I saw the headline in the list of notable articles on the Track & Field News website. It said, “Words of Wisdom – Blanka Vlasic.”
On a subconscious level, I thought: “Well, it’s probably just another batch of canned platitudes from a superstar athlete.”
Okay, I’m humbled. Read the article – every word applies completely to running, or any sport, or to life. Quite wonderful.
Not only that, it’s inspiring, because it’s not canned words that she’s memorized for the times when a reporter sticks a microphone in her face. It’s completely original, genuine, from the heart. And it’s remarkable how when athletes speak from their core, their words apply universally.
It’s what Joyful Sports is about – finding the truth of a sport, and realizing that it’s the truth of all sports, and life.
It’s plumbing our core to find the same wisdom that ordinary people and sages have discovered in all ages.
The truth is simple. Everything that all people have sought since the beginning of time can be boiled down to two basic goals: happiness, and freedom from suffering.
Even the murderer believes however wrongly that he’s removing a perceived obstacle to his happiness. Like the murderer, the athlete learns through hard experience that expansive actions and expansive attitudes of kindness and compassion lead to true happiness. Our own nature conspires to make us wise.
What Blanka says is expressing this simple principle: do what’s expansive for your body and soul, and you’ll be rewarded with success – and you’ll avoid injury and you’ll enjoy yourself.