When asked 'why?' a blind guy would want to climb mountains, he answered, "I love the beauty of it. I love the feeling of the rock under my gloves. I love figuring things out. I love strategically surrounding myself with good people who make me stronger."
Erik is referring to personal perspective. A way of seeing. And like Erik, our lives are all about perspective, aren't they? We 'see' a situation in a certain way. We define it and then we give it meaning. And how we emotionally bond to that event determines our moods and our motivations. Without practice, most of us 'see' many events negatively. We look for the downside, for what's wrong.
But,it is important to remember that there is (always) another way - another angle that can then emotionally bind us to another reality. Choosing a perspective that serves us is vital, but it is equally important to
believe in that perspective.
Understanding that there are other viewpoints and believing in the viewpoint that helps us most, is like the difference between night and day. Pick a situation in; finance, health, business, education or relationships. Understanding that the situation can get better (or worse) and believing in a different situation entirely, is determined by what
we choose to see and how
we choose to feel.
In Erik's quote above, notice that he uses the word '
love' four times when describing why he chooses to climb, even though he is blind. The message? Whatever you choose to do,
go all in. Commit. Love what you are doing and
why you are doing it. Believing in 'why', creates motivation to try. Seeing motiv/ation as two words, 'motive' and 'action' makes it easier to understand ...
Your why makes you try.
Many of you will be expecting Erik to say that, "Everything is possible!" He doesn't. His advise is maybe more practical. Instead he says, "There are limits. I can't drive a car. But more important to me than identifying my limitations is creating good questions vs bad questions. Bad questions are, 'What if' questions. "What if I was smarter?" "What if I was stronger?" "What if I could see?". These are dead end questions. A good question is, "How do I do as much as I can with what I have?"
