Developing a Community of Practice

I am pleased to share a contribution by our Director of Business Development and Unbeatable Mind Coach Michael Ostrolenk.

Enjoy! — Mark Divine

When The First Seed is Planted

Most of us have been there. We attend a great weekend workshop, read a “transformational” book or have an enlightening session with our therapist or coach.

Things seems different; perhaps we have a new perspective, new set of behaviors to try out or more capacity in a particular line of development (such as increased emotional intelligence).

The world has seemingly changed for us – that is until Monday morning.The “reality” of our lives smacks us right into the changed state of consciousness and unfortunately “reality” wins.

By Monday afternoon, we revert back to our old habits and ways of being and thinking. The new state moves into the recesses of our memories. We had grasped it, but now for the most part it’s slipped away.

But it’s not really gone. It’s just moved from a particular state of consciousness to a particular stage or trait. While we would prefer to make these states and experiences flow permanently, they often seem fleeting and ungrounded in our day to day lives. It’s easy to fall back into our old habits and get lost in older, more established ways of being and thinking.

It Doesn’t Have to be This Way: Self-Mastery and Service

We can take flow states and turn them into more permanent traits and stages. In SEALFIT’s Unbeatable Mind Academy, we have two primary disciplines: self-mastery and service. It’s through these two disciplines that more permanent change is possible.

Self-Mastery has a variety of components, but a key unifying element is practice. Whatever led you to that particular flow state is reproducible with continual practice.

That practice – including meditation, yoga, dance, martial arts, mental mapping, prayer, somatic movement practices, inter-personal engagement, journaling and more – needs to be mastered.

In order to “master” a practice as a trait or stage of development, it’s extremely helpful to join a community of practitioners in some form. As a part of a community (i.e. a team, family, etc.) you’re serving a greater good, and have the opportunity to ingrain your new “habit” of body/mind into your particular community. That way there is an expectation within that community that you will have particular ways of being, thinking and behaving.

The more ingrained in the culture, the more opportunity you will have in grounding it into your own body/mind. Likewise, the more ingrained into your own system, the more it can become ingrained in your culture. It’s a nice and useful feedback loop.

So, find a community to help you move from a “cool,” flow state to creating a new way of being, thinking and doing. Hold them accountable and be held accountable.

Michael ‘Sting Ray’ Ostrolenk

SEALFIT Unbeatable Mind Coach and Director of Business Development

P.S. Check out the combo pack of the New Unbeatable Mind Daily Journal & 8 Weeks to SEALFIT Book.

Also, I’ll be in Pennsylvania at CrossFit Honor for a One Day Unbeatable Mind Seminar on February 22, followed by a One Day 20x Challenge on February 23^rd!