Poor Structural Integrity

I like how Tsao is a belief system of change (Granted I made it up, so I ought to like it). A dynamic infrastructure of neuron synapses in a world of rigid dogma. When your mind is forced to change, bend and adapt, it becomes much better at that. It shares many similarities to muscles in this sense. A muscle that only does one thing repeatedly is only very good at doing that one task, while a muscle that is worked in a dynamic set of movements strengthens for a variety of tasks. Muscles that only use a portion of their intended range of motion become rigid and resistant to movements outside of their typical range. Our brains tend to follow a similar path.

This holds true for training our brains as well. Take any repetitive motion activity: I'll use pinball...as it is the preferred game of the Tsao gods. When you first start playing the game, you are a "natural" if you have a trigger tolerance of around a 1/4 second, but still the balls go blasting in every direction you could ever hope they wouldn't. You think you have it dialed in, only to watch it drop into the power plant bumpers then straight into the garbage. As you work at it more and more you learn timing, technique and above all muscle memory. After only a few drunken basement nights you'll have that dialed to the hundredth of a second and shouting things like "5 shots to Moe's then the Treehouse!", "Don't worry about that ball, the couch is empty, so the garage will open back up!", etc, etc, etc.

People never question me when it comes to getting better at pinball. I say "you'll get better with practice" and they believe me. But as soon as I tell people about my Tsao beliefs on anger and jealousy they say "But I'm not like that! I get angry and jealous." (or something like that). Behaviors are simply the brains "muscle memory" of a particular thought put into action.

"Pinball exercise" for your life: Watch how other people react to a situation. Evaluate whether or not they came across as a total ass clown or not. Look at how you handle similar situations. Are you that ass clown? Remember, nobody thinks they themselves are a jack-ass during an argument.

Think of how you want to act, then act that way. Too many people act then justify their behaviors as correct.

I've been looking at how I come across during potentially ninja situations, and whether or not I need to do a sit down and reformat that particular methodology.

(Editor's note: Right here is where I was going to put the video of me scaling the Bitterroot Inn's 3rd floor balcony, but on my first trial run I seemed to have pulled the railing out of the wall. No injuries, but I'm almost CERTAIN somebody owes me money. If not for the dangerous living environment, then at the very least for the lack of sweet hot tub. This is seriously killin my game...)