The Playful & Powerful Warrior Within YOU!
The Playful & Powerful Warrior Within YOU!
In G’s book you will learn to reclaim your personal power and be the playful and powerful Warrior you are. You are closer to realizing and having all of your goals, dreams and aspirations. Find the love, peace, playfulness and power inside of you, to live a meaningful life on purpose with purpose, and for purpose.
This book is a tool with the potential to evoke lasting life changes in the individual who reads it. Many lessons can be learned by reading this book, and some of those lessons include: Always come from Love, Be authentic and live authentically, Share your story, Find and live your purpose, Forgive yourself and others, Live and be in the now, Leave a Warrior legacy, Always come from your best, Surround yourself with the right people, plus many more powerful lessons! The legacies it generates will be exponential and may be read by many levels of readers. Those that skim will be blessed. Those that are reading for meaning will find it. Learn how to embrace your inner playful and powerful Warrior self and to live a fulfilling life of true Warrior adventure!
Why did I write this book? I wrote this book because first, the grace of God showed me how I could transform my life and the lives of others. Second, most of the people I come in contact with are searching for some type of transformation in their very own lives, and what has worked for me may very well work for them. Third, the steps laid out in this book are what have transformed my life as a Playful and Powerful Warrior, and I have chosen to share them with the world.
In 1972, I met Coach Dale Brown, former LSU basketball coach, National Coach of the Year, and Hall of Fame coach. I was just eleven years old. Throughout my life, he shared many philosophies on basketball as well as on life. All of his teachings have had a major impact on the man I am today. He has been a coach, teacher, and mentor. Most importantly, he is one of my closest friends. Because of his mentorship and friendship, many of the principles he has taught me are in this book. Just like Coach, I have chosen to share my knowledge and experiences.
In November 1973, Coach Dale Brown invited coaches John Wooden and Adolph Rupp to the LSU Purple and Gold kickoff game. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach (named the Greatest Coach of the 20th Century by ESPN) as well as mentor and friend of Coach Brown; Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp, the former basketball coach at Kentucky; and Bob Pettit, the two-time All-American at LSU, who was later inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame.
At that game, Coach Wooden patted me on the head and said, “You look like a fine young man. Just practice the fundamentals and you will go far.” Coach Rupp patted me on the head as well and said, “Just do what he [Coach Wooden] said and you will do just fine.” Bob Petit then said, “Young man, what they said is the best advice I can give you. Just do what they said.” Thanks to all three of you, I realize that when my life is balanced and in order, I am practicing the fundamentals of life.
After meeting Coach Wooden in 1973, I was introduced to him again in 2007 by Coach Brown. Then, in 2008, I had the distinct pleasure of fulfilling one of my most desired goals: to spend an afternoon with Coach Wooden.
I have read and listened to everything Coach Wooden has written and taught. This piece he wrote stays with me: “Everything in the world is passed down. Every piece of knowledge is some- thing that has been shared by someone else. If you understand it as I do, mentoring becomes your true legacy. It is the greatest inheritance you can give to others. It is why you get up every day: to teach and be taught.”
Thank you, Coach, for sharing. It has become my passion and my purpose to help millions of people transform their lives. Consequently, this is a primary reason I have written this book: to assist others in reclaiming their personal power and be the playful and powerful Warriors they are. Most are closer to having all of their goals, dreams, and aspirations than they realize. They just require a little assistance and the willingness to do so.
I wrote this book to be used as a beginning tool with the potential to evoke lasting life changes in anyone who reads it. I choose to teach the reader how to embrace his or her inner playful and powerful Warrior self and live a fulfilling life of true Warrior adventure.
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I was the guy who had a great amount of agony and pure anguish prior to writing anything. The internal anguish was so great that I never wanted to write anything. Now I choose to write. I have also learned to love to write.
About fifteen years ago, I told John McNaught, my business partner at the time, “If you could just get paid to write all day, you would be right at home and the happiest man I know.” What I meant by that statement was that John loved to write and had written many great documents. He was always at peace when writing anything.
I was just the opposite. I was good at adding my input to what he wrote. That was about it.
What changed? Today, I consider myself a student, teacher, and coach. A student who loves to learn. A teacher who loves to share information and teach others. A coach who loves to assist others to have and achieve their desires with purpose. I simply draw from my own life experiences, education, and lessons. Writing is one of the ways for me to gather my thoughts and choose to share them with others.
