Thoughts on Frank's MBB

Thoughts evoked by Frank Zane's "Mind In bodybuilding".

I was thinking about the power of synchronicity.

One of the things I have always had in my dream map that I want to be doing do in the next few years of my life is becoming involved in creation of what I called DreamBits: little multimedia projects of inspirational and motivational nature (including visualizations, affirmations, specially created mantras, guided meditations, generic or personalized, etc. in the form of jingles, music, slide shows, recorded narratives, animations, videos or any combination of those).

And seems like I got Frank's new book at just the right time! It has a few thoughts and ideas that I have been pondering over for quite awhile now. And he was talking about it too! I have also noticed several things in his experience that are similar to what I went through in my life or at least they feel this way.

One of the parts I found especially exciting was a fascinating story about the Muse followed by Frank's thoughts about advertising. I immediately found that those resound very closely to my ideas and experience in that area. Although I have always been an IT guy since I graduated from the University in my home town of Irkutsk, Russia - developing software and managing software projects - I happened to work in advertising for about 6 years between 1992 and 1998 - in both print and broadcasting (FM) media - where I was heavily involved in creative process - including writing jingles, music and narratives to commercials, recording (and sometimes singing) them.

My musical background goes back into my teenage when I learned how to strum a few chords on a guitar at the age of 14. Then I played in a band till I was in my mid-twenties, where I was a lead singer and also learned to play some bass. I wrote about 300 songs over the years, most of which were in Russian, naturally enough. Besides songwriting I also did some creative writing as well - poems, stories, etc.

I have been playing with recording software since mid-90's. The radiostation I used to work for at that time was the first one in the entire region that switched from tapes and CD's into recording, storing and playing their commercials directly to/from a studio PC and I happened to be one of the driving forces behind that initiative.

Now as I look back I realize why it was happening to me throughout these years. Advertising, computers, music... It helped me gather all the skills I might find helpful to do what I know I want to be doing in the future. Amazing! I can perfectly picture myself creating and leading a group of talented creative people towards producing exciting inspirational pieces of powerful "inspirational advertisement" charged with positive energy, powerful imagery through power of visualization to motivate and inspire people instead of trying to sell something to them. My own analysis of conventional advertising reveals that typical messages are based on and cater to several major ego traits (usually four): vanity, greed, envy and fear - all ultimately based on fear. So instead of trying to "force" some product on people and seeing them as "buyers" through fear-based messages I choose the idea of treating them as human souls and offering something their soul seeks. Topics of those "DreamBits" can range from physical perfection to romantic relationships, successful career, wealth and health.

Another part I really enjoyed was the section called Bodhibuilding. Many of its concepts and notions are so in sync with what I feel is true to me that it astonished me deeply and evoked a flurry of happy positive thoughts and ideas in my head. Again I couldn't help but feel inspired by this power of synchronicity. It has been my experience that since I first started to think about synchronicity as being more than mere coincidence (which was the way I had been thinking about it for years) I realized that the more you pay attention to it the more it appears in your life. Again, paying attention feels to be the key as I truly believe that energy flow follows the attention. The notion of synchronicity was first introduced to me in Celestine Prophecy (by James Redwood) in summer 2006, however there were some other thoughts and concepts discovered prior to that that led me to perceiving it as my truth. That book was followed by Conversations With God, Power Of Now, and a few more that have been providing me with more and more food for thought as well as incredible charge of positive and creative energy.

I loved the graphic images and drawings in the book as well - beautiful and very pertinent!

One of the main things I loved about Frank's books (I also read Mind, Body and Spirit before) is this: they radiate calmness and peaceful energy. I find him very positive and non-judgmental. Both qualities are very appealing to me. He's one of those rare few authors who choose not to resort to fear-based strategies, so his books are free of agressive sales pitches like "Unless you do what I say and like I say, it's not gonna work and you'll never become what you want to become" or "Mine's the only way". He's sharing his view and experience without promoting it. When I read them I don't feel pushed, I feel inspired. And that to me is the key.

With that I understand that this book may make your typical gym rat puke with disgust and disappointment and make them feel as if they just wasted their money they'd rather spend on another "Get Big Quick" program or pill. There are different levels of consciousness so peace be with them and hopefully one day they will realize that there's more to exercising and being in shape than trying to figure out which machine to use and which food to eat. One day they will learn to look past "technicality" of human experience. Reminded me of "He That Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear..." (Matthew 11:15-30)

This story of the Muse also made me think about Frank's role in bodybuildng. When all said and done it's quite possible that being an incredible source of inspiration to millions of people and showing them that a body like that is possible may well be one of his most significant achievements in this lifetime. Maybe even more significant than him being 3-times Mr. Olympia and a renowned author. The science of physical excellence needed a person who is capable to look past the tools, past the "visible", past the diets, sets and reps. That's what he will be remembered for.