You Have Superpowers
Did you know you have superpowers? Yup. Just like one could say that everyone is enlightened, one could also say that we all have certain abilities within us. These are abilities which we are able to manifest, but only in a very special way — without trying.
In my history of working with people in the fields of martial arts and wilderness survival training, I’ve come to find that everyday people have extraordinary powers – powers that are latent in all of us.
I’ll outline some of these powers, and then let you in on the secret of how to obtain them.
Your Superpowers
Sensory Powers
Each of us has the ability to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch to a much higher degree than we usually do. For instance, you can be aware of everything in your visual field, instead of just what is ‘right in front of your eyes’. In essence, this gives you the ability to ’see’ much more than you ever did before.
We also possess a sort of ‘echo-location’, much like bats. After martial arts students spend some time blindfolded, they often begin to ‘sense’ obstacles in their paths – probably due to hearing subtle changes in the way sound bounces off their surroundings. The result is that they can walk blindfolded through a house and know where doorways, couches, and other obstacles are.
Primal Powers
I’ve personally witnessed folks who, having spent less than a week in the wilderness, begin to display an uncanny ability to know, without being taught, which plants are edible and which are poisonous, how to build perfect shelters without prior instruction, or how to see and understand tracks and other ‘signs’ of nature. It’s as if they are tapping into primordial instincts that allow them to function perfectly in the wilderness – even when they’ve spent their entire lives living in the city.
Dealing with Chaotic Situations
Five people attacking from all sides, shouting wildly as they do it? No problem! Higher training in martial arts almost always involves finding this ‘calm within the storm’. This can easily apply to other high-energy situations, such as having someone yell at you or dealing with extremely emotional situations.
Dealing with Pain and Discomfort
We all have the ability to find peace with the discomforts of the world, such as cold, heat, or rain. Being endothermic (commonly known as ‘warm-blooded’), we are built to function in an extremely wide range of temperatures, instead of the five-degree spread most of us are comfortable within. This can even apply to sensations labeled ‘painful’ by most people.
Living Life
Most miraculous of all, we each have the ability to deal with Life. In other words, we are built to function stress-free in any situation, and to experience a complete lack of frustration and anxiety. In short, we all have the power to be extremely happy, peaceful, and joyous in every moment of our lives.
Developing These Powers
So how do we develop these superpowers? It’s easier than you think. There’s not a separate meditation or mantra you have to chant to achieve each one. In fact, they all possess the exact same recipe if you’d like to have them for your own!
And the recipe is . . . doing nothing.
Now, this is not the sort of nothing we usually think of. It’s not lying on the couch and waiting for everything to become perfect. It’s the sort of nothing where we actually cease our efforts, and allow our natural functioning to assert itself.
In the case of our senses, when we apply effort, it only serves to narrow their focus. This is what we’re taught to do in school — pay attention only to the task at hand. This can sometimes be valuable, but because it becomes habitual for us, we end up walking through life aware of only the most blatant or flashy sensory impressions. When we relax our efforts, our senses can unfurl and take in much more of the world that is always surrounding us.
In the case of our primal powers, we possess an immense ability to adapt to any situation. When we allow ourselves to be open to unfamiliar situations, instead of fearful and clenched against them, we discover that we’re much more capable than we ever imagined.
When dealing with chaos, we tend to tighten up and get lost in everyone else’s energy. If we are simply aware of what is happening within ourselves, we’ll find that things are pretty quiet. People shouting is just noise, and even the most chaotic situations tend to unfold ‘one thing at a time’.
When it comes to discomfort or even pain, the actual sensations are usually not as intense as we think – most of what we call ‘pain’ emerges from a mental clenching against the sensation.
And when it comes to living life, we’re so busy thinking about future and past, so intent on our efforts to make our life ‘better’, that we miss out on the perfect simplicity of the moment we’re in.
Effort can bring results. But as the word implies, we’ll have to work pretty hard for those results. And the fruits of those labors will be dubious at best, since in our constant striving, we never develop the faculty of realizing the beauty of Now – the one place we can enjoy the things we’ve been working so hard for all the time.
Having ‘no-effort’ doesn’t mean that we can’t engage in things which, to outside observers, seem difficult or complex. It doesn’t mean we can’t chase our dreams. But it does mean that in each moment of the chase, in the midst of the complexity, we’re able to be present and experience the Joy of Being Right Now.
This isn’t something we can accomplish through more effort. It’s something that emerges on its own as soon as we let our clear Awareness function as it’s meant to function – without the interference of constant thinking and ‘trying’.
In this way, if we can understand it correctly, we can discover that it is time, right now, to finally ‘give up’ all our striving, and allow our life to blossom into the beautiful thing it is meant to be. This is the true superpower we’re all capable of. Living life. Let’s start Now!
Explore posts in the same categories: Mind Exercises, Stress, Being Present