The more I share with others, the more I find it empowering. I find it a keen sense of fulfillment. So now I write. I find writing peaceful and relaxing. I have now found that same peace about writing I would always see within John. I find it amusing that I am now a writer and author.
Others have considered me to be focused, intense, direct, strong, and powerful. Only my closest friends, family, and associates ever saw my playful side. Everyone saw my powerful side. I was typically the one who would lead, especially when things were tough. I outwardly portrayed my inner strength. It was a false strength, my ego. I learned that true power comes from the inside for strength and flow. I cover more of this throughout the book.
Coach Dale Brown shared with me three key things when I was younger:
1. Always try to do your best.
2. Never give up.
3. Let God take care of the rest.
These three simple teachings have helped me transform into the man I am today. They assisted in saving my life when I was suffering from depression and was suicidal. These teachings have also become a catalyst for this book.
In May 2007, I was with Coach Dale Brown in Lawrence, Kansas. We were walking outside of Allen Field House (where the University of Kansas Jayhawks play basketball) and Coach asked me, “When you came out of depression and from being suicidal, outside of God, what was the major thing that made an impact on you?” I replied, “Coach, just getting around the right people.” From that moment, I started adding to Coach’s teachings this statement: “Get around the right people.”
I have always been a consistent goal setter, and I have encouraged people always to have “Big, big goals, dreams, and aspirations.” I have said on many occasions, “If you are going to shoot for something, shoot for something big. You just might receive it.” I added “Big, big goals, dreams, and aspirations” to Coach’s teachings and started teaching this as well.
During this time, I was seeking how to live and enjoy my true, authentic self. This led to me sharing “Be authentic; live authentically.”
From there, I was also learning how to accept and enjoy living in “the now.” I had always done a great job of living in the future. I was great at putting off enjoying “the now” for the enjoyment I thought I would have later. I was great at living a life with delayed gratification. I realized I am able to live right here and right now.
Since I am able to live only right now, I have started to be conscious of being and living in the moment. I have started to see a new and empowering life for myself and have begun sharing “Live in the now” as well.
Then, one weekend in the spring of 2008, I went to a “Warrior” weekend. One of the exercises was to listen to the instructor describe a beautiful and tranquil setting. He described a young and happy boy playing. Then he said, “You are this young boy. He is playing with a ball and the ball bounces over to an animal. What animal is it? What do you see? What do you feel?”
For me, it was a playful and powerful tiger. The tiger was interacting with me, and together we were having fun. I felt the security of the tiger, and I felt the strength and power of the tiger, too. I was at peace, and I could feel the love I had with the tiger. Tranquility illuminated within me, and it was a loving and magnificent feeling.
Then the instructor said, “You are both: the boy and the tiger. You are one and you are the same.” I realized right then and there that I am a playful and powerful tiger. I am a playful and powerful Warrior.
Hence, this is how the title of this book came to be. What I will teach you here is all about reclaiming the playful and powerful Warrior within YOU. It is finding, maintaining, and living with your loving, tranquil, peaceful, playful, powerful, and magnificent self.
This book is a direct result of the following:
- Having great teachers, coaches, and mentors.
- Having experienced some fun, some challenging, and some very difficult times.
- Having Coach Brown ask me one simple question.
I trust each one of you who reads this book will find something useful, and then apply it and pay it forward. Now go and embrace YOUR playful and powerful Warrior within YOU!
Be Playful, BE POWERFUL, and Live Your Life to the Fullest.
Life can be so difficult at times that it is easy to become frustrated, disillusioned, bewildered, unhappy, and depressed. GJ Reynolds has come to the rescue with his sincere, thought-provoking plan to find success and happiness in a mixed-up world. His transparency about his own depression and thoughts of suicide gives his words credibility.
The deeper you get into this book the more vividly you will see a clear view of who you are, how to reclaim your powers, and how to lighten up the load of negativity that might be leading to your anxiety. GJ’s words will give you the incentive to discover the true purpose of your life.
If this fine book gets the proper advertising, marketing, and promotion, it would be no surprise to me to see it on the list of best sellers.
DALE BROWN
Former LSU Basketball and Hall of Fame Coach
www.coachdalebrown.com
