"When you stop doing things for fun you might as well be dead"

Ernest Hemingway

Your guide to becoming a well-rounded adventurer.
by Stillman Brown

He’s eaten maggots, worms, snakes, and goat testicles and traveled hundreds of miles of remote backcountry on foot. In one memorable moment, after hours on the trail during a trek in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, he fashions an Indian throwing stick with his knife, practices for an hour, and then stalks and kills a rabbit for dinner. The muffled tunk of the stick striking the rabbit is audible on camera, and you can’t help but feel unambiguous admiration – It’s a remarkable feat of dexterity and outdoor know-how.

Welcome to the World of Bear Grylls.
In the last two years, Man vs. Wild and it’s enthusiastic, bug-guzzling host have become a hit in America, attracting urban couch-dwellers and outdoor enthusiasts alike with natural vistas, daring stunts, and common-sense survival advice. He’s inspired a cultish internet following that debates the finer points of his knife choice in each episode and plenty of Youtube sendups, but for many he’s an inspiration to get outside and make fires, climb big rocks, and perhaps even do some naked pushups.

A big part of Bear Grylls’ appeal are his credentials as a badass. At 19 Grylls joined the British Special Forces (SAS) and according to his official bio, served as a sabre soldier, “trained in unarmed combat, desert and winter warfare, combat survival, medics, parachuting, signals, evasive driving, climbing and explosives.” In 1996, Grylls broke his back in three places during a parachuting accident and a mere eighteen months later he summited Everest, briefly becoming the youngest Briton to have done so. He wrote about his harrowing adventure in the gripping (and poorly written) memoir The Kid Who Climbed Everest.

Since then, Grylls has performed stunts for charity, like having a three-course meal suspended from a balloon at 25,000 feet, and circumnavigating England on a jet ski. Most recently, he flew around Everest in a paraglider. His impressive records, along with his energetic style – part self-improvement guru, part excited child – made him a natural for TV.

Grylls has not escaped criticism, however, and in the summer of 2007 a scandal flared when The Times of London revealed that many of the show’s stunts are carefully choreographed and vetted by local survival experts. Furthermore, instead of a strict policy of no contact with the camera crew (as Grylls claimed in the show’s intro), he may have stayed in a hotel during a shoot. The blogosphere took up the brouhaha and a wikipedia page has since exposed some of the show’s dramatic editing tricks (find a good summary here).

Many fans (this writer included) were disappointed but not shocked. As one blogger said, “after all, I’m watching it for entertainment purposes, not for learning how to survive in the wild. If I wanted that, I would grow a beard, move to Montana, and befriend a grizzly bear named Ted.” In a real survival situation, it would be suicidal to try some of the stunts Bear Grylls pulls off (Ice bath? No thanks.), but that’s why we are watching him. He’s an inspiration not to be followed too literally.

There is a lot to learn watching Man vs. Wild, from the basic (hang your food at night and camp upwind of your cooking fire to avoid a midnight encounter with a grizzly) to the profound (In survival situations, simply visualizing your family or loved ones can give you the burst of willpower you need to survive).

Here are five lessons, Bear Grylls style, that are key to surviving in your environment, wherever you are:
1. Be in Shape
As a member of the British Special Forces, Bear Grylls had to endure the rigorous training designed to make SAS soldiers some of the most fit, mentally tough, and savvy soldiers in the world. In one of the last phases of the SAS selection process, the candidate is given old, unserviceable gear, turned loose in rough terrain, and ordered to evade hunting parties (usually soldiers from other regiments) on foot for several days in order to learn evasion and guerilla warfare tactics. It’s no wonder he makes three days of foot travel in the backcountry look so easy.

Grylls’ website gives a brief outline of his training regime on his website, saying, “Bear trains 5 or 6 days a week with a mix of different disciplines. This includes alternating cross country runs, circuit training and yoga. He also does Ninjitsu, gymnastics and acrobatics, and of course his climbing, skydiving and paragliding.” While it’s not necessary to be Bear Grylls-fit to enjoy the wilderness, it does act like an insurance policy against injury and discomfort. It can also save your life.

Primer can get you started on a fitness plan, whether you want to safely enjoy day hikes or go peak-bagging in the Sierra Nevadas.

