Being red-lined is something to look for

During the last Hang, someone used the eject button.
What a grand thing.

From a Dojo POV, being with a bunch of people who you are pretty sure aren’t crazy, and having your BOS be so clear that what is happening is leading to such a very, very, very bad place that to eject is the only option, is a great moment.

It’s like putting your hand in the box in Dune, the test of humanity.

“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Granted, a Dojo POV is not a common one.

And it is not about advocating going out into the “real” world and getting red-lined.

It is about, in a controlled, know situation, seeing what the boundaries of your BOS are.
Not what you think they are.
What they actually are.
And you’ll only know what they really are when the BOS gets you the fuck out of that very so dangerous Zoom call.

If you are looking to gain new vocabulary, new skill sets, you can most def go the slow route.
You can take lots of little steps that take you closer to that “stay the fuck away” BOS edge.
That edge is the result of something happening to you back in your history combined with a particular meaning-making.
Probably a something not so terribly nice.

And the meaning-making was such as to try and predict what situations might cause that again and to keep you the fuck away from them.

If you believe that the life you want to be having involves dancing with things that your BOS is quite certain are threats, then you are going to have to dance with that.

You are going to have to go into those situations that your BOS is having a threat interpretation/response to and, using a different interpretation, create a different response.

At one end of the barbell is a combination of new meaning-makings, new vocabulary, and new skill sets.

The other end of the barbell, is having your BOS hit the alarm bell and you not doing the Pavlov thing.

It’s when your BOS has hit that alarm bell, AND you’re not doing the Pavlovian thing, AND you are holding onto the new meaning-makings, AND you are trying out new vocab and skills sets…that’s the real measure of your work.

It’s a very, very, very difficult thing to do, to get into that ring with Rocky standing over there, all muscled up, just waiting and wanting to show you who’s the real boss.

That’s his job.

Fear is indeed the self killer.
Fear is the present killer.