Morning Phobic

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I’m not a morning person so why am I an early riser? The day starts between 5 and 5:15 a.m. everyday right now because that’s what it takes to sit in the quiet dark, pray, write and get cleaned up. Come to think of it, I’ve gotten up early since childhood when my mom would get me up and dressed by about 5 a.m. so that she could get me to my cousins’ house before she had to be at work. I’ve always hated getting up early.

But as much as I fear leaving the comforts of a warm bed, which is a luxury given the state of the world at large, so much stands to be gained when the distractions of the day have not physically materialized yet. I told a friend of mine that if the culprits of evil plan their day, why shouldn’t I? As much as I fear the morning, perhaps I’m more afraid of doing nothing about my own spirit before a day chock full of volatile events and situations. It takes preparation to have global perspective concerning humanity. The morning is where the frontloading takes place mentally and spiritually. The only sacrifice is sleep but even that could be preempted by an earlier bedtime right?

In 2004-2005 I made a second attempt to play professional basketball, more for research purposes and because I had some definitive networks in my favor. I knew I could get in front of the right people if I just prepared my body for high-level competition. So I’d force myself to wake by 5 a.m. or so for weights before going to work, shooting hundreds of shots after work, playing in the evening and shooting again at night. But getting up early to do all fo those things wasn’t the same as what I do now. Simply put, that drained me and contributed to my Morning Phobia. What I’m doing before dawn these days does nothing of the sort.

If I can rouse myself from the clutches of the snooze button, I’m confident that I can hear the most clear voice of wisdom when I’m seemingly the least alert.

Paper or Plastic

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I could have sworn that the lady in line said she was fine with plastic but after I finished bagging about a trillion dollars worth of groceries she says, “I wanted paper.” So there I was in 1992 with my red apron, bald head (Jordan style), black slacks and standard issued bow tie. I was a Vons box clerk and this was my first real job.

For five months I retrieved carts, pulled nightly loads with a pallet jack, cleaned check stands, did “go-backs” (returning the items people don’t want after realizing this item isn’t on sale) and of course bagged groceries. And please don’t be deceieved about the art of bagging. Perishables go together as do frozen goods. Bread and eggs are on top while canned goods are on the bottom but watch that bag weight. Not too heavy or you’ll get to do that bagging job again. Oh and don’t forget to ask the customer if they want paper or plastic.

When I talk of humility I make the mistake of saying that basketball taught me the lesson in isolation but I’ll tell you right now that few jobs are as thankless as being the kid at the end of the check stand. I was 16 years old and I was invisible to customers more often than not. It was better that way. Be quick, efficient and anticipatory. Learn every aisle in the store and its contents so that you can tell the mom with kids in tow that the pasta is on #14. It wasn’t just humility I learned but moreover how to handle stress, how to be resilient, friendly, considerate and how to pick up the slack of others who don’t pull their weight.

My first day on the job was an Easter Sunday, one of the busiest grocery shopping days of the year. But it was holiday pay, time-and-a-half. Crowded grocery stores bring out the worst in us but not if you’re a box clerk. There’s no time to pout when a manager announces, “Clean-up on aisle #16.” Get it done man whether it’s vomit or apple juice.

I only worked there for five months. My final Basketball season of high school began in October of 1992 and I thought it’d be too strenuous to work and do physical conditioning. What a luxury to be able to make such a decision huh? But the damage was done. The transferable lessons of my Vons experience have a permanence that can’t be explained. The whole job was centered on serving others, something this 16-year old didn’t want to absorb. I’m proud of my first gig. When I die, I wouldn’t be mad if the epitaph read, “He was just as fast with the paper as he was with the plastic.”

That’s why you join sports

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Stafon JohnsonDiscipline and physical strength saved Stafon Johnson’s life just two days ago when a 275 lb. barbell slipped from his hand during weight training and landed on his neck. The incident was freakishly random and rendered him unable to speak. He was coughing up blood as he was rushed to the hospital where he is in stable condition but Dr. Gudata Hinika, Trauma medical director, California Hospital Medical Center said,  “Mr. Johnson having [a] really strong neck and being in such amazing athletic skill and condition clearly contributed to his recovery from this potentially bad injury.”

