Reality – It is what we choose to believe

XPLORE - Out and About

Mountaineering

Do we underestimate the power of the mind, the power of positive thought?

Is anything possible, without limitation, if you give your mind’s eye a vision and allow it to believe you have already achieved it?

Okay, it will take much more than an hour or so in the lotus position every other day telling yourself you are a brain surgeon before you get to pick up a scalpel, but it all starts with a vision, right?

My countdown for this year’s two expeditions to Nepal is well underway and I am undertaking plenty of physical activity to prepare and rest assured the body is feeling it sometimes.

But just as important as my physical preparation is that I am mentally prepared.  And to take my mind off the 20-kilogram pack strapped to my back when I am out walking at silly o’clock I fill it with visions of standing atop those mountain peaks.

I picture myself telephoning my family, telling them I have summited and returned to the base-camp safely and sharing different aspects of the climb with them whilst sipping a warm mug of Sherpa tea.

Those conversations with my mind, with Janet and TomO, go right down to the detail of what is said!

Oh don’t worry, I’ve been practicing many other aspects of mountaineering these past few years, after all there are things to be learnt and practised – but that just reinforces what the mind knows it can do, right?

There are people who believe in positive affirmation, some who are not sure, and others with whom no amount of discussion will convince them it does. But let me share my own personal insight of why I know it does.

It was the mid- 1970s, I had just left school to join one of Australia’s largest banks and a month earlier I celebrated my 15th birthday. At the time the company produced a quarterly magazine called “The Etruscan” and in the very first edition I received was a story describing a day in the life of the people who undertook the bank’s money market operation…

I was enthralled, I wanted a job like that so in my mind’s eye I play-acted the people in the article, not that I actually had a clue what they really did, after all it was a short article, so I just made it up as I went – I was a natural.

Perhaps it was a bit unusual for someone of my age to be getting into this esoteric stuff, but that is what daydreamers do and I am a daydreamer. And I’m sure many will agree that a very fine line exists between dreams and reality confirmed by the days you wake up thinking, the dream I had was real….

Shortly I will have spent 40-years with this institution. Yes, 40-years, it wasn’t a typing error and for most of that time I have been managing and trading currencies in the bank’s money market operation.

You see a few years after convincing myself I was a natural at doing whatever it was they did, and following a set of events which were unrelated, I “woke” up in the bank’s trading room in front of a trading screen…

My vision of how it worked all those years ago is quite different to the sophistication of today’s global financial market, but that is just detail. I didn’t have to get the detail right all I had to do was to chant that mantra long and loud, to have a vision, to daydream and play act my part.

To simply believe!

After all, reality is what we choose to believe in…

Climb-on!

24 thoughts on “Reality – It is what we choose to believe”

  1. Wilder Man on Rolling Creek February 1, 2015 / 9:33 am

    Congrats, my friend on the summits you have conquered, and for the journey you will take from this point forward. And for the 40 year accomplishment, investing yourself into the bank, way to go. Thanks for your rallying words about pursuing the reality we passionately want.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. janstring January 13, 2015 / 6:32 am

    Hi there 🙂
    I have a vision but don’t know how it will come about and interestingly enough the most fantastic thing I’ve done in my life, which is travel the world with my family I didn’t even know I wanted until I was on it and fulfilling myself as a Mother by educating the children in a way that befit my view of parenting. Oh and having a pretty darn good time personally too! I now have a vision for want I want out of my life but this vision doesn’t reside in my mind but in my belly. I believe but don’t know how… Another of life’s conundrums!!!

    Like

    • Baz - The Landy January 13, 2015 / 1:04 pm

      Without doubt! And if all else fails “scoop” me up 😉

      Like

  4. The Guat January 13, 2015 / 5:53 am

    Excellent post! And I completely agree with you everything has got to happen in your mind first. If you believe it, you can achieve it. Climb on buddy!

    Like

  5. jamiespiers January 13, 2015 / 4:54 am

    I too have dreams of an 8k peak sometime. To stand on top of the world, absorbing views that so few get to appreciate. The challenges of putting our fragile bodies and obstinate minds into an environment that does all it can to prevent life. Much respect to you. What are your views on the use of suplementary oxygen?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Baz - The Landy January 13, 2015 / 1:03 pm

      Hey Jamie

      Firstly, thank you for the kind words. Sometimes it is hard to put it into words, but you get it!

      On oxygen, reality for me is that I will need it to complete what I am looking to achieve and get out of it. The purists’ will do it without for their own reasons, but I guess it is always a case of each to their own and their own circumstances.

      Cheers, Baz

      Like

  6. Deliberately Delicious January 12, 2015 / 4:03 pm

    The wind on my face as I stand at the summit; the wind on my face as I stand at the summit; the wind on my face…

    Liked by 1 person

  8. clln13 January 12, 2015 / 9:30 am

    Great post! Love your quote “Reality is what we choose to believe in.” Keep posting!

    I’ll be either climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro or Mont Blanc this year!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Barbara Grandberg January 12, 2015 / 8:29 am

    i agree…while i have to put in my miles on the roads and cross train, i still need to train my mind that i can do all this crazy stuff :}

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Naomi Baltuck January 12, 2015 / 8:07 am

    Wow! What an exciting undertaking! I wish you great success and look forward to following the story. Best wishes for the New Year!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Baz - The Landy January 13, 2015 / 12:55 pm

      Hey Naomi, well it has been in the planning for sometime, and hopefully I’ll get to my 8,000 peak over the next 12 months or so…And good luck out there in 2015 😉

      Like

  11. Lavinia Ross January 12, 2015 / 3:40 am

    Some great recounting there of self-determination! There is an old quote, “Mind is Builder”. Go for the mountain. You will win. We are all behind you, too! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Baz - The Landy January 13, 2015 / 12:54 pm

      For sure, and glad to have you behind me (you a good catcher?) 😉

      Like

  12. Mountainstroh (Tony) January 12, 2015 / 1:55 am

    Our Seattle Seahawks won yesterday and throughout the broadcast, the announcers were talking about our quarterbacks leadeship and the fact hebtells all the players to visualize what they want to happen! Great plan buddy .

    Hey which mountain is that photo?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Baz - The Landy January 13, 2015 / 12:53 pm

      On Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zealand, at Chancellor Hut, but not sure of what that peak is called…

      Liked by 1 person

  13. NancyTex January 12, 2015 / 1:41 am

    The body achieves what the mind believes…

    Liked by 2 people

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