Extremes & Potentials

I get up every morning at around 5:00 (I told you below that I’m a creature of habit!) and either read or train. This time of year I’m getting more reading done since the training load is a bit lighter. The book I’m reading now is Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth. In the book, he describes a human phenomenon he calls “the pain-body”. Each of us has one, it’s just that some are more conscious of it than others and, thus, have mitigated it’s impact in our lives by “dis-identifying” with it. He states that “dis-identifying with the pain-body becomes an awakening and the decisive factor that forces the person into a state of Presence.” He goes on to state that the real being that is each of us is not our ego, but “consciousness that has become conscious of itself.” The worse the pain-body has become for a particular individual, the more that person has to gain and accomplish by becoming consciously aware of it and dis-identifying with it.

I was pondering all of that as it relates to sport and to triathlon. One thing that has continuously struck me as I’ve read the different blogs in this triathlon bloggers’ alliance that Kahuna has created is the number of people who seem to have come to an analogous physical consciousness and awakening through triathlon, especially as it regards losing weight and getting themselves into good physical condition. As stated above, the further a person is into lethargy or obesity, the more she/he has to gain from this awakening and path of action. I think that’s one of the great things about sport, and the welcoming aspect of the triathlon community really supports this kind of individual awakening.

Of course, it must be mentioned that the flip-side of this coin – and one just as deleterious – is the ego’s over-identification with an in-shape and conditioned physical body. I know that this is a constant struggle for me, and one that I try to stay conscious and aware of, although not always so effectively.