Hello!
So... for some reason, the thought of Alex Honnold's AMAZING human feat of climing a sheer cliff wall - WITH NO ROPES!!! - kept tugging at my brain. I had seen the documentary about him, "Free Solo" a few years ago. His accomplishment is a sample of super-human mastery on steriods!! Anyway, I kept wondering, "Did he visualize this accomplishment? Did he train his brain?" (If it was in the documentary, I had forgotten it.)
I forgot that I wanted to look into this, but then - I don't know how! (intention?) - YouTube "randomly" pulled up Alex's Ted Talk for me! (I'm starting to think that YouTube can literally read minds now!)
About 7:45 minutes in to his Ted Talk, he describes how he prepared his mind, then his emotions - repeatedly. Note at in the beginning of this Ted Talk, he says, "That was the culmination of a nearly decade-long dream, and in the video I'm over 2500 feet off the ground. Seems scary? Yeah, it is, which is why I spent so many years dreaming about soloing El Cap and not actually doing it. But on the day that video was taken, it didn't feel scary at all. It felt as comfortable and as natural as a walk in the park."
(How I Climbed a 3000 Foot Vertical Cliff - Without Ropes >>
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His description has helped me to understand the concept of my own goal feeling "natural." I now ask myself throughout my day, "What if my XYZ-goal appeared before me, this second? How would I react? Would I be shocked? What would I do next? Who would I call first? What would the rest of that day look like?" Playing with these questions and my answers has become a fun part of my daily routine now...
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