Dr. Hinika reminded me that despite the perversions of motivation for superior physical conditioning that have more to do with cosmetics, we “…beat our bodies and make it our slave…” for a much nobler reason. The reason is that the human body is a gift and any gift is either cherished and utilized or cherished and re-gifted. Items given to you on occasion are ascribed value based on what you do with it afterward and the human body is no different a gift. Of the billions of bodies on the planet, there are seemingly infinitesimal differences in the physical capacity of humans. Not everyone is a University of Southern California running back but for those of us blessed to not be paralyzed or severely debilitated, Mr. Johnson’s close call illumines the marvel that is the human body.

Not only was Stafon Johnson saved by his anatomical specimen, but he was saved by the discipline of his training. He was conscious when the accident occurred, undoubtedly in pain and possibly headed toward a panicked reaction. Suddenly he was struggling to breathe, he couldn’t communicate and gurgled blood perhaps for the first time in his young life. Nevertheless, Johnson remained calm enough to follow instructions while under duress.

Doctors have given a promising prognosis and believe he will play football again but more importantly the theme coined by Judy White that “preparedness is 90 percent of a disaster…” rings true. Johnson likely has the potential to play professionally but his brush with death is further proof that while “no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful,” it may be what stands between life and death.

The Wisdom Walk

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LA sunrise

One ancient proverb says, “He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.” That’s Proverbs 28:26 to be exact. Imagine trusting in oneself, placing complete faith in the consistency of every decision you will ever make. Trust denotes an unwavering faith that when practiced puts you in the most vulnerable place as you relinquish control of situations and turn over the reigns to something or someone else.

You could say I trusted in sports but I tend to believe that we don’t usually trust in inanimate things. Our trust is directed toward people or ourselves. On those sleepy mornings in Los Angeles I would walk to the bus stop before daybreak wondering where I would be in five or ten years. I was looking for a way to escape the pattern I was in though I didn’t know it. I wanted security, a warm bus ride to school, a trip to and from the bus stop with no hastle from the thugs. The question was, “How am I going to attain the security I seek?” I didn’t know any intellectuals who used their minds to flee the ‘hood. All I knew was that athletes had made the jump and seemingly, when they did, money made their problems vanish.

Slowly and methodically I began to trust in myself, thinking I could be an Olympian or play in the NBA. I was 12-13 years old thinking those things, allowing desperation to generate a construct that would help me see beyond right now. So, I got older, moved from L.A. and held on to aspirations, perhaps precursory delusions, of grandeur but the high hopes were less about basketball than they were about me controlling my own life.

I grew tired long ago with the helplessness of being a dependent and became obsessed with control. If I could just get in the driver’s seat, call the shots, tell people where to get off if they crossed me. If I could prove doubters wrong and humiliate the opposition then I’d be…I’d be a fool according to the proverb. The goals and aspirations are not the evil culprits that ruin life per se. It is the refusal of wisdom that threatens every minute of everyday. Walking in wisdom means walking in truth, right judgment with just judgment as to action. I’m not a perpetual source of wisdom so trusting in myself was and is illogical. And while wisdom is too inanimate to trust, I can trust in its author. 33 years it’s taken me to value the wisdom walk. I’ll be 34 this year.

Give: to present voluntarily and without expecting compensation; bestow:

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On any given day I’m sure I owe everyone something.

I’ve rummaged through old CDs to find that I never gave my buddy back his D’Angelo Album from 1995. I’m sure I owe an old roommate some money and forgot to get a gift for a couple whose wedding I attended in 2002. I’ve often borrowed from people at times throughout my life, benefiting from the generosity of friends and family alike.

Upon reflection, knowing I owe so many so much it’s difficult to feel free. There’s a sick feeling of parasitic proportions that accompanies me on some days because I almost want to update my Facebook status as “Norman is wanting to payback anyone to whom he owes anything. Please write the debt I owe you on my wall.” Wouldn’t you love to do that? I figure that then I’d be in the good stead of everyone. But such thinking is brutally fictitious and here’s my take.