2. Make Informed Decisions
An essential part of survival in the wilderness is decision-making. As Grylls is fond of saying, when you stop making decisions, you die. Survival literature is littered with examples of people who beat back despair by keeping busy with specific tasks – building a shelter or a signal fire – and lived because they maintained a sense of control in chaotic circumstances.

This lesson applies perfectly to life in general. When you relinquish your power to make choices, virtually any situation becomes a nightmare of insurmountable challenges. The same tools that can save your life in the backcountry are transferable to weekly meetings at work: research local conditions, assess risk, formulate a plan of action, and put the full weight of your willpower behind it.

A good starting point for outdoor survival info is the SAS Survival Handbook, but nothing beats one-on-one instruction. Go camping with a buddy who knows his way around the woods or find a local survivalist school. Confidence in the backcountry, as in the boardroom, comes from a series of informed decisions.

3. The Wild is Your Playground
A majority of America lives either in the suburbs or a handful of mega-urban population centers. As a result, most people have never been hunting, never floated down a river in a canoe, never had a connection to the outdoors. The backcountry can be, without question, a dangerous place, but with some knowledge and common sense you can enjoy the outdoors safely.

Your local state park is the perfect place to start. State parks may not have much in the way of amenities, but that’s ok, because fancy lodges and flushing toilets are for sissies anyway. The important thing is to get out in the woods and comfortable with your surroundings. Start by picking up a pair of quality hiking boots or trail shoes (Grylls wears Merrell Chameleons, a good day hiker), a compass, and a day pack for carrying water and sandwiches. For expert advice, REI has a good introduction to gear and planning a successful hike.

A weekend hiking trip is an excellent classroom for learning basic orienteering, building dexterity on the trail, and paying attention to weather changes. And you’d probably be surprised at how many outdoor opportunities are in your own backyard – There is even an active bouldering community in New York’s Central Park!

4. Get Religion (Or Something Like It)
Though he doesn’t mention it much on Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls is a devout Christian and his faith is a big part of his coping strategy when under stress. I’m not privileging one denomination over another, or suggesting that you need to pray or light incense at the alter of some twelve-armed god. Very much the opposite: Direct contact with the outdoors often leads to a spiritual or religious feeling that can give your adventure a rich dimension beyond physical exertion, scenery, and counting miles. As a friend of mine remarked, “What was Jesus doing in the wilderness for 40 days? Hanging out?” More likely, he strapped on his sandals and went trekking; he understood the spiritual value of traveling miles in the outdoors.

In a survival situation, faith can be a life-saver. Imagine yourself stuck midway up a mountainside in a freak, unseasonable storm. You’ve become separated from your buddies and don’t have much food except a Powerbar and some water. You start to panic and can’t seem read your compass correctly – in short, you’re truly alone. Relying on faith, some understanding of God, or a comforting spiritual practice can give you the presence of mind to find shelter and wait out the squall instead of wandering until hypothermia sets in. In this way, religion can be profoundly practical.

5. Find Your Sources of Support
The trite phrase that only ‘real men know how to cry’ turns out to be true. No man is an island and men who don’t think they need help with anything risk meltdown or, worse, pulling a Hemingway (hint: the shotgun always wins.) Many of the finest moments of Man vs. Wild come when Bear grabs the camera by himself and admits to wanting a bath, missing his family, and being sick of the jungle; Suddenly he isn’t a TV personality, but a regular guy doing extraordinarily difficult things that cause him to want comfort, support, and guidance

Whether you’re interviewing for a new job, in the middle of a grueling workout, or actually stranded in the wilderness, finding your sources of support are important. It can be a partner, girlfriend, or even the old standbys: mom and dad. Tell them about the challenges you face and let them help you plot a course to success. It’s not only acceptable, but smart to know when to rely on your friends

A final word: My own love affair with the first season of Man vs. Wild culminated in a four-day, 35 mile backcountry trip in the mountains of Montana’s breathtaking Glacier National Park, where I got a taste of the kind of beating Bear Grylls takes to make the show. I had all the creature comforts of home in my backpack (stove, tent, sleeping bag, food & even a portable chair), and the heat, altitude changes, and thin air were punishing. I often wished I had Bear Grylls’ outdoor know-how and could travel with less gear – he’s the embodiment of “light & fast” backpacking!

