“The more we TRY to impress others, the less natural we are, the less flow we experience and the less power we have.

Consequently, the more we try the more we fail. And when we try even harder, we end up even more frustrated. ” Matt ‘the man’ Furey

Fail more, fail better.

Failure is feedback.

Failure is daring greatly while being open to the results of our own experiences free of any external judgments.

Batman don’t fuck around, he takes what he knows, and he adds to it daily.

The daily step by step process of learning / doing / applying.

What works… persists,

What doesn’t… falls away.

It’s an ongoing experiment in living that is unique and individual to all of us.

What works for me might not work for you.

What works for you, might not work for me.

What works for Batman might not work for us.

THIS IS ONE OF THE SECRETS OF THE BAT.

Batman is Zen and the I Ching and Superman and costumed underpants on the outside and the mythical unknown Underverse all rolled up into one big ball of might, supreme willpower strength and surrender. He’s a costumed maniac who harnesses unknown forces and makes them his bitch. He takes knowledge and skills and transforms them for his own unique purposes, as only he can do.

He is ordinary yet mysterious.

Super, yet human.

He gives Superman a headache.

Batman runs circles around the JLA with his strategies, contingencies and thinking of every last possible stupid fucking scenario while they piss into the wind.

His super power is his will power, it’s how he can beat Superman and Wonder Woman on a Tuesday, and break for lunch before being back in Gotham for the afternoon.

Batman is pure imagination and willpower given physical form.

He places no limits on his knowledge, skills, abilities and most important his IMAGINATION.

The theoretical, the unknown, the unlikely, the improbably probable.

The improbable and crazy shit we ought not to think about, Batman has already thought about and executed multiple plans for. But he’s not unbeatable, he’s just unreasonably prepared.

Batman might be successfully preventing a crime in a dark alley tonight…

But in times past nearly lost his life to an ordinary street punk with a gun, or that time he got his ass handed to him by a time travelling cyborg, or smashed in a Predator’s face out of pure frustration with a baseball bat when all his high tech methods failed and he was left for dead, rescued by Alfred.

Batman might prepare for everything, but he still routinely encounters the unknown, and he fails.

A lot.

The thing about Batman is, he’s like a bad smell that you just can’t get rid of. Beaten, broken and bloodied – he doesn’t give up. He goes away, plans, comes up with new strategies to beat that unbeatable enemy. His mind is his greatest weapon. He still makes rash impulsive decisions – being a man of action – and has to live with the consequences.

His failures are numerous and un-countable. But he keeps marching forward, each day a new opportunity to make a difference in the world.

He will always have more failures than successes because he is always trying something new, always learning and adding to his skills. Always creating new obstacles and adverse situations for himself to rise and overcome.

THE WAY OF THE BAT

Rarely are we ever successful at something right away.

It’s that stubborn, stick at it, never tire or repetition Batitude that makes the difference.

The important thing is not that Batman tries, or succeeds at anything. The thing to remember is that he fails. All the time. He doesn’t let any fear of the unknown stop him from taking action. He embraces the failures, each and every one as valued feedback.

We can learn from that and use it on our own lives. And the thing is, trying to do something, or failing over and over doesn’t mean we will succeed at something. It’s easy and soft to have a “feel good” philosophy that makes us feel better. But it’s wrong and it won’t do shit to help you when you are at your worst. Pretty ideas won’t help you.

Life is hard, sometimes it kicks you in the gut and laughs at you for even attempting to do anything at all.

Life is painful, and we’re going to suffer whether we want to or not.

Trying over and over does’t equal success.

It might sometimes.

But most of the time it doesn’t.

Embracing failure doesn’t mean giving up, or trying to call every failure a “success”, it means accepting more often than not, our actions have little to no potency.

When you get to there, and you KEEP going, then you’ve got something.

Then you are tapping into the Will of the Bat. When you accept that most of the the time you are going to fail and going to suffer, and that life can be damn tough – but you’re going to get off your ass, and do what you can anyway to make a difference in your own life and those you are responsible for, well that my friends is tapping into BATITUDE.

