Olympia is inside each of us - Ignite your inner fire.

To ignite the inner fire within oneself and in others depends, among other things, on how much we respect ourselves, the thoughts we nurture, and to what extent we support people in their strengths. When we grow beyond ourselves, it's more than just a matter of the mind. At this year's Winter Olympics, the women's cross-country skiing sprint relay achieved the seemingly impossible and claimed first place. With an efficiency "from another star," Katharina Hennig and Victoria Carl disciplined, fought, and with perfect teamwork, won the gold medal. The sensation here is, among other things, that Victoria Carl was only added to the team sprint lineup at short notice because she had to compensate for the illness-related absence of a colleague who was originally intended to partner with Katharina Hennig. With an outstanding performance, she justified her nomination. Both literally grew beyond themselves. From my own experience, I am very familiar with "growing beyond oneself." When I won the bronze medal in the 4x400m relay at the 1988 Olympics, it was a sensation at the time. Based on our individual 400m times, we would have barely made it into the top seven relay teams of the final race when combined. What led us to the medal and only left us a tenth of a second away from the silver medal was that the four of us runners grew beyond ourselves. As with both ski cross-country skiers, in our case, it was also the team spirit, the special momentum, and the hunger for the vision. Just like the ski cross-country skiers, we knew that 'To realize our vision, it takes a team that delivers top performance in line with the vision.' We had a national coach at the time who gave us his full trust and mostly left the composition of the relay team and race tactics to us athletes. He knew that we could grow beyond ourselves by challenging us with increasingly demanding tasks. And this is not about hierarchy, but about substantive tasks that are new and challenging, with more responsibility and decision-making power. Certainly, the coach of the ski cross-country skiers also pushed his athletes to grow beyond themselves by creating the right conditions for them. For people to grow beyond themselves, on the one hand, an environment of (self) appreciation and (self) trust, as well as a meaningful task, are needed. And on the other hand, the opportunity to contribute their own strengths and continuously develop them. But a single word ignites the inner fire in everyone. Namely: "Belief." "Pay attention to how you speak to yourself." The following quote from Bruce Lee stands out like few others on this topic. "Don’t speak negatively about yourself, even as a joke. Your body doesn’t know the difference. Words are energy and cast spells, that’s why it’s called spelling. Change the way you speak about yourself and you can change your life. What you’re not changing, you’re also choosing." Why do we sometimes 'curse' ourselves? Why do we sometimes say things like 'of course, it had to go wrong. The day so far has already been a disaster…' and the like? One reason is that we often engage in comparisons. Comparing becomes particularly dangerous when things do not go as planned. Because in the process of comparing, you diminish yourself. We often tend to compare our performances. As a former elite athlete, I know what I'm talking about regarding comparisons. However, I tried to leave this comparison on the track and not bring it into my life. If you allow comparing to take place in your everyday life, you will always - and I mean always - feel a sense of lack, otherwise you wouldn't compare. Furthermore, we too rarely pause to reflect calmly on what has happened. Because in 'pausing,' we interrupt the process of 'it lives me' and open up the chance to 'I live me.' The way you speak to yourself is possibly the way you speak to others as well. For me, living together always involves respect. Therefore, treat yourself respectfully in order to shape your life respectfully. The first thought comes automatically. You can influence the thoughts that follow. (Elias Emanuel Itt, 7 years old) What this quote from my seven-year-old son has to do with the story 'The Little Prince' by the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, you will find out now. When I put my son Elias to bed in the evenings, it has almost become a tradition to listen to the story 'The Little Prince' on his Toniebox. Narrated by August Zirner, it's simply delightful. Suddenly, and out of nowhere, my son said, "The first thought comes automatically. You can influence the thoughts that follow." Astonished, I looked at him and asked - as if I hadn't understood him correctly - what did you say? He repeated the sentence with such naturalness exactly as he had said it before. My amazement grew, and I could only manage to ask a typical 'adult question': Where did you hear that? As if I didn't trust him to come up with such a statement on his own. He replied that he hadn't heard it anywhere and that it had just come to him. In that moment, I caught myself - just like the narrator in front of the Little Prince - not trusting a child to come up with a statement that I had never heard, which is so profound and true, and positively surprised me. With his words, he explained to me that the first thought "...comes from the gut. It's just there. But we can influence the other thoughts that follow to change bad thoughts into something else." Why have we adults forgotten the simplicity of a child, to think straightforwardly and not around corners? And I became even more aware that the first thought usually comes from the subconscious, which is influenced by experiences and conditioning. However, we can consciously steer these thoughts in one direction or another. This experience with my son will probably stay with me for the rest of my life. Because through him, I was made aware of something that I had almost forgotten. He is my best coach. Because he speaks from the heart. And, among other things, as I write this post, I realize that he is expanding my awareness to provide impulses. We should listen actively to children more and question them less. In line with the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes."   Edgar Itt will hold a free lecture on the topic "Olympia is in Everyone - Ignite Your Inner Fire" on 14.06.2022 at 12:00 as part of the Speakers Excellence Brain Food webinar series. Register Now