In this last article in the three-part mindfulness series, I want to bring both the what (observe, describe, and participate) and the how (non-judgmentally, one-mindfully, and effectively) skills together and carve out the pathways to reaching that mystical place of mindfulness and the proverbial nirvana state of mind in Olympic weightlifting—a state called Wise Mind.

We live in a culture where we see emotion and reason as diametrically opposed to one another. We sometimes say a person is overly emotional and that causes them to make bad decisions. We also sometimes say a person is too rational, cold, and calculating, and it’s a person that’s difficult to relate to. Yet, ironically, our society makes us think that the pathway to effectiveness is to disavow emotional decision making and act with pure reason (thanks Western philosophy). In weightlifting, we often believe that our emotion gets in the way of lifting, and that we need to reasonably, and rationally breakdown what we need to do in order to be successful. This I believe is a mischaracterization that does a disservice to the important functions of both. Your two states of mind, emotional, and reasonable, exist synergistically, and to get yourself to a place of mindfulness, is to dialectically find ways for them to work together.

Allow me to illustrate with the most basic example of how emotion and reason do not necessarily work antagonistically: if you are walking through the forest at night, and you hear a rustling in the bushes, the fear you experience triggers your fight or flight response for self-preservation. Is that an emotional or rational response? The only correct interpretation is that it’s both. The emotion, fear, is activated for rational purposes, survival. So why do we think that in order to be effective in other areas of life, we should cast aside our emotion mind and rely purely on our rational mind?

You absolutely need emotions to be good at Olympic weightlifting. The best weightlifters I have ever met and coached are passionate people. People who love the sport that they’re willing to put themselves at such inconvenience and discomfort just to train. They’ll battle pains and injuries and absorb huge financial costs year after year just to put themselves on the platform. Tell me this isn’t someone you want to work with and train alongside. The trick, is to be able to control and regulate your emotions when you need it so that they serve your purposes, rather than prevent it.

On the flip side, the reasonable state of mind, which we often put on a pedestal, can get us into a lot of trouble in the effective practice of Olympic weightlifting. Ever heard of analysis paralysis? You can do all of the technical learning you want about the sport, about each movement, about biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology and all of that information can make you overthink the simplest task of executing a pull from the floor. I personally think there is too much information out there to reasonably expect someone to be able to absorb it all and effectively incorporate it into their practice. After all, all you have to do is go online and start a debate about the most effective school of training, Chinese, Korean, Russian, or Bulgarian, and you’ll get legions of internet coaches coming out of the woodworks, all offering their, often very reasonable, rationale about why one is superior to the other. But how does that help you improve as an athlete if that’s not what’s going to work for you?

How you’re going to figure out what works for you is to walk the middle path, to bring yourself to the place of Wise mind with your mindfulness skills. You need to be able to acknowledge your emotions as well as see the reason in your participation in this sport. After all, why are you here? Why are you reading my words? Tap into that emotional self, and ask what you are getting out of the sport, then tap into your rational self, and ask what you need to do, and what the cost and benefits to doing those things are. This is how you’re going to find your own wisdom in your weightlifting practice. You’ll be able to recruit your passion, your joy, and even your anguish and sorrows (and I know there are a lot of those), and synergize it with your knowledge, your technical skills in order to maximize both your performance and your ultimate sense of enjoyment and fulfillment in the sport.

I want to conclude this series by leaving you with two thoughts. The first, is that the philosopher Nietzsche once famously said, “those who have a reason for why, can handle almost any how.” To me, this beautifully encapsulates what it means to be in Wise Mind. If you are clear in your own purpose and your own direction, you will be able to do the most effective thing, and make the best decisions on getting yourself there. The second, and I hope you truly take this to heart, is that a world without pleasure and passion is a bleak one. I wish that you are all doing this sport because you ultimately enjoy it, and find it pleasurable and fulfilling. Because not only are you making this sport better for yourself, but you’re making it better for everyone around you. Looking around at the state of the world, I’m sure we all wish for it to be a little less bleak. So exercise your mindfulness and let’s all be a little wiser.