Jim Whittaker and myself 2005

In 2006 I met Alain Robert alias The French Spiderman at the Vancouver International Film Festival. In 2005 I had another memorable experience as I met a legend of mountaineering Jim Whittaker. Jim was the first North American to summit Mount Everest when he did it in 1963. Also, during the event I met the legendary rock climber Peter Croft author of The Good, the Great, and the Awesome.

Now I am a long term back packer but beyond having gone up dozens of peaks my experience in the outdoors is nothing compared to Jim and Peter. They are legends, I am simply a person who likes the outdoors but something happening during the festival that made me feel reassured that my approach to mental and physical health and wellness is actually ’on track’.

I had the honor of being on a discussion panel with Jim and Peter to answer questions on how to manage stress and prepare your mind and body for outdoors activity. Before the discussion at other events I had shared that to train for an intense physical activity you benefit from doing the same activity on a lesser scale frequently and train your mind to believe more is possible. This is what I practiced and shared with people. When I wanted to hike longer distances I simply did more hiking. But many people have suggested to me I need to work out at the gym too but I have resisted because I don’t like exercising I simply like to hike. I had always wanted a legendary source to verify or deny what I believe and Jim Whittaker is a legendary source.

What made me feel reassured that what I believed is ‘on track’ is the fact that during the presentations Jim Whittaker made it very clear to the attentive audience that the main part of his training was going up and down Mount Rainer and training his mind that he was capable of going up Everest. Everything else was supplementary. He trained by doing what he loved to do – mountaineering.

To me, I was reassured. For you I hope this helps reassure you that you can grow to be the best in what you love to do by doing more of it.

Enjoy a great day, David

P.S. You can read more about Jim Whittaker’s adventures by getting a copy of his book A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond. Inside is a history of this great man’s life plus lots of fantastic photographs. I have the honor of having a copy as you can see me proudly holding it in the picture above. Yes! Jim is actually 75 in the picture and in great health. If you like the mountains I recommend you get yourself a copy

(If you have not read ‘What is Autosuggestion? What is Heterosuggestion? you can do so right now by going here.)

Examples of Autosuggestion

Recall Autosuggestion can be positive and negative and it can either boost your ability to nourish your personal and professional life or help destroy it.

Positive Autosuggestion examples – the ones we want to be using on ourselves – include:

Self talk like: “I am happy; I am fun to be around; I am healthy; I am an excellent educator”.

Personal comments (the way we want to respond to people when they ask you how you are) include: “I am feeling wonderful; I feel super; Life is going great; This is another great day”.

Note on positive autosuggestions: keep using them!

Negative Autosuggestions examples – the ones we need to watch out for (and sometimes they are not easy to notice) include:

Self talk like: “I can’t do that; I will never be able to have a job like that; I am always in debt; I am always broke”.

Personal comments (again this is when people ask you how you are) “I am okay; I feel tired; life is difficult.” This kind of self talk and personal commentary only goes to damage your sense of self in a slow and sneaky way like water enter the walls of a home.

Note on on negative autosuggestions: these statements you need to immediately up root it from your mind and replace it with a positive one. To help assist you get yourself some motivational reading material some of the book listed here under life changing books and perhaps some motivational cards like those here.

Examples of Heterosuggestion

Like Autosuggestion, Heterosuggestions can be positive and negative.

Positive Heterosuggestion examples are any statements you hear from another that make you feel good about yourself and your ability including: “Hey, Mary, you did a great job; John, you are an excellent speaker; David, you give great advice”.

Negative Heterosuggestion examples: These are the most dangerous heterosuggestions the statements like: “Joe, you are not capable of that; Jane, you work slowly; Sam, your ideas will never work”. These are not helpful statement of criticism for an action they are statement against you as a person. Keep them out of your mind. When you hear statements like these or anything that is said to you that could unjustifiably damage your self esteem and your ability to live happy and successfully. Stop. Right away you need to ‘delete’ in your mind the statement and say to yourself the opposite or another supportive statement.

Note on negative heterosuggestions: Be very conscious of the people you associate with and how they talk to you. If people do not speak to you lovingly get yourself around nicer people or simply nourish you mind with ‘good mental food’. You will find examples of ‘good mental food’ here in the list of life changing books. Check out also some motivational cards like those here.

I trust this examples and educational suggestions will help you create more health, happiness and prosperity in your life and the lives of those around you starting today.

Your friend on the journey,

David

P.S. If you have not already read it, another article you may be interested in reading is Why Positive Affirmations Don’t Work