Mushin: are you ready to unleash the power of now?

Have you ever heard of mushin? You probably haven’t since it’s an ancient Japanese word and it means “no-mind”. Muchin is a state of mind in which fighters entered the battle (I’ll explain in a minute on how I got to this). But this state of mind is also helpful during everyday activities. Mushin aka the power of now will make sure that you stop multitasking and this will lead to a lot better results. You’ll be more productive and this will make you happier. It’s just too bad that most people can’t seem to reach this state of mind while others claim that it’s the biggest bullshit there is. Their ignorance is holding them back but that’s okay, you wouldn’t read this article if you were ignorant. I think that this intro will raise some questions. So let’s address those.

So what is the mind without a mind? It sounds weird, doesn’t it? It’s not that weird if you think about it. It just means that your mind isn’t fixed or occupied by thought or emotion and therefore you’ll be open to everything. This is the martial arts way of life. This is what I meant when I talked about the white belt mentality.

Mushin and how I got to this post

During the last 3 weeks, my sparring went from good to bad to worse. My progress stalled last week and now I’m even going backward. I’m losing to guys who had trouble sparring with me in the past. They didn’t get better I just got worse. I always sparred with an empty mind and I knew that I would get the best results by doing this. I admit that I’ve got a weird fighting style (hands down, switching sides often) but it feels extremely relaxing when I’m fighting like that. I like to follow my gut feeling when I do certain things.

So recently my coach told me to drop my approach and spar with my hands up (like a boxer) and I had to stop switching stances. I guess that you can guess how that ended so far. I’m currently fighting in a style that doesn’t feel right for me. My mind is constantly occupied with thoughts. I need to think about the fact that I need to hold my hand high and it’s a lot more effort to stay in the same stance. So recently I get my ass whooped. I feel like a heavy bag at the moment.

That’s why I like to do things my way. It gives me an empty mind. I’ll always listen but I won’t always follow. So I’m going to address this issue because this is not how I want to step into an octagon.

You’ll get KO’d if you’re fighting with an occupied mind. You won’t see punches coming, you won’t see kicks coming and suddenly it’ll be too late and everything will become dark before your eyes.

But mushin is also applicable in real life.

Mushin in real life: unleash the power of now

I recently finished a book that was called The Power Of Now. It’s a book that I highly recommend if you want to go into dept on this matter. I’ll cover some things in this post but you’ll get the true meaning you’ve read the book. Meditations is another great book that everybody should read since it contains a lot of wisdom (the power of now is also covered but subtly).

So how do I know that I’ve reached Mushin?

It’s not hard to spot if someone has reached this state of mind. Those people are well aware of their surroundings and don’t get too emotional over things that occurred in the past. I’ve even posted something similar on my Instagram. I noticed that a lot of people go to other countries just to see beautiful things so I just went outside and took a picture. I just added a simple text.

Some people need a foreign country to see nature at it’s best. I just walk right out of my door and take a picture

This photo is another example of being present in the now. But my favorite picture is one that I took in a city close to my hometime. I walked by that place more than 1000 times and I never noticed the beauty of it. Well never noticed it till that day. I came outside and realized that I was witnessing something beautiful. I took out my phone and captured that moment. That’s the power of now, that’s the state of mind that’s called mushin.

I’m sure that most people never even look up to witness this. Most people turned into straight social media zombies who’re paying more attention to a screen than to their surroundings. 

Mushin saves you from a lot of trouble

This part will be hard to get for some people and you’ll probably want to freak out but hold your horses. It’s not that hard when you’re focusing on this matter. Let me ask you a question: how many problems do you have at the moment? I’ll give you a minute to count or a couple of minutes to write them down. Write them all down and take a good look at all of those problems. I did this as well and can you guess how many problems I’ve written down?

The answer is none. I don’t have any problems since I’m writing this blogpost. I’m present in the now and my mind is empty. No thoughts or emotions whatsoever. You can’t have any problems because you’re reading my blogpost. How can this cause you any problems? I know what some people are going to say. They’ll claim that I’m writing bullshit because their partner cheated on them in the past, a loved passed away recently, they paid a lot of bills last week, they failed at something years ago and all of those things are causing them troubles.

I also forgot to mention that they’re constantly thinking about how date shortly will turn out, they’ve got a deadline next week and assume that they’re going to fail…

Are you getting where I’m going? Look at the bold text and tell me what they’ve got in common. These are all things that happened in the past. Most of those things can make you emotional well maybe aside from paying bills but they’ve happened in the past. Nothing has happened in the now so you can’t feel depressed or anxious at all.

Mushin: the past vs the future vs the now

You’ll be depressed if you’re living in the past but you’ll get anxious if you’re living in the future. It’s you vs you in life there is no opponent. You can only be happy when you’ve reached the state of Mushin. The power of now will put a big smile on your face. You’ll reach peace of mind and this is a pleasant state to be in.

How to reach mushin

I’ve found two ways so far to reach mushin. Practicing a sport or doing meditation. I’ll only cover the latter since this first one explains itself. Most people get that sports empty your mind. They just need to get out of their comfort zone and that’s what most people despise.

Meditation will save you from a life full of frustration.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”O0Wk8″ via=”yes” ]Meditation will save you from a life full of frustration. @ZeroToAlpha[/ctt]

I recently started meditating twice a day. I’m doing two sessions of 10 minutes. I start immediately meditating after my alarm goes off. I start by describing all my body parts one by one and take a moment to feel the energy that’s floating through those parts (this is described in the book The Power Of Now). The last body part is my head and after that, I’m going to a deep state of mind. My mind is clear and I remain to do this till I gently come back to my senses. This takes about 10 minutes and I don’t need to time it at all.

I’ll time it the second time that I meditate. Sometimes I’ll perform this shirtless outside. Even when it’s freezing outside. I’m a cold warrior instead of a warm worrier. I’ll meditate for 10 minutes and I focus solely on breathing. I’ll reach a point on which I just breathe without thinking about anything. It’s great.

Most people laugh at mediation and mushin

Most people laugh at me when they’ll know that I meditate but that’s alright. I’m not the one that’s constantly switching between the past and the present in my mind. Most people laugh at the old martial arts and label them as complete bullshit but they just don’t get it. Karate taught me discipline and respect something that most people lack off these days.

Our society has evolved so much that it was feeling superior to almost anything from the past. There have never been so many depressions and burnouts then in this day and age. Do I need to tell you more? People are starting to take everything for granted and they’ll lose it all after a while.

Most people should get their shit together and stop acting like toddlers who’re not getting what they want. They all act like it when they’re facing problems.

So what are you going to do? Are you going to follow the herd that’s heading right of the cliff or are you going to become a lonely wolf? A person who’ll be laughed at in the beginning but admired after a while?

The choice is yours.

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Till next time

Alex

 

 

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