I once heard a story about a Japanese samurai in war-torn Japan.
The samurai I’m referring to was a student of a highly respected samurai who won countless battles.
One day, the student went to his teacher and asked for guidance.
The war-torn samurai looked at his student calmly and nodded for him to continue.
The student anxiously asked, “How do I train my mind to be as tough as yours?”
The Samurai stopped for a moment and slowly pointed out.
it was the middle of winter and just the night before a fresh layer of snow had piled up on the ground.
The student was confused…
The Samurai said: “If you wish to have an unshakable mind, take off your clothes and stand in the snow.”
This story just gives you an idea of how tough the samurai were.
Standing naked in the dead of winter in a snowdrift…we can barely survive our morning walks without our warmth!
Now, before you run naked into the snow, I’m going to ask you to pump the brakes.
The police will be called in no time and you will have an uncomfortable story to tell.
But there is something we can learn from the samurai about how to develop our mental strength.
Something we can do today to start our journey to mental toughness.
This “something” is a ritual that we all do every day (hopefully).
Drum roll please!
Take cold showers.
I can hear you gasp now.
But yes, as warriors, mental toughness is necessary to build and create the lives we desire.
The lives we deserve.
So let’s take a lesson from these elite warriors.
Cold showers are a great and effective way to build our mental toughness. You will be surprised how this can change your life for the better.
Some things I noticed since I started taking cold showers were:
1. Increased confidence
2. Procrastination disappeared
3. Increased energy
4. Decreased anxiety
5. Lightened skin
These were just a few of the benefits I experienced in the first 2 weeks of cold showers.
So, what are you waiting for?
One thing that every elite warrior does is take action.
Let’s take a page out of the Samurai playbook and work on strengthening our minds for whatever life may throw at us!
Keep growing warrior!
-Paul “shaking before 6 am” Lawrin
