Prince Daniels Jr. - Mindfulness for the Ultimate Athlete: Mastering the Balance Between Power and Peace

Mindfulness for the Ultimate Athlete

Copyright 2020 by Prince Daniels Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published in the United States of America.

www.princedanielsjr.com

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Collage Illustration by Karen Dahlquist, HappyFish Design, www.happyfishdesign.com

Cover Design by Siori Kitajima for TheSagerGroup.net
Edited by The Artful Editor, www.artfuleditor.com
Interior Layout by Carla Green, Clarity Designworks, www.claritydesignworks.com

Illustrations by Liza Biggers, www.lizabiggers.com

Paperback ISBN 978-1-7352852-1-4
Ebook ISBN 978-1-7352852-0-7

This book is dedicated to the inner God that dwells in
every living being in the world. May the words LOVE
and GRATITUDE heal us. Peace

CONTENTS

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so
that they can be great in whatever they want to do.

KOBE BRYANT

The intentions shared in this book cannot be easily expressed; words are inadequate to describe the true essence of what I want to convey. But if you read these pages with an open mind and an open heart, insights will appear in their purest and most truthful form.

The primary focus of this book is to teach both aspiring and experienced professional athletes how to cultivate their body, mind and spirit into a high level of maturity that leads to achieving a state called the zone in which you are functioning as an integrated whole. While exercise, skill training, and nutrition are all important, reaching and sustaining an experience of the zone can only be achieved through the practice of mindfulness and meditation. When these techniques are applied diligently and in a disciplined way, they will take you where you want to go, helping you to access your natural ability to blossom and flourish and manifest your biggest dreams. Why take your game to the next level when you can take it to the highest level? The ultimate level?

This book provides invaluable tools and instructions that some of the worlds best athletes have utilized to fuel their success. To follow in their footsteps or even surpass themyou will need to remember two important things:

First, knowledge acquired is dead without application. Period. You will not become the ultimate athlete just by reading a book. You will not become the ultimate athlete by simply repeating a mantra and expecting something miraculous to occur. Faith without workswithout action-will not take you where you want to go. Do the work for the works sake. Dont look for the rewards, but do envision the outcome. The rewards will be a natural by-product of your effort.

Second, remember this sequence for efficient meditation: Always, always relax the body first, then relax the mind. Once the body and mind connect harmoniously in relaxation, an opening to the spirit naturally occurs, and you will then be able to have a fruitful meditation session.

One more thing: Before immersing yourself in this book, remember to practice good habits such as eating right, reading inspirational material, getting proper sleep, taking care of your body, and cultivating a healthy relationship with yourself. These form the bedrock of a wholesome life and will accelerate the results of your practice.

To align yourself with the ultimate path, contemplate and absorb this simple and practical concept:

When you plant an apple seed in the ground, after some time that apple seed will grow to become an apple tree. Not an orange tree or a banana tree. This is the universal law.

In short, know that you are uniquethere is no one quite like you. Practicing good habits is like planting good seeds: Inevitably, good outcomes will germinate and blossom, reflecting and supporting your unique self.

Its hard to put into words the sensation of being in the zone. On one hand, you feel you have control, like a martial artist or Neo in The Matrix. On the other, youre at peace, as if on a busy New York City street but theres only your own thoughts to be heard. Now I dont mean youre in your zone listening to your headphones as you go your merry way. Im referring to a focus that filters out the current noise and distractions of everyday life and that is laser-focused on the objective at hand. Finding that focus is difficult if there is no vision.

If you cannot envision the best version of yourself, what do you have to work toward? I 100 percent agree with Prince in this book when he says, and I summarize, the spirit is the initial spark giving the vision. Then the mind formulates a plan to get there, your mission if you accept. Lastly, the mind tells the body to act out this vision, creating a perfectly integrated system, spirit, mind, and body capable of overcoming any obstacle.

More important than finding the zone itself is the process. As a former athlete and in my time thus far on this earth, I can attest to the fact that being diligent in the process of becoming that best version of self requires patience its not instant coffee. It requires perseverance for when youre brought to your knees but more importantly requires a blueprint so when youre down youre still affixed on the goal youve set for yourself.

I try to operate myself as a business day by day, with one main principle: practicing perfecting any task undertaken. I know Im not perfect, but giving a perfect effort is nothing more than a mindset. My father used to tell me that if youre going to do something, do it right. Simply put, how do we know how well we can do anything if we dont give our best attitude and effort?

This leads me back to my goal of being one of the best receivers to play the game. A good friend of mine, Derrick Moore, or Dmo, taught me the power of meditation throughout college and even early in my NFL career. After severely frustrating seasons to begin my career, the losing began taking its toll. It was recommended I meditate, just spend time five minutes a day in silence, allowing all my issues, distractions, and priorities to fall by the wayside. Over time that five minutes turned into fifteen, twenty minutes, and so on, as I began to armor myself via meditation so that the daily distractions merely became speed bumps on the way to the best version of myself.

It starts with that spark the spirit ignites and that the mind then sets forth as a mission, in turn telling the body to move. For a good business to operate well, it must keep up with whats going in and out of the company, operating expenses, net profits, etc. In turn, that company can now gauge performance based off past performance or basic requirements. Similarly, the body must be conscious of whats going on if it wants to operate to its potential.

I remember the days Id visualize myself making a great play only for those visions to come to fruition. I couldnt understand why at first, and it seemed so surreal, but the more it happened, the more I realized this zone I continuously fell into was a direct reflection of the efforts committed up to that point in time. Its the perfect practice, the repetition, the great attitude and effort that allow you to be the best version of yourself.

Through our actions we can begin to be our best by focusing our thoughts through meditation, embracing failures and using them as stepping stones, knowing that when you add Spirit to the equation of hard work and effort, you might just get something supernatural. To all who are trying to find the zone, start by stacking good days of work on top of good days and watch how one day those efforts are repaid. Remember, its a process.