Get Up

[sabrinamari]

"Fall down seven times, get up eight times."

Japanese proverb


Two thoughts:

Early in "The Matrix," Trinity is being chased by agents. She stumbles down, collapsing mid-chase at the bottom of a staircase. But no one comes to save her. Instead, she tells herself, "Get up Trinity---GET UP!" Pulling herself up, she fiercely pushes herself past her point of fear. That is the best moment of the movie.

What Pema would change: Pema would have us say it kindly, with self acceptance and self love.


It doesn't matter how many times you fall down. It matters how many times you get up.

Comments

[sligoe.livejournal.com]

When I can no longer get up, I will know that I am dead.

Falling down is easy. Willing yourself to get back up is the hardest thing a person does.

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

I would argue that how it needs to be said varies with the situation, and the relationship of the speaker to the hearer (even when both of those roles are the same person).

In Trinity's situation, "Trin, I love you, and you might wanna get up sometime soon" probably would not have cut it. She needed the force and determination behind the order, even if it was self-directed.

Sometimes me being kind to myself degenerates into allowing slacking. (Okay, that happens a lot. :-) Which is fine, sometimes. My situation usually isn't immediately life-threatening. But if I were running from rabid mutant space alligators, and my foot gave out, then something more appropriate would be required, like, "Oh, no, not now, you malfunctioning thrice-damned appendage -- MOVE IT! RUN! RUN! RUN!"

And, y'know, the alligators would probably still get me, but I would feel better for not having just given up and sat down to die.

[siriciryon.livejournal.com]

I always took from that scene that Trinity knew that waiting there to gun down the people following her - that is, making a [last] stand - was idiotic and would be unsuccessful; she had both pistols up and targeted, just waiting for someone to shoot. The determination, in my eyes, came from forcing herself to run instead of standing her ground, and in accepting that there were some battles she would not be able to walk away from.

[velvettnrbt.livejournal.com]

that is one of my favorite matrix moments as well :)

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

laughing!

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Interesting...I never thought of that. I thought her guns wer a reflex in case they were right on her tail, and she momentarily froze in that position, terrified that they were already right behind her.

I took her self-talk to be her attempt to "unfreeze" herself and get herself up and running again.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Great icon, honey.

Wisdom from a book

[warning-dca.livejournal.com]

Bridge to Terabithia: "Nothing Crushes Us"
His Dark Materials: "I Will Master My Fear"

When I had the motorcycle accident when i was 14 there was no one immediately near me, and no way for anyone to see me. Although I had just be thrown and rolled beneath a very heavy machine, and was in an enormous amount of pain. I had to find the strength to pull myself out, remove a helmet, stand, and scream not once but twice although in between each attempt. I was in a lot of pain but I didn't think I would die. I did know that in spite of my efforts I would not have the strength to get to the people myself I had to have faith they would come and that to is another kind of strength.

Much as our own happiness lies in our own hands, our own strength is in our own mind. I don't believe it is that what doesn't kill or crush us makes us stronger, I think there's a step missing in that idea. Instead the way I see it is that when we Decide not allow something to crush or kill us we Act, and in Acting we realize how strong we have always been. It's a powerful thing, and very hard to forget.

Surviving that incident has allowed me to face and master my fears many times over and I'm sure it will continue to. Indecision, more than anything I've encountered, is what holds us back from triumph.

Re: Wisdom from a book

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

There is so much wisdom here that I and others can can use:

"I would not have the strength to get to the people myself I had to have faith they would come and that to is another kind of strength...

Much as our own happiness lies in our own hands, our own strength is in our own mind. I don't believe it is that what doesn't kill or crush us makes us stronger, I think there's a step missing in that idea. Instead the way I see it is that when we Decide not allow something to crush or kill us we Act, and in Acting we realize how strong we have always been. It's a powerful thing, and very hard to forget...

Indecision, more than anything I've encountered, is what holds us back from triumph."

Re: Wisdom from a book

[warning-dca.livejournal.com]

:-)

[radiant-one.livejournal.com]

When I saw this last night I thought of a somewhat annoying yet very ear catching, bouncy song by Chumbawumba called Tubthumping. The title never made sense to me. It's the chorus:

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down

I used to listen to it once or twice when I was feeling down. It was impossible to feel down or stay down because this song was so UP. It's not spiritual, it's not deep, but it worked.

SMIB!

[shades-of-nyx.livejournal.com]

Indeed it does.
And, we need to forgive ourselves for falling, skip the cycle of assigning blame, and spend that energy on moving forward.
I love you!

LOL!

[shades-of-nyx.livejournal.com]

I can see that directed (not so subtly) at me.
The above is said with all the love in the world and a lot of self knowledge.
"You might wanna get up sometime soon" would have failed me in the recent past. In fact it took a God saying "Get up and LIVE! NOW!" to do it.