by Sunil Bali, 29-01-2017

Buster had a very big problem.

A Mike Tyson uppercut had just sent him crashing to the canvas at the end of the 8th round. Having staggered to his feet at a count of nine Buster was saved by the bell.

Coming in to the fight Tyson was an overwhelming favourite with an undefeated record of 37 wins with 32 knockouts.

The bell rang for the start of Round 9 and the world waited for the inevitable and another Tyson knockout. But despite a barrage of vicious hooks and uppercuts, Douglas somehow managed to stay on his feet, survive the round and land some blows of his own.

Miraculously, the tide was turning, and in the 10th round Douglas unleashed a heavy four punch combination which knocked Tyson down and left him unable to beat the referees count.

Douglas was crowned the heavyweight champion of the world.

In his post-fight conference Douglas revealed that he had made a promise to his mother on her death bed that he would win the fight. His mother had died 23 days before the fight. Despite Tyson’s intimidating record, Douglas said. "I didn’t know how I was going to win the fight, but I knew I was going to win because I had promised my mom."

Research by the author and neuroscientist Professor Richard Restak, shows that when we have an all-consuming purpose and reason for doing something, the limbic part of the brain overrides the neocortex. The neocortex rationalizes that it’s time to stop being punched in the face, and wants you stay on the canvas and be defeated, but the limbic brain evokes a dominant fight response.

Also, the adrenalized nature of a purpose driven limbic response means that we’re far less likely to see problems and feel pain, and are more likely to see possibilities and potential.

Hence a mother running back into a burning building to save her child, and a daughter lifting up a one-and-a-half-ton car a few inches so her trapped father can escape.

When your "why" resonates with your soul, the "how" tends to appear.

 

Humour

  • I thought it was the tumble dryer that shrank my clothes. Turns out it was the refrigerator.
  • An old couple are at church, when the wife leans across to her husband and whispers,

    "I’ve just let out a silent fart, what should I do?", to which he replies, "change the battery in your hearing aid".
  • The writer of ‘The Hokey Cokey" song has died.
    It was a struggle getting him in the coffin.
    They put his left leg in, then the trouble started.

 

Live big & love deep.

Sunil

www.sunilbali.com