I learned, painful mile after painful mile, that simply being in shape or knowing your gear isn’t enough. The truly well-rounded adventurer draws on a sound physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual bedrock for strength and competence in the outdoors.

http://www.primermagazine.com/2008/live/life-according-to-bear-grylls

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.”
 
 “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death......  I think. peace and tranquillity will return again”
 
“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”

“Whoever is happy will make others happy, too”
 
“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
 
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
 
"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”
 
“The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands”
 
“I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.”

“I don't think of all the misery, but of all the beauty that still remains” 
 

"When you awake, you cross a line of no return, and you never see the world in the same way. You are still dreaming - because you cannot avoid dreaming, because dreaming is a function of the mind - but the difference is that you know it's a dream. Knowing that, you can enjoy the dream or suffer the dream. That depends on you.

The awakening is like being at a party where there are thousands of people and everyone is drunk except you. You are the only sober person at the party. That is the awakening, because the truth is that most humans see the world through their emotional wounds, through their emotional poison. They don't have the awareness that they are living in a dream of hell. They aren't aware that they are in a dream just as fish swimming in water are not aware that they are living in water.

When we awake and we are the only sober person in the party where everyone is drunk, we can have compassion because we were drunk too. We don't need to judge, not even people in hell, because we, too, were in hell.

When you awake, your heart is an expression of the Spirit, an expression of Love, an expression of Life. The awakening is when you have the awareness that you are Life. When you are aware that you are the force that is Life, anything is possible. Miracles happen all the time, because those miracles are performed by the heart. The heart is in direct communication with the human soul, and when the heart speaks, even with the resistance of the head, something inside you changes; your heart opens another heart, and true love is possible."

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful you will win some false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the end, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.
---Mother Teresa---

We give of ourselves when we give gifts of the heart:
Love, kindness, joy, understanding, sympathy, tolerance, forgiveness.

We give of ourselves when we give gifts of the mind:
Ideas, dreams, purposes, ideals, principles, plans, projects, poetry.

We give of ourselves when we give gifts of the spirit:
Prayer, vision, beauty, aspiration, peace, faith.

We give of ourselves when we give the gift of words:
Encouragement, inspiration, guidance.

Emerson said it well:
“Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of thyself.”

The Art of Giving by Wilfred A. Peterson

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” wrote Thoreau. “I say let your affairs be as one, two, three and not as a hundred or a thousand.”
The art of simplicity is simply to simplify…
Simplicity avoids the superficial, penetrates the complex, goes to the heart of the problem and pinpoints key factors.
Simplicity does not beat around the bush. It does not take winding detours. It follows a straight line to the objective.
Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.
Simplicity does not elucidate the obscure, it emphasizes the obvious.
Simplicity solves problems. Listen to the testimony of Charles Kettering, a genius of modern research: “The problem when solved will be simple.”
Simplicity discovers great ideas; a swinging cathedral lamp inspired the pendulum, watching a tea kettle led to the steam engine, and a falling apple revealed the law of gravitation.
Simplicity is the mark of greatness. “To be simple is to be great,” wrote Emerson. Only little people pretend; big people are  genuine and sincere.
Simplicity has given all the big things little names: dawn, day hope, love, home, peace, life, death.
Simplicity is eloquent: it is the Twenty-third Psalm and the Gettysburg address.
Simplicity uses little words. It practices the wisdom of Lincoln, who said, “make it so simple a child will understand; then no one will misunderstand.”
Simplicity deepens life. It magnifies the simple virtues on which people’s survival depends: humility, faith, courage, serenity, honesty, patience, justice, tolerance, thrift.
Simplicity is the arrow of the spirit!

“The Art of Simplicity” by Wilferd A. Peterson 

When we look at the vast ocean, we see many waves. We may describe them as high or low, big or small, vigorous or less vigorous, but these terms cannot be applied to water. In the Lotus Sutra the wave is described as being in the historical dimension, while water is in the ultimate dimension. From the standpoint of the wave, of history, there is birth and there is death, but these are just signs. The wave is, at the same time, water. If the wave only sees itself as a wave, it will be frightened to death. The wave must look deeply into herself in order to realize that she is, at the same time, water. If we take away the water, the wave cannot be; and if we remove the waves, there will be no water. Wave is water, and water is wave. They belong to different levels of being. We cannot compare the two. The words and concepts that are ascribed to the wave cannot be ascribed to water.

