Category: Counterinsurgency Series

Do your suffer from poor relationships? Are there people who you care about, but they seem distant or reject your attempts to reach out?

Do you want to improve a relationship with a child, a spouse, a family member or a friend?

The best way to develop a relationship with someone is to talk with them – communication is the key. The more often you speak, the better acquainted you are with one another. You will find more subjects to speak about until you can speak about anything for hours.

It is no different with the body. Are you experiencing pain in a part of your body? It is likely due to a lack of quality communication. You must be willing to put in the time. We engage in conversation with our bodies through motion: stretching and articulation of muscles and joints. I call this Telling Our Story.

But there are other reasons for poor relationships (with the body or with others) and one of those reasons is coarse dialogue in the past, and now the relationship is damaged or stunted – unable to progress further.

Coarse dialogue often happens when we are either preoccupied, irritated, or experiencing pain ourselves.

The other day at the gym, I walked past an older man and we made eye contact. I greeted him warmly and he gave a derisive snort and continued his workout.

Now, I understood what this man was feeling – or at least I could imagine it. He was tired and in the middle of his workout. He didn’t have time to exchange pleasantries with me.

I did not conclude by his actions that he hated me. I did not take it personally, nor did I make myself a Victim.

But could he have mustered a smile? Could he have offered a curt nod as acknowledgement? Alas, he was dismissive. He gave no heed to my feelings, and thus I was made to feel unimportant.

No one likes feeling unimportant. Our muscles are no different.

Ultimately, we want to maintain a high quality relationship with our bodies so that they do not rebel against us. In a Counterinsurgency, the enemy will likely try to turn the local populace against you, painting you as a tyrant.

It is important to make the first move – recruit the body to your Cause.

In order for your muscles to be recruited to a Cause, you must build a strong relationship with your body. A strong neurological connection with your muscles is needed.

– Commander’s Intent

I have discussed how to develop a strong neurological connection in the previous post: consistency, going through the motions.

Sometimes, you are going to have to just talk to someone whether it is easy or not, whether you have something to say or not. Just talk to them. Your time invested in developing a relationship with someone will be have more impact than any paltry gift you could offer them.

Make the first move. Make that call. Visit that person. Squash that beef. Let it all go.

Remember, you are not at war anymore. You are engaged in a Counterinsurgency!

After the war ends, [the Freedom Fighter] knows he will not be needed as a Commander. Of course, in wartime, he knows he must fight – he must set boundaries, push his soldiers to excel, and make hard decisions which benefit the greater good sometimes only he can see…

The freedom fighter refrains from retaining his position of power. He is not trying to start another war. Otherwise he would be a tyrant.

Yes, the war is over. And yes, there may be some fighting ahead, but a you are on the path to becoming a Diplomat King.

The Diplomat King can do things the Freedom-fighting Commander cannot. He can form alliances and stimulate the economy – after your own war (your workout), you can begin recover through hydration, sports nutrition, and sleep.

– (previous excerpts) Freedom Fighters

You have a nation to nourish and sustain. This can only be done when the nation is made stable. Imagine, your body has been at war with itself for much of your life. You have suffered from chronic sympathetic states, starvation,  and tight and tonic muscles.

You have felt pain. But now it is time to heal.

Developing a Strong Economy

A strong economy will be required for the long, healthy lifespan of your nation. But, what is actually possible with your current population? Are they educated? Are they trained in practical skills?

The citizens of your body are your muscles and vital organs, but they have been at war for a long time – it may be all they have ever known.

First, you must provide jobs!

Wholesome employment for your veterans allows them to be reincorporated into society. It will give them a new mission – a purpose.

What am I actually talking about? You must have goals – all kinds of goals: health and fitness goals, spiritual goals, relationship goals…

Next, you must educate them.

Knowing how to use a M16 rifle is going to help a veteran get a job like your latest personal record in the gym is going to help you make things right with that person. Provide appropriate education and training for your body – your muscles and your mind.

You educate yourself in this way by spending time with people you care about, and serve others selflessly.

Allow for Success

Most importantly, Set realistic goals and allow for success.

Allow yourself to succeed, and you will see yourself in a new light.

So often – and we see this in businesses – so many expectations are set, so many goals are put on the board, and since very few people can achieve them all, they are never acknowledged for what they do achieve.

Give yourself recognition for what you have done right.

Furthermore, you must not fall back into tyrannical behavior. Give your body the rest and nourishment it needs daily! Sound the Retreat!

This also means, when you do get outmaneuvered and fail, don’t be so hard on yourself. Look at all the wonderful progress you have made so far on your journey.

Last month, social media feeds were flooded with side-by-side comparisons of profile pictures. It was called the “Facebook 10-year Challenge”, choosing the user’s first profile picture and setting it alongside their current one.

Relative to the vast quantity of disparaging content which we suffer on social media, it is safe to say that this short-lived meme was pretty harmless.

Conspiracy theories abound, however, claiming that the alleged user-created meme was in fact a data mining operation by Facebook, and possibly government agencies who wish to develop facial recognition software.

Such theories would suggest that we are hapless servants to corporations and governments, oblivious to the underlying dangers of technology and our immersion in it.

Our Fascination with Transformation

The internet challenge reached its peak during the second week of January. It is not surprising to me that it was so popular during the time of year in which people are focused on transformation.

It was a time of year during which people are apt to say, New Year-New Me. Goals are set for weight loss or body transformations, education or professional growth, and relationships. We desire to do better this year than last, and we hope we are doing much better this year than 10-years ago.

Rooted in hope is our fascination with transformation – we hope to do better and be better.

However, there is a danger present in the kind of behavior we saw on social media: going with the flow.

When we do whatever we see other people do, we effectively lose our freedom. Remember that our muscles are our soldiers – we have recruited them to a Cause we believe in. Don’t let your soldiers get recruited by the enemy!

Media Ops

We perceive the world through a lens of media. It is a distorted perception veiled in false flags and operated by insurgents and traitors. Some of these are within our bodies, which I call rogue states, and some are outside ourselves, fake friends and fake followers.

– Tales Tales and White Lies

I’m not trying to be cynical. I only hope that we are not being controlled by tyrants – whether they are the tyrant inside our own minds, tyrants in our homes or circles of influence, or tyrants on social  media who have ulterior motives.

Media is a powerful tool in a Counterinsurgency. However, if you do not utilize it, the enemy will!

I would suggest reviewing an excellent post (no bias here!) published in the Mission Briefings. It draws upon the imagery of idolatry we see in the fitness industry. Use it to avoid be controlled!

ISIS was very effective at recruiting through social media. It was because, when we see only through a lens, we only see what the framer wants us to see. We do not see the Big Picture.

I believe it is crucial to our safety and our progress (I am talking about both our fitness and our health) that we always know the facts – the Big Picture. The best way to protect oneself from falling for tale tales and white lies (becoming controlled by media and puppeteers), is to explore and experiment yourself.

That is what I have done. I have experimented with many different modalities and programs, and I choose what I find to be valuable and continue those things until they no longer provide results. This is what I mean when I say, Avoid a dogmatic approach in all things.