Your mind is where thinking occurs. But there is a part of you that is aware of the thinking. The essence of who you are and where you need to operate from, is that part. It is awareness. Awareness is the field or space where thinking can take place.

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You can focus awareness on what you intend to do. This is attention: the intentional directing of awareness. Attention is really all you can control. The physical characteristics of the route, and even internal processes within you, are out of your control. Even thinking is out of your control. All you can really do is direct attention to manipulate your thinking. For instance, you can focus attention on obstacles and difficulties, and defeat your effort before you even begin. Or, you can focus attention on possibilities, and helpful “possibility thoughts” are generated. This is how biofeedback works for other bodily processes. By focusing attention on slowing your heart rate, for example, it slows down.

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If you don’t operate from awareness, you get lost in thinking. You will think about skirting stressful situations and seeking comfort. Your mind’s comfort-seeking tendency will direct how your attention is utilized. Instead of letting your mind have its way, you need your attention to direct your mind’s thinking processes.

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Beliefs, values, and prejudices are all wrapped up in how you think. These concepts are dear to you and make you feel secure. To consider that they are “not you” is threatening.

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But fear lies within those thinking processes. This fear is not a logical, intelligent caution in the face of danger, but rather simple fear of the unknown. To break free from this fear you need to see thinking as something you do, not something you are, or even something you completely control. All you can control is how you focus attention. Fear is about what might happen, not what is happening. And “what might happen” originates not from the situation, but from your thinking mind. When you operate from awareness instead of your thinking mind, there is no space for fear.

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Understanding the difference between thinking and awareness is the foundational step to increasing mental fitness. Your essence is awareness, and if you operate from that essence you feel a power that the mind’s thinking processes can never attain.

Mental Lies

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The mind doesn’t like stress and will engage in thought processes designed to escape that stress. Often, these thought processes seem reasonable, but they have an ulterior motive of evasion. Many climbers have discovered this tendency of the mind. My first glimpse of it was many years ago as an intermediate climber in Boulder, Colorado. I was working my way through the climbing grades until I was able to climb 5.8s regularly. I wanted to push into 5.9s and had chosen one called Curving Crack on Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon. I was poised at a subtle stance below the last 15 feet, saying to myself, “I don’t think I can do it.” My mind told me to give up, but for no real reason I moved on anyway. Without thinking, I began stemming, laybacking, and jamming my shoes in the crack. I placed a nut and continued. The climbing was strenuous but doable. Stemming seemed to give me stability, and before I knew it, I pulled over the top.

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At the time, I couldn’t believe it. I had felt quite certain I could not do the route, yet I had. I would later realize that almost every climber has had a similar experience. When you dissect these experiences, you find that your mind creates conceptions of situations that you haven’t yet engaged. Since the situation is unknown, these conceptions are not based on fact and often are false. Consider the magnitude of this realization: Your mind gives you false information prior to engaging a new situation. This false information is essentially a lie.

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Realizing that your mind lies to you is a bit unsettling, to say the least. But how could it be otherwise? How can your mind know something before you actually engage? It can’t, and this realization is the beginning of understanding how your mind works.

Difference Between Thinking and Awareness

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“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men (and women) of old; seek what they sought.”

–Matsuo Basho, 17th century Japanese poet

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What does this quote mean to you and how are you applying it in your life? Arno

Description:

The Rock Warrior’s Way: Mental Training for Climbers, first published in 2003, outlines the foundation of the Warrior’s Way ® material. Espresso Lessons takes the material into practical climbing situations. It is the “how to” application of The Rock Warrior’s Way, intended to build upon and complement it.
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Mental fitness training is simply improving your ability to keep attention in the moment. The most challenging—and interesting— moment in rock climbing is when your mind doubts whether or not you can continue climbing. Knowing when it is appropriate to push through this doubt and when to back off is critical for taking appropriate risks.
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Espresso Lessons helps you take appropriate risks. It is an intentional approach to risk-taking that includes very specific processes for gathering information, assessing risks, making risk decisions, and taking effective action.
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Many climbers ignore or avoid falling. Espresso Lessons addresses falling head-on, through intentional falling practice. It also includes specific exercises to practice all phases of risk-taking, allowing you to integrate the Warrior’s Way ® material in a practical and tangible way.
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$19.95

Description:

Desiderata Institute (2006) Second Edition
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Mental training is scarcely covered in the climbing literature, yet it is as important to performance as strength, flexibility, and technique. In his unique approach to mental training, Arno Ilgner draws essential elements from the rich “warrior” literature, as well as from sports psychology, and combines these with his extensive climbing experience to create The Rock Warrior’s Way.
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Here is a comprehensive program for learning how to focus your mental resources during a challenging climb. It includes step-by-step guidance on motivation analysis, information gathering, risk assessment, mental focus, and deliberate transition into action.
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Poor use of attention creates fear, which can manifest itself as anything from performance anxiety to sheer terror. By using attention more purposefully we can understand how fear is created, deal with it effectively, and free ourselves to get back in touch with a far more powerful motivating force: our love of climbing. We can then create the kind of unbending intention that leads to outstanding performance. The Rock Warrior’s Way is a revolutionary program for climbers who want to improve both their performance and their enjoyment of climbing.
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$18.95

Description:

Audio Book, by Arno Ilgner

Desiderata Audio (2006) Compact Disc CD Format, 6 CDs, approximately 6 hours, unabridged, read by the author
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$29.95