I challenge my self to write 50 posts in 50 days. Every day one lesson, one tip, or one tool that I use and which help me in my life and capoeira. Enjoy and hope it will be beneficial for you, too. This originally was written for my students.
When somebody says, “I went surfing,” what they really mean is that they probably spent 8 hours in the water, caught 5-6 waves, and rode them for a few seconds. Most of the time, you are carrying equipment, pedaling, falling, and crashing, but still, people call it “I went surfing.”
character (noun) from Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō, “I engrave”).
In life, every situation, every trouble, every reaction is an opportunity to make ourselves better.
In capoeira, every game, every class, every roda is an opportunity to refine our character. Refinement comes from the word fine, which means good or pleasant.
One of my top lessons of 2022, along with “Apples vs Potatoes“, is this quote – “We Are Not iPhones”. Sometimes less than four simple words can change your perspective on your life and actions.
Online education gained a second wind during the COVID-19 pandemic. With many people confined to their homes for months, some chose to make the most of this time by enrolling in courses. When I take a course or workshop, whether online or offline, I love to remind myself (and my students) of this ‘flying on an airplane’ analogy.
After touching on some ideas from capoeira in the recent articles, let’s zoom out and try to view capoeira as a philosophy, and check if it’s applicable for daily life. Even if you are not a capoeira practitioner, try to scan this essay quickly to find out why some people are so hooked on capoeira.
Very important disclaimer. I’m not a capoeira master, and still consider myself a student. I’m not a psychologist, nor a coach, or a philosopher with a diploma. But I’ve been learning capoeira for nearly half of my life, and here is what she1 taught me.
This is another great concept I learned from my capoeira master, and he gives credit for it to Mestre Ombrinho, the first non-Brazilian master in the history of capoeira.
If you are capoeirista and have already heard the story about “Three pillars”, you probably don’t know there are two more. And if you don’t practice capoeira at all, stay put, try to use your imagination and switch “capoeira” to your work, study, or whatever you do.
Another powerful concept from my capoeira experience is “Learning – Practicing – Training” cycle, which is useful for day-to-day life too. This is something that my students for sure heard about, but the importance of this is worth another repetition.
If you open my journal for 2022, on the front cover, you will see my top lessons of the year. And one of them is “Apples vs. Potatoes”. This is one of my favorite stories from the Capoeira Instructor Course with Mestre Cueca. Since then, I have shared it many times with my friends, fellow teachers, and students. And here is it for you.
Let’s talk again about tuning your own radio:
We are almost like antennas, and around us all there are thousands of vibrations and thoughts which enter our mind. When you are driving your car, all the radio stations, and their waves are hitting your car, your antenna outside. But it’s the station you put on the radio that blocks off the rest of them and lets one come in. Same thing with your mind. All around you there are vibrations of success and failure, health and sickness, positive and negative. We need to learn how to tune our “radio station”, to choose a “music” in our lives.
Timor Klinghofer
I touched this topic a little bit in my essay on journaling. But if journaling is my active defense, digital detox is my immune system.
No. It is possible.
I’m a digital content creator myself. I worked in the media and was a news editor for more than 10 years. My work involves people, many times meeting them offline, and I interact with dozens of people personally every day. I also work in digital marketing, and I have to use dozens of apps to post videos and other content everyday.
Not following the current news and socializing meaninglessly online is not about being ignorant, arrogant, or just a heartless bastard. On the opposite, it’s about radical responsibility.
There is a lot of injustice in the world. The daily doomscrolling1 won’t make you more responsible, and for sure won’t make victims’ lives better. I have friends and some distant family members who fought and died in some recent wars around the globe. They didn’t care if I followed every daily madness in the world.
If you want to help – do something. It can be something small, but meaningful to you.
Act mindfully.
Create.
Tweak your radio.
Improve your digital immune system.
1. Doomscrolling or doomsurfing is the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large quantities of negative news online.
Sometimes we hear phrases such as “Put yourself in my shoes” or “Walk in someone’s shoes”. But have you actually checked your shoes?