Then you move beyond simple labels, ideas and words. You move into the FLOW of life.

The more we TRY to impress others, the less natural we are, the less flow we experience and the less power we have. Consequently, the more we try the more we fail. And when we try even harder, we end up even more frustrated. ” Matt ‘the man’ Furey

You stop simply “trying” to do things, and move into taking conscious actions, you inhabit your body and move with grace and power. Your actions, words and ideas flow together as a seamless whole. You embrace whatever life throws at you, without labeling it, justifying it, or resisting it. You simple live, breathe, move, and act without hesitation in whatever direction you need to right now, according to the best data you have on hand.

ONE BAT BREATH AT A TIME, ONE BAT PUNCH AT A TIME

Batman doesn’t whine like a little bitch when things go wrong. He don’t complain when life leaves him bleeding with broken bones and puking his guts up after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of one of his numerous enemies.

He says, “It’s my fault… what could I have done differently…?

I could have done more, I could have been better, I could have been more prepared…

but I was not good enough this time.”

Batman is committed to being better today, than he was yesterday.

Complaining when things don’t go his way doesn’t enter into his values. It’s a waste time, waste of effort, waste of life that could be better channeled and focused toward his unwavering commitment to excellence at all levels.

When Batman loses, for whatever reason he ask himself: How am I deficient? What can I improve upon that is going to increase my chances of getting a different result next time.

You can see it in his eyes.

When his enemies think he is beaten for good, in his mind he’s looking for a way out, a way forward, any bit of leverage he can get and when he does get it, he’s going to act swiftly, without mercy nor hesitation. That imagination, steely determination and force of will that silently says “Fuck you, only I SAY WHEN I’M DONE, not you and nothing else in the world gets to tell me that”

Win or lose, it’s all feedback. The list of battles we must face in daily life is endless. Almost infinite. What is our one bit of inconsequential effort and struggle in the grand scheme of things.

It’s like nothing. Dust in the wind.

We can’t win at everything, all the time. Even succeeding at anything half the time is pretty good. It’s delusional to believe we can always be at our best.

We can’t.

But we still turn up, we still act, we still take a shot, we take our chances.

We keep our mind sharp, we stack the odds in our favor by turning up to face the challenges that come every day, rather than shrinking in fear. We relentless pummel and hammer away each day at lifes difficulties. We make small incremental improvements in our skills that are almost invisible. We attempt to expand our skills at all times in our chosen arena. We beat the stupid out of ourselves one blow at a time. We own all of our bad behavior, taking an honest look at ourselves in the mirror and say:

“I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENS”

We renew our vow, our eternal war on our own ignorance, and to being a little better today than we were yesterday.

IMAGE CREDITS

*Batman vs Predator panel from Batman vs Predator Collected Edition, 1993, DC Comics.

*Batman and Grendel panel from Batman/Grendel Devil’s Bones, 1992, DC Comics

*Arkham Origins concept art New Gotham Diamond District by Meinert Hansen, DC Comics, Warner Bros interactive Entertainment

*Arkham City concept art Gotham Skyline, 2011 DC Comics, Warner Bros interactive Entertainment

*Alfred/Batman panel from Batman, DC Comics

*Joker kicking Aquaman from Legends of the DC Universe #26, 2000, DC Comics

*Rooftop Batman by Jharren – https://www.deviantart.com/jharren

*Dusty Batman by James Bousema – https://www.deviantart.com/jamesbousema

*Hulk crushing little man’s spine from Batman vs The Incredible Hulk, 1981, Published by DC and Marvel

*Batman/Scarecrow image from Dark Knight Detective mini-series, 2005, DC Comics

*Batman Vow from Dark Knight Detective mini-series, 2005, DC Comics

*Bruce Wayne eyes from Batman Eternal #51, 2015, DC Comics

*Batman in Cemetery image from Shadow of the Batman #2, 1986, DC Comics