Note: The weekly mettle maker supports all of the Heritage Arts programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Heritage Wildwood, Heritage Fitness and Heritage Spirit.
This week’s offering revolves around the difference between what’s real and what’s for show. People love to jockey for position, cut angles, weave in and out, and make all kinds of moves to get more popularity, power, and clout.
Skill, expertise, knowledge, wisdom, and talent aren’t a requirement. Many who have power, popularity, and influence are simply famous for being famous. And many of them got that way by being reality show stars. Reality shows are of course scripted. They are actors, plain and simple.
Rather than watching reality shows or, even worse, living your life as if you are a character in your own reality show, make an effort to be authentic. Don’t kid yourself. Take off your costume.
Stop pretending and start becoming what you want to be.
Reality Show: Mettle Maker #282
Thursday’s constitutional at Heritage Self-Defense in Richmond VA.
Self-Defense: Perform this week’s constitutional. See that picture on the right? These are real world exercises that directly translate to fighting fitness. Go get it done: Back Bridges (25), Clocks (25), Bottom Scissors (60 secs), Crawl (8 x 4 yards), Squeezes (60 secs), Push-ups (25), and Shin Rides (25). Working solo? Use a heavy bag with the chains off. Working with a partner? Use your partner! Confused about the exercises? See video at the bottom of the page, join the club, or sign up for the Heritage Self-Defense distance learning program.
Fitness: Are you doing exercises because they’re popular or because they work? Do you let what’s cool and trendy determine the exercises you do? Do you let your girlfriend or boyfriend decide on which fitness class you’re going to take? Look at every exercise you’re doing at the gym and ask yourself if you have concrete evidence that it actually provides what you’re looking for (getting stronger, faster, or better at your chosen sport or activity). News flash: battle ropes aren’t going to help prep you for a muddy obstacle course run, P90X isn’t going to make you a better tennis player, and so on. Need help working out a training program? Sign up for Heritage Fitness and we’ll help you free of charge.
Wildwood: How much of what you know about the outdoors is “real?” Sure, you know that two feet of leaves will shed water on a shelter roof — but have you actually slept dry under a leaf roof on a rainy night? You know how important it is to have a reflecting surface behind you when you’re trying to stay warm by a fire — but have you ever made one and used it to stay alive in freezing temperatures? You know how important it is to stay positive when the chips are down — but have you ever successfully dragged your attitude back from the abyss? You’ve read the great adventure stories of fact and fiction — but when was the last time you actually went on an adventure? I advise going today, before you run out of time! Need an outdoor training plan? Sign up here, it’s free.
Spirit: Is it “just” a video game, “just” a movie, or “just” a video? If you are acting out a crime spree while playing a video game, or watching a movie in which the protagonist is a degenerate, to what degree are you performing those same acts? To what degree are you training your brain to act out those behaviors? Psychologists and sociologists have tried to make a direct connection between simulated and actual violent and immoral activity with mixed results. Some studies say violent and immoral video games and movies increase these behaviors in the real world, others say they don’t. To sort this out, let’s look at the science on visualization. Successful athletes visualize their actions beforehand — they imagine every drive off the tee, every home run, every touchdown pass, and every MMA takedown a thousand times, and those visualizations trigger the same pathways as actual practice. When properly paired with actual activity, mental practice time has been estimated 80% as effective as physical practice.[1] In sum, visualization in sports has real world affects, but only when it’s integrated into the real activity. On the other hand, pornography use has been directly correlated to increased rates of divorce, sexual deviancy, sexual criminality, belief in the rape myth, and so on. [2, 3] How do we sort this out? How do we decide what’s healthy for us and what’s not? Consider this from Gospel of Matthew 5:27-27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Turn off the video game console, put down the remote control, and join us for Holy Communion on Sunday and if you need help breaking free from media, schedule a pastoral counseling session here.