Friends, I didn't expect to pick up profound MMA advice from my gym (that's gym, not dojo) this weekend, but I managed to pick up two outright gems.

Huffing away on the the stairclimber thingy, I watched TV coverage of the presidential debates & talk turned to McCain's hot temper.  One of the talking head journalists quoted the Greek philosopher Aristotle who said, "It's OK to be angry, as long as your anger is directed at the right person at the right time for the right reason." 

A couple of times in my life I have drawn on anger as a psychological boost to get me through challenging times.  But I always felt silly for using that kind of mental trick, and a little guilty too.  Here, Aristotle's quote seems to validate anger if it's used as leverage for good ends, of course you release it when it's served its purpose.

My second spoonful of wisdom came during a free yoga class at my gym that I decided to take as part of my 15-pound bulk-up/stretch-out program.  Fifteen minutes into the class, the instructor (skinnier than I am) directed the class through an insanely tight hamstring/glute stretch. Then she calmly said, "Relax in the face of the intensity."

Hey!  In other words, it's OK to acknowledge the discomfort of the effort, and embrace it as a step toward progress.  In that sense, creating intensity and accepting reasonable pain can even become a calming, meditative, enlightening experience.

Channeling anger for a positive extra boost and using intensity as a sort of mental Ritalin. Those are two pretty big points to ponder in my opinion, and I'm going to work on using them during the upcoming week.

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