What do Star Wars, LeBron James and mind over matter have in common? We talk about them all in this installment of the podcast! It's time to talk mind over matter with Brian and Tony!
Since the majority of the conversation in this episode is specific to the new Star Wars movie Solo, I'll let Brian and Tony lead the way on that excellent discussion! My personal reaction to the movie was... too predictable. But, like Brian points out, that was likely due to lack of character depth in Kyra's character. Or, maybe not. If they'd gone more in depth into the character, it might have been more predictable.
To be clear, I don't mind predictability. I don't like last minute, where-did-that-come-from twists that make no sense. I like a healthy balance of mystery and shock, where we can understand character arcs without actively wanting to predict the outcome of the movie. When the movie moves too slow, I find myself tagging characters and saying, 'Next they will say [this] and do [this].' Great premise... execution was lacking.
But that brings me to what I do want to discuss. I read an article this week about Kelly Marie Tran (from The Last Jedi) that broke my heart. One might argue that it was more apt to break because it is made of ice, but I like to think that it warmed up just enough in order to tear and bleed... feeling the pain for this actress who probably entered into the Star Wars franchise with eager anticipation of joining an epic story.
So here's what Star Wars, LeBron James and mind over matter really have in common.
LeBron on what it’s like to be an athlete in the social media era and how he deals with criticism pic.twitter.com/xFxxwPevyZ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 3, 2018
Later in this same interview, he says: if the stuff that goes on in social media bothers you... just delete it.
Well said. Just delete it! I deleted Facebook and Twitter from my phone a couple months ago and am loving the freedom that comes from not being attached to notifications or cultivated news feeds. My dad used to always say, and I know a lot of dads say this, but what goes IN to your mind will undoubtedly come OUT of your mouth. If we're serious about our craft, about delivering quality or excellence, and we only listen to the LOUDEST source of feedback... we've no guarantee about quality feedback.
Mind over matter is this concept where we can use our mind to conquer physical problems. It's become more common to use it in terms of controlling pain, but historically it has roots in the evolutionary growth of the mind. What is most interesting to me, in this regard, is that sometimes physical problems are visibly evident, sometimes they're not. Sometimes they are the words said to us (or not said to us) that become "like" physical pain. Sometimes it's a digital blockade of terrible people on social media. Sometimes it is an illness preventing us from playing in an important game (Michael Jordan's legendary flu game).
In all cases, we have a choice: either we let something get us down... or we rise above. Good for Kelly Marie to delete her social media stuff, people don't deserve to have a peek into her life and she owes no one anything. With the dawn of the social media age, we as a people have yet to fully adjust to the large-scale impact words of this visibility have. We are like children, unable to help ourselves from abusing a new toy.
It's just a great reminder that when something hurts, stop giving it the power to hurt you. Regain control, do what you do, and fall back in love with the passion that brought you to where you are.