MKE Week 15 ~ The 4 Tiny Habits

Over Christmas we had some homework: watching one or two movies, but not any movies of course! The list to choose from consisted in: October sky – Cool running – Door-to-door – Rudy – A “good” life – Wild – Mully.

What these 6 movies have in common is the main character’s journey displaying what we have been learning and creating for ourselves since the beginning of the course, called “the 4 tiny habits”, that represent 4 steps that are essential for success in all walk of life. For us in the course, or those familiar with it, these habits are: DMP/PMA/POA/MMA, with persistence being a by-product.

• Definite Major Purpose = A definite Purpose backed by a burning desire for its fulfillment: document our earnest desires, weekly improved over the course of about 2 months or more if necessary, thanks to the supervision and help of our tribe guide. To read 3 times daily with ENTHUSIASM! 😉
• Plan Of Action = A definite plan expressed in continuous action: one new action added to the other ones weekly to serve our DMP. To read 3 times daily with ENTHUSIASM! 😉
• Positive Mental Attitude = A mind closed tightly against all negative thoughts and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances. Week 5 we have been put through a “No opinion no judgment no negative thought week” where like it’s called we weren’t allowing ourselves to have this type of negative thoughts, catching and observing ourselves at every moment of the day for 7 days. Then week 7 we have been introduced to the 7 Day Mental Diet d’Emmet fox, promised to being the most rewarding thing we will ever do! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snn5A-PEDwk
• Master Mind Alliance = Friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.

My first movie was Wild, (from https://en.wikipedia.org/) a 2014 American biographical adventure drama directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, based on Cheryl Strayed’s 2012 memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail: In June 1995, despite a lack of hiking experience, recent divorcée Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) leaves Minneapolis, Minnesota, to hike 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of the 2,650-mile (4,260 km) Pacific Crest Trail on a journey of self-discovery and healing (Her DMP). During the hike, Strayed reflects in flashbacks on her childhood in Minnesota and memories of her mother, Bobbi Grey (Laura Dern). Bobbi’s death from cancer sent Cheryl into a deep depression that she tried to numb with heroin and anonymous sex, which eventually destroyed her marriage to her husband Paul (Thomas Sadoski). After finding out she was pregnant, Strayed got an abortion and resolved to hike the trail to redeem herself.

Strayed begins her trek in the Mojave Desert in Southern California with her backpack (POA). On the first night, she discovers she has brought the wrong type of gas for her stove and is therefore unable to cook food. After a few more days, Strayed meets Frank (W. Earl Brown), a farmer and construction worker who takes her in for the night and with his wife offers her a home-cooked meal and a warm shower (MMA).

Strayed meets a hiker named Greg (Kevin Rankin) who agrees to meet her at Kennedy Meadows, California (POA & MMA). Upon arrival, she meets a camper named Ed (Cliff DeYoung) who helps Strayed strategically lighten her overweight backpack and convinces her to replace her undersized hiking boots with a new pair (MMA), to be delivered to a future stop on the trail (POA). Strayed continues her hike into the Sierra Nevada despite Greg’s warnings of deep snowfall (POA & PMA & Persistence). After removing a boot to remove a loose toenail, the boot accidentally falls down an inaccessibly deep slope, forcing her to continue the journey wearing sandals reinforced with duct tape (PMA & persistence).

Strayed’s best friend Aimee (Gaby Hoffmann) sends her provisions to stops along the trail, including letters that congratulate her on her progress (MMA & POA). Strayed also receives letters from her ex-husband Paul along the way.

Strayed makes her way out of California and arrives in Ashland, Oregon (POA), where she meets a man named Jonathan (Michiel Huisman), with whom she attends a tribute concert to Jerry Garcia and later spends the night. Days later, Strayed arrives at Mount Hood National Forest (POA) and encounters a friendly group of young hikers who share their experiences (MMA). The hikers recognize her from the signatures she’s been leaving in the hiker’s record books along the PCT. Strayed frequently leaves quotes or poems that are meaningful to her along her journey.

One rainy day, Strayed finds a llama that escaped from a young boy hiking with his grandmother (Anne Gee Byrd). Strayed chats with the boy, who asks her about her parents. After she mentions her mother’s death, the boy sings “Red River Valley” to Strayed, saying it is a song his mother used to sing to him. After the boy and his grandmother carry on down the trail, Strayed breaks down and cries.

On September 15, after hiking for 94 days, Strayed reaches the Bridge of the Gods on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington (POA), ending her journey (DMP). At various points along the trail, including at the end of the bridge, Strayed encounters a red fox, which she interprets as carrying the spirit of her mother watching over her (PMA). She reflects that, four years in the future, she will remarry at a spot in view of the bridge (new DMP), five years after that have a son and one year after that have a daughter named Bobbi, after Strayed’s mother (POA).

This movie really portrayed the 4 tiny habits leading to the completion of a definite goal. The charterer had the plan to go from point A to point B, not having any prior hiking experience. Meaning she “didn’t know how” but thanks to her focus, determination supported by her earnest desire for self-discovery and healing, a plan of action and a master mind alliance around her, she was able to overcome many obstacles even experienced hiker didn’t want to face and fulfilled an “impossible” goal from an external view (hiking 1,100 mi of the Pacific Crest Trail with a very dangeous part in winter and no experience). Great watch, entertaining and very inspiring! 🙂

 

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