Something to share

Since I always read about some interesting, cool, or otherwise mind blowing site from all of your blogs, I wanted to share something with y'all. The following is from www.readyforce.net. Rodger Ruge is a retired police officer, POST Master Instructor, and author of the Warrior's Mantra. He also has these great anti-stress visualization tapes that work wonders. The following is one of his articles from his online Ready Force News Journal:


Do you remember Aaron Ralston? Aaron is the guy who was doing some hiking and rock climbing in the Utah desert when a rock he was climbing over came loose pinning his right arm against a cliff wall. Once pinned, Aaron was hopelessly trapped in a standing position without shelter, adequate clothing, food or water. For six days Aaron struggled to free himself by chipping away at the boulder with a cheap utility tool, rigging a series of pulleys and other desperate and futile attempts to find his freedom. No one knew where Aaron was during his ordeal and over the course of the long sleepless days and nights; Aaron came to the realization he was going to die.

Aaron literally hit rock bottom and when he did he found inspiration. Aaron decided to cut off his own arm! First he had to bend his arm in grotesque positions to provide enough torque to snap the bones, not once but twice. Once this chore was accomplished, Aaron rigged a tourniquet and went to work using a dull knife. It took over an hour to slowly cut through the arm, spending the most time on the ligaments because of their flexibility and strength. Imagine trying to cut your own arm off with what amounted to a butter knife and you are starting to get an idea of what he went through. Aaron’s comment on the pain; “I just dealt with it”.

Once free, Aaron then faced repelling down a sheer cliff, one armed, after being trapped for six days and facing extreme dehydration and fatigue. He then hiked until he found some people who got him to a helicopter and rescue. Aaron chose to live and through forced circumstances he found his inner strength.

I want you to imagine yourself in Aaron’s position. His choice was clear; take action or die trying. Could you do it? Does this sound impossible? How many of us would have given up and just died?

I have met Aaron Ralston. He’s a really nice guy. He’s very relaxed and mellow. He is a superb athlete and very fit individual, but he does not exude the personality of someone who would do something so dramatic to save himself. Aaron is a humble person and what is so inspiring is that he is very much a regular person. This is inspiring because if Aaron found this amazing inner strength then so can we!

If you knew without any absence of doubt that you had this capacity, this ability, this ironclad will to manifest your survival mechanism under the most extreme circumstances, imagine how powerful you could become. Imagine what you could accomplish in your life. Imagine!

I will tell you this; you do have this power! Every single man, women and child possess this inner strength. There are countless examples of this power being manifested every single day. We usually chalk it up to extraordinary circumstances like those that Aaron faced. It often falls into the “that’s amazing” category, and we pay it little attention because to acknowledge it means we would have to accept that which we think is impossible. The trick then becomes realizing with our very soul that this power also resides within our own beings. If you can make the transformation to this realization you will move beyond manifesting this power during extreme events to being able to manifest it at will. Imagine!

Let’s face the facts. Life seldom goes according to your grandest vision and plan. There always seems to be some obstacle designed to force us to struggle. It is easy to slip into a funk over such things until we get reminded about the resiliency of the human spirit. With a shining example like Aaron Ralston we are again reminded that within all of us lies an indomitable inner strength.

Make up your mind now to move beyond your limited thinking. Open yourself to the reality that you are a limitless being! Visualize yourself overcoming "impossible" situations. Believe that this power resides within you. Know it is true and practice seeing yourself in this way in all aspects of your life. This will help you to acknowledge and develop your inner strength and it will serve to spur you to your grandest vision of whom and what you wish to become.

Rodger Ruge is a retired Police Officer and author of The Warrior's Mantra, Barricade Books Inc., June 2005. Rodger is a California Peace Officer Master Instructor and owner and founder of his business, Ready Force Inc. Rodger is avaiable for training and seminars. Please visit his website, http://www.readyforce.net, for more informaiton.