Welp, WSOP is upon us again. Today is the official beginning. Like last year, I'm planning on playing in at least one event. This year it's another $1,500 no limit event, a 3-day event beginning next Friday, June 4 (Event #11). Hopefully, I'll play as well as I did last year. Better still, I hope I'll run better! (See last year's blog for my trip report).
This year, unlike last, I'm making a concerted effort to get into the Main Event. I've always put the idea off because I didn't feel ready to push through the qualifying rounds. This year I'm doing just that, and making progress, though I still don't have a seat. Lots of time, though.
To prepare for WSOP, I'm playing in a live tournament at the Bike tomorrow night. It's the main event of a little deep stack series that the Bike has had going this week. Just a $215 but starts w/25,000 chips and 50/100 blinds, so 250 blinds deep at least for the first half hour. Should be a blast.
Then, Sunday afternoon, I'm playing in a $700 qualifier on Stars for the Main Event.
Whew, no rest for the wicked! I'm glad it's a long weekend so I can spend Monday zzzzz....
Rob out
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
My Daily Meditation
The biggest reason I haven't written since March 9 is that I was sick for about a month thereafter. Two sets of antibiotics didn't fix it. Neither did steroids, lots of sleep, or just about anything else. It eventually went away on its own, though I suspect it may have been allergy-related.
Although it was a rough time, my being sick ultimately did me a service, however.
Being sick disrupted my daily routine significantly. While before I'd been exercising 4 days a week before work and occasionally meditating, all that stopped. I stopped drinking caffeine entirely, also, as that made me feel much worse for some reason I have yet to determine. In short, my life and routine were turned upside-down.
At first, I thought this was wholly a bad thing. As it turns out, having separation from my routine gave me a perspective on it that was, at least for me, impossible while in the midst of it. I made certain resolutions.
First, I cut my coffee consumption in half. Understand, I love my coffee. I roast my own and thrive on the flavor it provides. I don't ever want to give it up. That said, my past habit of having a few cups in the morning and a few in the afternoon wasn't doing great things for my stomach. Now I have it in the morning and green tea, if necessary, around 2pm. I'm confident it's already improved my gut and my sleep patterns.
Second, and even more critical, I resolved that I would get serious about two of the most important activities in good health: exercise and meditation. Where before, I would exercise 4 times a week, usually Monday-Thursday- I'd slack off on the weekend and Friday, making excuses. I resolved that, from now on, I would exercise every single day and not accept my own excuses.
That was over a month ago. So far I've managed all but two days. With exercise, I have a little leeway, because there are going to be situations in which it's not practical (when traveling) or not necessarily wise (when sick or really really sleep-deprived). I've also increased the time that I exercise. As you can imagine, I feel fabulous.
I made the same resolution with meditation, but this one was ironclad. Even when I'm sick or tired, I can still meditate. I can even do it easily - and nearly anywhere - by putting my meditation on my Ipod and my phone. So far I haven't missed a day. It's only 20 minutes a day, but I honestly believe that it's the single best thing I've done for my health - well, ever, even including all of the above.
Here are the benefits I've experienced from daily meditation only 45 or so days in:
1) Daily distance from external stimuli.
I cannot fairly state how inundated we all are in modern society. I can only tell you that I wasn't consciously aware of the breadth of external input until I made myself pull the plug for twenty minutes a day. Now I have a guaranteed twenty minutes of silence daily. Getting unplugged from the stimuli grid has helped my mind relax, made me feel more creative, centered and in touch with both my body and deeper self. If I don't have a way to get this silence, I never give myself a chance to catch my breath, my thoughts spiral out of control, and before I know it, I've slept-walked through another day, month, year, with no real plan or control over my own destiny.
2) True rest.
Not even sleep gives you a real break from this stimuli, since dreaming can be as active as waking and the mind can race ever faster. How many times have you awoken in the midst of a dream and felt more tired for having slept? I'm not suggesting sleep isn't important - in fact, it's absolutely critical - but meditation gives you something that sleep doesn't. Perhaps more importantly, still, meditation augments and enhances sleep. This is because taking twenty minutes a day to calm your mind takes the pressure off your unconscious which does all the heavy lifting while asleep. Meditate and sleep better. Really.
Not only that, but conscious and intentional muscle relaxation relieves physical and mental stress in a real and dramatic fashion. Focus on the body is a prerequisite to deep relaxation, and meditation helps you focus, not just on the body, but in general, and in a more highly concentrated way than otherwise, at least for me.
3) Being awake.
Meditation doesn't just help you to sleep better, relieve stress, and detach from the madness of daily life - it also helps you significantly DURING daily life through practice of the skill of mindfulness.
Mindfulness is simply the idea of holding your attention on the present moment. Some people call this "being comfortable in your own skin," other people call this "being in the moment." It's a mistake to assume this is a philosophy that has to inform every waking moment, but the ability to focus on the present, turn off the thought bullet train and become embodied has numerous benefits. The most significant one for me is that I am able to catch myself getting upset or emotional many moments before it actually happens. I have an enhanced ability to prevent myself from losing control because I am more conscious of myself and of my mind. At the same time, mindfulness helps you become more aware of your body, and as a consequence, notice sooner when you are doing something harmful to it - whether it's something as simple as sitting in a bad posture, or as all-encompassing as a bad diet or sleep pattern.
