Bear Path Public Journal
Journey on the second mountain
The COVID pandemic from 2020 - 2022 disrupted my outlook and approach to my personal and professional life. This period coincided with a major milestone in my life: reaching half a century at age 50. I think psychologically, something shifted my core beliefs, values, and mindset.
Shifting to whole food and a healthy diet, I managed to get rid of 20 KG and have been maintaining a healthy BMI and other biomarkers for over two years
I set a 10-year moonshot project for my business, transforming it into a system-based Organic Learning Organization. Got rid of our office premises, 100% working online before we build our future ‘garden office’
Learning calisthenic exercises at home without gym facilities is important to build muscle strength. I can do a few pull-ups and chin-ups from being unable even to do half a pull-up
And there are a few more seemingly impossible or unlikely outcomes that are now proven possible. These motivated me to work out a systematic approach to pushing myself beyond my comfort zone into the organic learning zone. I call this Incredible Rock.
[Image created by AI, credit to Bing Image Creator]
I set a goal to achieve 40 Incredible Rocks over 10 years, averaging one rock per quarter. I started a 10-year moonshot project to transform my business into an Organic Learning Organization (OLO). I remind myself to live an interesting day and a meaningful life.
This public journal, a newsletter, is one of the Incredible Rocks. I call it Bear Path, my journey on the Second Mountain.
“You don’t climb the second mountain the way you climb the first mountain. You conquer your first mountain. You identify the summit, and you claw your way toward it. You are conquered by your second mountain. You surrender to some summons, and you do everything necessary to answer the call and address the problem or injustice that is in front of you. On the first mountain you tend to be ambitious, strategic, and independent. On the second mountain you tend to be relational, intimate, and relentless.” - David Brooks, The Second Mountain.
Why ‘bear’? My nickname is bear (狗熊), a homonym of my Chinese name (国雄).
The intentions of this journal are to serve as:
a way of knowing and being my authentic self
a weekly journal record of my learnings and discoveries
sharing of Organic Learning with my colleagues (V-Work as an Organic Learning Organization)
community of friends and mentors who are interested in my journey and care to share their thoughts
One of the objectives of my quest on the second mountain is to uncover my authentic self (活出自我). As an introvert, I am uncomfortable sharing my personal life online. I am not active on social media like Facebook or professional channels like LinkedIn. Most of my presences, such as presentations, demo videos, and LinkedIn posts, are for business needs.
Hence, it is not a small step for me to commit to writing a public journal for the years to come. My plan is not to write to impress but to record my lessons.
Knowing my true self will be an interesting journey. Starting with befriending my inner child with more solitude. The best friend who accompanies us the longest in our lives will be ourselves, not our spouse, family, or friends. If we cannot stand to be our own best friend, who can stand to be with us?
Cultivating awareness of my inner self. Making more democratic care of my 78 organs and microbiome instead of being dominated by my mind. Understand what emotion is telling me as a new language. Appreciate any alarm the pain signal is highlighting hazard to me.
Accepting my imperfections and insecurities. I could be insecure about judgments by others, insecure about both failure and success. Providing self-care to love myself so that I raise my potential to serve others better.
I should show up as my authentic self, not waste energy putting up layers of shield or disguise. It would be a big relief not to live based on cultural and social expectations, living by my own values.