Johnny Manziel - How Will Johnny Football Handle Celebrity in 2013?

Johnny Manziel

When the Texas A&M freshman quarterback's name was called as the 2012 winner of the Heisman Trophy, I felt a thrill of delight. I'm a Texan (I wasn't born here but I got here as soon as I could), and for the second year in a row, the prestigious Heisman Trophy went to a Texan. Not to a University of Texas player (my favorite college football team), but to players from Baylor (Robert Griffin III) and now Texas A&M. Ricky Williams was the last U.T. player to get the Heisman (1998), and Earl Campbell before him (1977).

From Johnny Manziel to Johnny Football to Johnny Heisman, the young man has exploded from high school football overachiever to college football legend in less than a year. On the field, he did things no other football player has ever done. When Tim Tebow won the Heisman in 2007, he had 3,286 yards passing and 895 yards rushing, truly awesome numbers. By comparison, Johnny Manziel had 3.419 yards passing and 1,181 yards rushing. Along the way, he put the Texas A&M football team on his back and knocked off then No. 1 Alabama, 29-24.

Heisman Trophy

So he deserves the honor. But put yourself in his shoes. How would you handle all this notoriety if you were 20 years old and analysts on ESPN were calling you "Johnny Football"? During all the preceremony interviews and on stage the night of the award, he conducted himself with grace, humility and maturity. On-screen, ESPN's Chris Fowler asked him, "Are you sure you're a freshman?"

But when asked about his son's maturity, Manziel's father said this in an interview: "He's not there yet." Not so long ago, back in June, months before the 2012 football season started, Manziel was far, far from being a legend. According to news reports, he got into a fight and was arrested and jailed for disorderly conduct and presenting a fake ID.

Now that Manziel is a celebrity, the concerns are these:

• Has the season really matured him? Is his character strength for real?
• How will he handle the pressure to be "Johnny Football" again next year?
• What will happen when opposing teams study the tapes and adjust their defenses to stop him?
• Will he be as hungry next year as he was this year, or will he let the celebrity go to his head?

In other words, how will Johnny Football handle celebrity?

Since the Heisman, part of the answer is that he really enjoyed it. He appeared on all the late night talk shows, and he seemed to enjoy it and handle the exposure with grace.

The other part of the answer is what he did a month later in the Cotton Bowl. Few Heisman Trophy winners have ever had to deal with as much adulation and as many distractions as he had during his break from football. He put on a demonstration of football wizardry rarely seen as he inspired Texas A&M to a 41-13 route of an excellent Oklahoma U. football team. And oh by the way, passed for 287 yards (22 of 34 completions) while racking up 229 rushing yards (only 17 carries). That many rushing yards is rare for a running back, unprecedented for a quarterback - 516 total yards. He zipped around defenders so quickly that they couldn't seem to lay a hand on him.

The bottom line, on the big stage he proved that his Heisman celebrity was no fluke, and he didn't let it go to his head.

So what about next year?

The ultimate answer is illuminated in one of my favorite novels, The Teachings of Don Juan, by Carlos Castaneda. In the book, the character Carlos is being instructed by Don Juan, a shaman teacher. Don Juan talks about the "four natural enemies" of a "man of knowledge," or "warrior." He says that the first two enemies are fear and then clarity. A warrior defeats them by denying them. Only then can he move past them to achieve power, which itself becomes the third enemy. To prevail, a warrior must not indulge in the power, but "deny" it, meaning to continue moving forward without identifying with it.

Celebrity is a form of power. Many people who achieve celebrity and the power that comes with it let it go to their head. Elvis, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears...these come to mind immediately. All fell from grace because they failed to deny their power.

Manziel seems so humble. I hope it's not just his handlers, because I know he's getting great public relations coaching. I hope it's real. I hope he enjoys the moment, finds a place for his hardware and puts this amazing experience behind him. Next year there won't be any Texas A&M freshman gag rule. The media will be shining a spotlight and creating their hype stories all year long. That's what they do.

Now that he's achieved goals beyond his dreams, will Johnny Manziel be able to get hungry again? Will he be able to focus on leading and throwing and running again? Will he stay humble and do the work to get better?

Will he deny the power?

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2012. Building Personal Strength .

Eckhart Tolle and More - Being in the Moment

I recently watched a DVD called "Eckhart Tolle: Finding Your Life's Purpose." I don't usually watch videos made by gurus. Many years ago I got the feeling that I was hearing the same thing over and over, and I had already done the heavy lifting to build a firm spiritual foundation for myself. But the Netflix feedback-based rating system highly recommended this one, and the summary intrigued me.

I watched it all the way through. I found myself agreeing with him, and he has a clear, straightforward way of speaking about things that are hard to speak about. He gets right to the point. Plus, I had never heard of him before.