All this from twenty minutes a day of effort.
Believe me, you CAN and SHOULD make time. It doesn't really matter that you choose a specific school of meditation, but rather that you find something that works for you and that you DO IT. Remember, daily commitments are easy when you are excited about them. Doing them when excited is barely significant. Doing them when you don't feel like doing them at all is when you WIN and is what progress is really all about.
I hope you give it a try.
Rob
Although it was a rough time, my being sick ultimately did me a service, however.
Being sick disrupted my daily routine significantly. While before I'd been exercising 4 days a week before work and occasionally meditating, all that stopped. I stopped drinking caffeine entirely, also, as that made me feel much worse for some reason I have yet to determine. In short, my life and routine were turned upside-down.
At first, I thought this was wholly a bad thing. As it turns out, having separation from my routine gave me a perspective on it that was, at least for me, impossible while in the midst of it. I made certain resolutions.
First, I cut my coffee consumption in half. Understand, I love my coffee. I roast my own and thrive on the flavor it provides. I don't ever want to give it up. That said, my past habit of having a few cups in the morning and a few in the afternoon wasn't doing great things for my stomach. Now I have it in the morning and green tea, if necessary, around 2pm. I'm confident it's already improved my gut and my sleep patterns.
Second, and even more critical, I resolved that I would get serious about two of the most important activities in good health: exercise and meditation. Where before, I would exercise 4 times a week, usually Monday-Thursday- I'd slack off on the weekend and Friday, making excuses. I resolved that, from now on, I would exercise every single day and not accept my own excuses.
That was over a month ago. So far I've managed all but two days. With exercise, I have a little leeway, because there are going to be situations in which it's not practical (when traveling) or not necessarily wise (when sick or really really sleep-deprived). I've also increased the time that I exercise. As you can imagine, I feel fabulous.
I made the same resolution with meditation, but this one was ironclad. Even when I'm sick or tired, I can still meditate. I can even do it easily - and nearly anywhere - by putting my meditation on my Ipod and my phone. So far I haven't missed a day. It's only 20 minutes a day, but I honestly believe that it's the single best thing I've done for my health - well, ever, even including all of the above.
Here are the benefits I've experienced from daily meditation only 45 or so days in:
1) Daily distance from external stimuli.
I cannot fairly state how inundated we all are in modern society. I can only tell you that I wasn't consciously aware of the breadth of external input until I made myself pull the plug for twenty minutes a day. Now I have a guaranteed twenty minutes of silence daily. Getting unplugged from the stimuli grid has helped my mind relax, made me feel more creative, centered and in touch with both my body and deeper self. If I don't have a way to get this silence, I never give myself a chance to catch my breath, my thoughts spiral out of control, and before I know it, I've slept-walked through another day, month, year, with no real plan or control over my own destiny.
2) True rest.
Not even sleep gives you a real break from this stimuli, since dreaming can be as active as waking and the mind can race ever faster. How many times have you awoken in the midst of a dream and felt more tired for having slept? I'm not suggesting sleep isn't important - in fact, it's absolutely critical - but meditation gives you something that sleep doesn't. Perhaps more importantly, still, meditation augments and enhances sleep. This is because taking twenty minutes a day to calm your mind takes the pressure off your unconscious which does all the heavy lifting while asleep. Meditate and sleep better. Really.
Not only that, but conscious and intentional muscle relaxation relieves physical and mental stress in a real and dramatic fashion. Focus on the body is a prerequisite to deep relaxation, and meditation helps you focus, not just on the body, but in general, and in a more highly concentrated way than otherwise, at least for me.
3) Being awake.
Meditation doesn't just help you to sleep better, relieve stress, and detach from the madness of daily life - it also helps you significantly DURING daily life through practice of the skill of mindfulness.
Mindfulness is simply the idea of holding your attention on the present moment. Some people call this "being comfortable in your own skin," other people call this "being in the moment." It's a mistake to assume this is a philosophy that has to inform every waking moment, but the ability to focus on the present, turn off the thought bullet train and become embodied has numerous benefits. The most significant one for me is that I am able to catch myself getting upset or emotional many moments before it actually happens. I have an enhanced ability to prevent myself from losing control because I am more conscious of myself and of my mind. At the same time, mindfulness helps you become more aware of your body, and as a consequence, notice sooner when you are doing something harmful to it - whether it's something as simple as sitting in a bad posture, or as all-encompassing as a bad diet or sleep pattern.
All this from twenty minutes a day of effort.
Believe me, you CAN and SHOULD make time. It doesn't really matter that you choose a specific school of meditation, but rather that you find something that works for you and that you DO IT. Remember, daily commitments are easy when you are excited about them. Doing them when excited is barely significant. Doing them when you don't feel like doing them at all is when you WIN and is what progress is really all about.
I hope you give it a try.
Rob
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