Smile in the ARENA is about rising in the ARENA: the fight to the death called life – smiling. Whether we are a cage fighter, a trial attorney, or a kid being picked on going to school- its the same- we rise in the arena, smile, and help others in their fight.
Smile in the ARENA is about changing the world through little victories. When we smile and are kind to others, we save ourselves. Smile in the ARENA is about showing up to the fight and smiling, smiling at others in the fight with us.
Smile in the ARENA is a pledge to continue to rise in the ARENA of life and smile while doing it. With Smile in the ARENA item, you are telling the world they can count on you for a smile. Buy a shirt, help a veteran, say loudly to the ARENA of life “I showed up, and I am smiling for what is to come and helping others while doing it.”
A portion of ALL proceeds are donated to the National Veterans Foundation!
But how does it work?
You are in a fight to the death. There is a war going on for your attention: social media, lights, bells, advertisements, colors, videos, etc. It is not a coincidence social media is structured like a slot machine. If what you are using is free, the product being sold is you. Your attention. Now that I have your attention, how long do I have it for? Did you make it to the end of that sentence or this one?
We don’t have much time, in fact your mind has probably gone 100 places reading this far (if you are still with me), but we have people’s attention for 2 seconds when they see us and the shirt we are wearing. Companies aren’t paying us to advertise for them, why are we wasting the 2 precious seconds of people’s attention we have to say CompanyX.com for free for the company to the world?
If you have people’s attention for 2 seconds, give them what you are about! Smiling in the ARENA of life. If they look, smile, you win. If they ask about your shirt? Direct them here and maybe they will join the army. Let people know – YOU are about Smiling in the ARENA!
What is this Arena?
I lost my first jury trial. It destroyed me. I was burned out and broken before the trial even began – preparing for it all solo. But rather than listen to what my brain and body needed and rest, I hammered my pscyhe with a full throttle adrenaline rush of completing a jury trial that fell apart. I lost, I was wrecked, and I was alone. I have what is called complex PTSD from a life of trauma and a full blown jury trial alone was not the best remedy. People on the sidelines critiqued me for my loss, the worst of all critics being myself.
After the trial loss, while broken, I came upon Man in the Arena (above). I realized the speech/quote isn’t just about people on the sidelines critiquing us, it is about the worst critic – ourselves. So, like a phoenix from the ashes, I have risen from the broken pieces to enter the arena of the courtroom again. At the bottom, I found It is not just gladiators in the colosseum or trial attorneys in the colosseum of court, we are all in a fight, we all have our own arenas that are just as real as any other fight to the death called life.
So, whether you are a gladiator picking up their sword to enter the colosseum again, a trial attorney dusting himself off to enter the court again, a person nervous and preparing for a work presentation, a student giving a speech, a depressed person using every bit of energy they can muster to get out of bed in the morning, or anything in between- we all have our arena. May we never be the cold and timid souls on the sidelines critiquing others in the fight, may we always be the one rising in the ARENA. These shirts, this site, these blogs, are what I have found to be successful weapons for battle in the ARENA of life – the biggest combat, the biggest trial, the biggest fight to the death. The weapon I have found to be the most effective in the Arena? Smiling.
Smiling? Am I serious? Yes. Don’t believe me? Try it
Not just with the mouth, unfurrow your brow, relax the muscles in your face, and give a genuine, warm, wide, smile. A quick way to unlock it is to laugh.
People are shocked when they find out how bad of an electrician I am…
What makes Switzerland such a nice country? .. I’m not sur but their flag is big plus
How much does a polar bear weigh? … Enough to break the ice.
See right there: did you feel your brain relax, de-tense, the guard come down? Did you feel the release?
“Life is like a mirror, Smile at it and it smiles back at you”
When we smile, “feel-good” chemicals are released. When you smile, your brain releases tiny molecules called neuropeptides which fight stress. Neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins act as mild pain relievers, anti-depressants, and can aid in reducing heart-rate.
Smiling aids in putting us in our optimal state for our fight to the death in the ARENA.
For us with PTSD, the limbic and sympathetic nervous system are locked in “horror without words.” There is no talking to it, it is a different system and it doesn’t have ears. There are grounding techniques and I theorize that the “feel-good” chemicals released by smiling (and laughing) aid in easing the systems which are locked during PTSD attacks.
We smile when we are happy but we can also smile to become happy. The smile is a gift, a way to naturally and powerfully hijack and jumpstart our brains into feeling better. When we smile, we have a different attitude, a different outlook, and our brain switches over from defense to offense.
A smile heals others as it heals ourselves. A smile is FREE – a warm smile to another costs us nothing. When we are kind to others, a person is kinder to the next, that person kinder to the next – the smile is paid forward. The ripple is started and it grows and grows.
Your warm smile to another drops a pebble in this world – we should drop as many as we can. We never know the true effect, depth, or size of the ripples we create. But, we know that ripples are created and we know that we create them, the good and the bad.
Your smile can reach the first person you smile at that just really needed a pick-me up that day, or who knows, your smile could set off a ripple effect of kindness that made its way all the way to a person or veteran in a silent PTSD attack about to take their life. Your smile can save lives. So come with me and drop a pebble and Smile in the ARENA!
So let’s Smile! This is a tried and true way to get through this battle called life. But what else? What about life, finances, investing, tips and tricks and life experiences, philosophy, (non-legal) advice, quotes, and breaking down specific battles of life? Glad you asked, see the blog. Lets talk. Tell me what you think!