if you’re not using all your tools, (or at least experimenting with them,) it’s hard to optimize.

For example, this was a breakthrough week for me in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

On Monday, I got my first, proper seminal moment. (And another on Tuesday too.)

When I had my first tap-outs, and first properly controlled match, they were both against teenagers.

Strong-ish teenagers, true, but still teenagers.

As I approached the dojo on Monday, getting there 30 min early for a stretch, I was very present, and noticed a guy walking in just before me, (he didn’t know I was there,) and though I only met him once, he’d been something of an antagonist.

And older gentleman, in his 60’s, probably, but the first time we rolled, he knew a technique I didn’t, and after a proper battle, he eked out a win.

Dude was strong, and had skill.

He looked at me and said, “I thought you’d gas out. Old guys always gas out.”

(A backhanded compliment if ever there were one.)

I’m sure steam came out of my ears, but I just smiled and walked away.

That night, there were promotions, and this guy, whom I’d never even seen in the dojo, got promoted to his second stripe White Belt.

(Apparently, he’d had health issues, which was why we he hadn’t been around.)

I want my second stripe, so that ground salt into the wound, but I just smiled, and that was that.

Monday evening, though, it was perfect weather, and I really didn’t want to be crammed into the stretching area with this guy.

We met once, he barely beat me, and was a proper dick about it.

So I stood still in the parking lot, took a breath, then another, and looked around.

It was so fucking beautiful.

The Taos Eco Park, with a great walking track, was just a three minute drive away.

So I turned on the spot, went back to the car, and ended up having 15 minutes of walking meditation, soaking up every second of the blue sky, the sun on my face, and the amazing light against Taos Mountain.

Then, I drove back to the dojo, feeling refreshed, with a calm, regular breathing pattern, which I was able to keep through class.

Wouldn’t you know it, but I ended up fighting the gentleman again, and we hadn’t so much as nodded to each other during class.

I was working from guard, and as I calmly looked up at him, he was snarling through his mouth guard, giving 100 percent effort in trying to crunch my entire frame into itself.

I opened my guard, brought my knees inside his chest, and before I knew what I was doing, I rolled my knee to a leg, and then pressed my right foot directly into his chest, as he crunched my body into itself.

He pressured so hard that he leaned forward, and in a flash, I hurled him over and behind me, literally kicking him into the sky, and he tumbled to the ground, when I quickly rose up and crushed him in side control.

My biggest win ever, by a big margin.

Even better, after class, he came up to me smiling, complimented my jiu jitsu, and asked if I’d show him the move I’d utilized.

8.5 months of grueling training, getting my ass kicked over and over, all the humbling, the sweat.

The injuries.

In that moment, it came flooding into my system as dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin too.

Fuck, it felt amazing!

But if I hadn’t been in a good enough frame of mind to choose walking in the sun, and fresh air, instead of jamming myself into an airless loft, with an antagonist, just because I was inflexible?

The win never would have happened.

I needed to be properly relaxed to succeed.

So there’s the lesson for the day.