Perfection is for the wave to exist in both realms simultaneously. When you touch deeply the historical dimension, you touch the ultimate dimension, and when you have touched the ultimate dimension, you have not left the historical dimension. When you step into... the ultimate dimension -- you realize that touching the water is wonderful, but it does not mean the wave has vanished. The wave is always the water. If you try to touch only the wave and not the water, you will suffer from fear of birth and death and many other afflictions. But if you look deeply into yourself and realize that you are the water, all fear and afflictions will vanish. Touching the water, you also touch the wave.

One autumn day, I was practicing walking meditation. The leaves were falling just like rain. I stepped on one leaf, picked it up, looked at it, and smiled, realizing that the leaf has always been there. Every autumn the leaves fall, and every spring they re-manifest themselves. They stay throughout the summer, and then in autumn, they fall to the ground again. They're playing hide and seek, pretending to die and to be reborn, but it is not true. When I looked deeply into the leaf, I saw that it was not just one leaf, just as the Buddha is not just one person. The Buddha is, at the same time, everywhere. We are simultaneously everywhere, in all times. You can touch the leaf in the historical dimension or in the ultimate dimension; it's up to you. The practice of the Lotus Sutra is to touch yourself, the leaf, and the tree in the ultimate dimension.

When you touch the wave, you touch the water at the same time. That is our practice. If you are with a group of friends practicing mindfulness while sitting, walking, or drinking tea, you will be able to touch the ultimate dimension while living in the historical dimension. Your fear, anxiety, and anger will be transformed easily when you are not confined by the waves, when you are able to touch the water at the same time.

When I picked up the leaf that day, I saw that the leaf with pretending to be born in the springtime and pretending to die at the end of autumn. We do appear, manifest to help living beings, including ourselves, and then disappear. We have within us a miraculous power, and if we live our daily lives in mindfulness, with love and care, we can produce the miracle and transform our world into a miraculous place to live. Taking steps slowly, in mindfulness, is an act of liberation. You walk and you free yourself of all worries, anxieties, projects, and attachments. One step like this has the power to liberate you from all afflictions. Just being there, you transform yourself, and your compassion will bear witness. The energy of compassion in you will transform life and make it more beautiful. This is a deep practice...

* * *

What are we looking at? Where are we placing our precious attention? This human life is short. Are we using it wisely? Are we are growing in silence, in innocence, in clarity, warmth and bliss? Or are we living an anxious, stressed life? Is the fragrance around us one of gratitude, contentment and celebration? Can others feel this, our innocence, our authentic presence? This body, this opportunity will not be around forever. When will we begin living, loving, laughing? When will we finally relax, and live life joyously, playfully? It is easy to look outside and see degradation in the world all around us. Is this seeing -- which is a creative act, a sacred act -- degrading or uplifting your world? This fellow Thich Nhat Hanh says we have a miraculous power within. He says we can find this miracle through meditation, mindfulness. What if we began seeing freshly, meditatively, and deeply trusted this seeing? Mr. Hanh suggests that we appear in the world to love and encourage, both ourselves and others, and then we disappear. Sounds like a life worth living. What is the possibility of living such a life?

Start with trust, trusting the bare naked innocence within, the still, small voice within. Meditation can help. It's a good place to start. Eventually you realize the futility of striving and become one with trust, one with love, one with naked innocence. It's up to you. Will you allow yourself to dissolve, let things be, allow things to happen, and trust the emptiness you find within? Trust your innocence, your silence. Move from trust.

i am having such a great time on my break. the freedom. i've found myself again. i remember this person! i miss this person... i like this me =) i dont want to forget this person again hehe i have done so much and im proud of myself.

i think i know what this warning card means. its continuing what i am doing, this progress, after my break. i can do it!

not everything is great =( just heard another news and another it hurts that i cant do anything about, very sad and horrible... i am praying, please God let it be ok, let them be ok.