When friends and family lend money or intangibles that equate to it there is a spirit underlying. Lending takes place under the guise of giving and I am as guilty as any at saying “gift” when I mean “loan”. Lending is different than giving because the lender has to have a good memory or keep a log monitoring the day of the initial loan, the loan amount and the days that have passed since the repayment date passed.

I hate owing people anything but it is a reality that possibly speaks to the interdependence of our world. There is a community attempting to break forth in every aspect of society but it is stifled by hard and fast rules that pit lender against borrower. I’ve loaned people things knowing I’d never see it again and borrowed what I have yet to repay. As the lender, I probably should have given instead. As a borrower, I should been clear about the terms before accepting the help. Then I wouldn’t be still thinking about it.

God interviews Man

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God Interviews MeOver the years actors and comedians have made light of God’s existence because of the world’s apparent dismal state. Wars, atrocities of the most inhumane sort, natural disasters, famine, etc. line the list of logical gripes against the notion of a loving God. Actor Robert De Niro, when asked if he believed in God, once responded to the talk show host, “If God exists, he’s got a lot of explaining to do” (uproarious applause from the crowd).

Before 6ixth Man had a brand name, its ingredients formed in me and largely through questions I thought God fired back at me during times  when I lamented over the pain of dissatisfaction. I can’t remember the questions specifically but if God interviewed me, an average man with bones to pick, here’s what I think he’d ask me:

1. Have you been helped yet?

2. Why are you so upset? Are you mad at me or at what I refuse to give you?

3. Are you dying?

4. In what do you trust?

5. Have I been unfair to you all of your life?

6. Does man’s cruelty make me cruel?

7. Is there any other way to teach you the hard lessons than by subjecting you to the same world in which everyone else lives?

8. Can you detect my love in the midst of your struggle amidst feelings that you’ve been abandoned?

9. Do you expect more than you should from people?

10. Are you going to do something or continue yelling?

11. Who are you?

12. Do you really think I’m the enemy?

It’s hard for me to live everyday without putting myself in the hot seat. Self-awareness runs counter to my habit of justifying myself. I had to let go of my rights to my life to play my 6ixth Man. Let’s see what today holds.

Find and play your 6ixth man

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6IXTH MAN LOGO CROSSOVER

No one wants to be a bench warmer but I learned 12 pivotal lessons over the course of 20 years of struggling to find my identity as a player. When I say struggle, I mean that I sat the bench a lot. Ironically, I have never been cut from a team but there were times in my career where I played about as much as those who had been.

So what do you do when you cannot accept a coach’s authority – when you cannot compete in practice because you are distracted by the feeling that “I’m better than the starter at my position?” If you are like me, much of your skill set was self-taught and refined late. We often see things in ourselves that others have yet to perceive and that proves to be immensely valuable. However, when our perception of ourselves and our circumstances becomes so one-sided that we blame others for our failures, the “6ixth Man” is inactive. In other words, you’re playing the game, life, your career without insight.

The “6ixth Man” is a paradigm from God that brings clarity and purity to your goal. Upon reflection, comparing yourself to others, aiming for the spotlight, blaming others for failure and other character flaws should all serve to convince you that every encounter yields a lesson and every lesson God teaches us through the team prepares us for life’s most significant demands. One common expression goes, “If I knew then what I know now, I would do it all again, but differently.” Such logic is ridiculous because who do you know who would rewind the clock to re-experience disappointment, frustration and utter humiliation? Much of what happens in sports or any other team-oriented activity is outside our control and therefore it is pointless to argue that “I would have done…”

The “6ixth Man” is wisdom imparted from an unchangeable past intended to outfit you with the resources to live successfully on a world stage of so much more importance than the team for which you play(ed). The world is a dying place in need of extraordinary individuals who have absorbed a Godly mindset to maximize personal potential and share it exhaustively. Play your 6ixthman today.