His message is that our minds are constantly talking to us, what Carlos Castaneda called "the internal dialogue." Our minds define who we are, what Tolle refers to as your "story." The story, which is constructed by your mind, is mostly related to the past and the future, neither of which exist except as mental concepts. The mind and all it's commentary are not who you really are. Who you really are is your consciousness, and reality exists only in the present moment. Sometimes a shocking event can cause us to shift into an awareness of the present moment, or it can be achieved through meditation. Tolle encourages people to shift from the mentally constructed self to the authentic conscious self, a spiritual step.

I first became aware of this perspective by mining the novels of Carlos Castaneda, an arduous process. You can get the same wisdom directly from Tolle, for which he deserves our gratitude. If you're interested in learning more, you can order the video on Netflix or go to his website and buy his books. This YouTube clip is a good introduction...



Also, you may enjoy this lovely clip from TED, recommended to me by my old friend Bob. If anyone knows about living in the moment and gratitude, it's Bob.



Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2011. Building Personal Strength .

Carlos Castaneda - Novelist

I’ve been fortunate in my life to have some wonderful teachers, and some of the best were those who taught me how to read novels.

My favorite novels? Of the thousands of novels I've enjoyed over the years, at the top of the heap are the novels of Carlos Castaneda. My preference may strike you as a little surprising. I mean, what about Dickens, Twain, Hemingway, Faulkner, Bellow, Updike and hundreds of other major novelists? Anyhow, didn't Castaneda claim that his books were nonfiction? Didn't he write about anthropology and spirituality? Good questions.

Long ago I chose to take a contrary view of Castaneda's work, that his books were not nonfiction as commonly believed, but novels. In my opinion, they are fictions that derive from two novelistic traditions. The first is called "magical realism," in which fantastic and dreamlike events are portrayed matter-of-factly, as if they were real. Examples are Luis Borges (Argentina), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Columbia), Gunter Grass (Germany), John Fowles (Britain) and Toni Morrison (USA).

The second tradition is the philosophical novel. Because much of Castaneda's fiction has a surreal quality to it, for me the main message is communicated on a thematic level. As I mined this layer of meaning, I encountered philosophical and spiritual insights that have had a major impact on my life. This is why Castaneda's novels mean so much to me, even though I also enjoy the works of mainstream literary novelists a great deal.

In the Castaneda novels, the Carlos persona is a tentative, confused apprentice. Don Juan is the shaman teacher, both patient and demanding. The fourth novel in the series is Tales of Power (1974). I’ve read it half a dozen times, and I look forward to reading it again. It’s the account of the conclusion of Carlos’ 12-year apprenticeship.

My favorite passage is the final chapter. The lessons of Carlos’ strange experiences have all been summarized and clarified, leading up to the final test of “leaping into the unknown.” Don Juan and don Genaro, his teachers, bear final witness to Carlos and Pablito, the two apprentices. “The life of a warrior cannot possibly be cold and lonely and without feelings,” says don Genaro, “because it is based on his affection, his devotion, his dedication to his beloved. And who, you may ask, is his beloved? I will show you now.” He then performs an astounding demonstration, in which he “embraces the earth” by hovering above the ground in a swimming motion.

Then don Juan interprets this amazing performance: “Genaro’s love is the world. He was just now embracing this enormous earth but since he’s so little all he can do is swim in it. But the earth knows that Genaro loves it and it bestows on him its care. That’s why Genaro’s life is filled to the brim and his state, wherever he’ll be, will be plentiful. Genaro roams on the paths of his love and, wherever he is, he is complete.”

“This earth, this world. For a warrior there can be no greater love.”

“Only if one loves this earth with unbending passion can one release one’s sadness. A warrior is always joyful because his love is unalterable and his beloved, the earth, embraces him and bestows upon him inconceivable gifts. The sadness belongs only to those who hate the very thing that gives shelter to their beings.”

“This lovely being, which is alive to its last recesses and understands every feeling, soothed me, it cured me of my pains, and finally when I had fully understood my love for it, it taught me freedom.”

I first read these words 30 years ago. In the context of what has happened in the world since, they resonate stronger than ever. In the end, the apprenticeship isn’t about psychotropic plants. “Seeing” is about experiencing the world purely, without the intervention of received explanations. "Going to knowledge” is about accepting and appreciating these experiences. The ability to apprehend unadorned reality is the source of the warrior’s “power.” A warrior is simply someone who has the courage to be a self-reliant individual. Spirituality derives from his or her connectedness to the earth.

This worldview is at odds with most of the philosophies and religions of the world. As I look around at the constructs of humankind, I see the living earth raped and poisoned without remorse. I see incredible cruelty and pain. I see lies and nonsense embraced as truth. I see unhappy people who aren’t true to themselves, wasting their lives.

It’s enough to make me want live an authentic life, a journey one does not take lightly.

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2010. Building Personal Strength .