The answer to that timeless and ageless question of why are we here is so simple!  You are here to be you, and I am here to be me; fully and authentically, and the universe places different benchmarks in your life along the way to make sure that you know you're staying on the right path.  I would describe it as a pull.  I have found that the universe doesn't push anyone to do anything.  You are never forced to forgive anyone, but you may feel a pull to forgive.  When you feel a pull in your life, it's because the way has already been made for you to accomplish the task at hand.  You can tell when you are really matched up with your authentic self when you not only feel that pull, but you are encouraging the pull to move faster.  You know when the universe is about to call for a Do-Over when you feel that pull turn into slack, and then you feel a tug on your back.  Remember the universe never pushes.  It only pulls.  I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. 

When I was coaching and running track, we used to do a drill called overspeed sprinting.  We'd hook you up to a bungee chord, and you'd sit there holding back while another person took the other side of the bungee and took off running in front of you.  When the chord was so tight you couldn't help but start to move, you took off sprinting as fast as you could.  That bungee would pull you faster than you had ever run in your life, trust me, I've broken several world records behind that bungee!  Your goal, was too simply keep your feet turning over, try and hold true to your form, and not fall down.  The overspeed sprinting helps train your neuromuscular system to fire faster, and tears down your muscles with little effort on your part.  When your muscles heal and rebuild, they rebuild with a rebuilt firing system. 



Have you ever experienced times in your life, where you just feel compelled to do something?  Not only are you compelled, it seems like success is coming at you with little effort, and faster than you've ever experienced it?  Well I call that the bungee of authenticity being attached to your life.  We know that not all things are so overly-simplified however,   More is required than just being hooked up!  You have to have the right preparation and development, you have to have the right partner, you have to be able to maintain proper form, and you have to have someone looking over you to make sure you're maintaining proper form. 

Let's talk about the right preparation and development.  If you ever have a coach who wants to do overspeed drills at the beginning of your season, then understand you've got a coach that is going to get you hurt.  You've got to train your body to cope with and discard the waist that is created by running at maximum velocity.  You've got to train your body to endure longer and longer bouts of peak performance.  You've got to train your body to maintain proper technique at top speeds, and when you fatigue.  You've got to train your body to drive from the start with your head down and transition to maximum speed sprinting form.  If you don't train all of these first, you're destined to pull a muscle, and that can mean the end of your season.

Everything in your life is preparing you for your opportunity to be hooked into the bungee of authenticity.  Some of us have had to deal with rapes, abuses, incest, violence in our preparation and development.  I'm sorry to tell you babies, that you're most likely not gonna be 100M sprinters.  You might have gone through so much where you actually might be able to call yourself a 400m sprinter, or even a 400m Alpha-Sprinter (hurdler).  We are the ones that have to learn how to cope with and discard the waist that sometimes comes in this life, and maintain our form for the long haul.  There are those of us who have had rough childhoods, that have had to learn to drive from the finish line with our heads down, not letting any of the distractions of our childhood keep us from driving forward and leaving that behind and transitioning into the max velocity of our adulthood.

So once we go through the preparation and development that only life can bring, the next facet is to make sure you're partnered with the right person or persons.  At my peak in high school there was no one around who could keep the proper distance in front of me while I was attached to the bungee.  I'd barely get out of my drive phase before I had already passed the person trying create the proper tension.  I never got the full benefits of the drill.  At my peak in college, I had teammates who could stay far enough in front of me with the bungee that I got an incredible work out.  Even though the drill was benefiting me, they had to be running just as hard as I was running the entire time, and we had to be in good enough shape to go from being the puller to the pullee to make sure our teammates got the same benefit.

Who in your life is around you.  What partners do you run with?  You've got to look around and make sure that there are people that are compatible to run with.  How do you think you're going to be able to hook into any part of your destiny when the people around you couldn't run out of a wet paper bag?  Here's a hint for you.  At least one person around you has got to have prepared and developed in the same way as you and be just as willing to work to see your destiny come to be as you are to see there's come to pass. It helps if you've got two or three.  The truth is you're attached to the people around you.  Are they helping you move forward, or holding you back? 

Practice does not make perfect, that is a lie.  Perfect practice makes perfect!  Practice makes permanent.  Because of this it is important that you learn to strive to maintain perfect form when you're doing overspeed drills.  You're training your neuromuscular system to behave a certain way, and most of the time this is a subconscious event.  That's why you've got to have a coach who you trust to make on-the-spot corrections, and to pull you from the drill if you're not maintaining form.  Do they video tape you so that you can see yourself, and put together what it feels like while you're running, and what you are really demonstrating?  No one runs around purposely running with bad technique, they just don't know that what feels right to them isn't always the right technique.

I just said a mouthful in that last statement didn't I?  Sometimes what feels right to us, is not what is called for on the journey of being authentically you.  Who do you have that you trust to shine the mirror of you back to you?  Who do you have around that says, "Hey Justice, you look like you're running scared, not confidently?"  Who do you have around to tell you exactly what proper form is.  The last thing I want to do as a tired sprinter is reach, and you hear so many coaches telling there kids to do that.  When you're tired you want to shorten up your stride to make sure you're not adding any braking forces.  Who do you look to for guidance?  Many people in this world have religion to tell them the form of their life.  I have found that religion is often like those well meaning coaches that tell you to reach when you really should be shortening up.  They tell you to hate when you should be striving to love.  They tell you to exclude when the goal is inclusion.  I am not going to tell you who you should choose as the coach in your life, but I am going to tell you that choice is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make in this race we call life. 

You've got to know in life what perfect form looks like.  I have always told my athletes, that while running is a very natural action, sprinting is not.  Ballistic relaxation is an oxymoron at best, but required for proper technique.  Many who do it well seemingly naturally don't know what they're doing to be fast, they're just fast.  What we do, is we look to those who have come before us, and who have been the fastest in the country, the fastest in the world.  We watch them, and we learn from them.  We learn of their training regime, and we try and emulate and implement those same techniques into this life.  I'll end with what sounds so cliché, but what I believe is verified and corroborated over and over again.  The perfect form that we all must maintain on our journeys of authenticity and destiny, is forgiveness, love and unity.  All of the great "sprinters" of our time have demonstrated nothing less!