درسنامه تعاملی اول

Slow ls Smooth – Interactive Essay Lesson A

Hi, this is AJ your teacher, welcome to a new kind of lesson for this month’s VIP lesson module. This new kind of lesson is very similar to the Listen and Ask stories, the mini stories, but instead of using a story I will use an essay and I call this an interactive essay lesson.

This is a technique I learned while getting my Master’s degree in teaching English as a foreign language. In part A of this lesson I will read aloud an essay and then I will explain the vocabulary. In part B I will ask questions and you will answer the questions with simple answers. You’ll shout your answers with a lot of energy. So get energy, feeling great, put a smile on your face and let’s begin with the essay.

If you are reading these words then I am assuming you are a warrior. You have been drawn to this moment by your thoughts, which have inspired your actions to develop your mental toughness and warrior spirit. You are a warrior, regardless of your path in life. Some warriors are Navy Seals. They are the fit, aggressive and adventurous ones. Other warriors are on a peace or education mission abroad. Others yet are warriors in the commercial realm, upholding a code of honor, severely lacking in the business world, and are under attack daily.

Warriors differ in degree, not in spirit. The battlegrounds are different, but the motivation, values and warrior spirit are alike. Sun Tzu said, “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war. While defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” True warriors are unbeatable because they have conditioned their minds to be unbeatable. They learn to control their minds and win internally, well before they enter the fight. This is the first premise of unbeatable mind training.

This sounds simple, but it is not easy. It takes knowledge, skills and practice. The process looks like this.

• Step one is to gain control of your mind, rather than allow your mind to run amuck.

The mind running amuck I call the monkey mind. This the term that Buddhists use to describe the untamed mind. Their goal, like ours is to train the mind to be unfettered, focused, concentrated and pure. So you need to gain control of the monkey mind before you can begin to work with it, similar to roping a horse before you train it.

• Step two is to charge your mind with positive energy.

• Step three is to build your unbeatable vision in the fertile soil of your unfettered mind.

• Step four is to nurture and strengthen your vision through repeated, internal visualization practice.

• Step five is to take massive action.

Of course, there are many nuances and skills involved in the details of this process, but this is essentially it.

Where do we start if our minds, like most people, are like runaway freight trains? Start by controlling your mind. If you’re like most folks you’ve heard about the benefits of meditation, but the one time you tried it, it was a disaster. You sat down in a nice comfortable chair and tried like hell to think about nothing. In three seconds you were thinking about work, your girlfriend or balancing the checkbook. Darn it! Back to thinking about nothing. What about dinner? Should you go to the workout today or a yoga class? What the heck are you doing here? You have too much work to do. Forget it, you’re out of here.

That about sums up everyone’s first few attempts at sitting alone and trying to think of nothing. It is hard. Don’t fret. I’m here to both sympathize with you and to help. I have been down that road and I can attest to the challenges and benefits of sticking with it. It is worth it. You must control your mind if you want to develop an unbeatable mind and an uncommon level of peace, happiness and success.

Okay, now the vocabulary. Let’s go through some of the phrases and I will explain them more simply.

In the beginning of the essay it says, I am assuming. That means I am believing. I am thinking, I am believing. But you’re not 100% sure. It’s not 100% sure. You believe but you’re not sure. I am assuming.

Warrior – a warrior is a fighter, an honorable fighter, like a knight or a samurai, a warrior.

It’s a little difficult to pronounce that word, warrior.

Drawn to – drawn to this moment.

Drawn to, here, means attracted to, attracted to or pulled to. Drawn to this moment, attracted to this moment.

Inspired – inspired means encouraged, excited, motivated. Inspired.

Warrior spirit – a warrior spirit is a fighting spirit, a desire to succeed, a desire to overcome difficulties and challenge. Warrior spirit.

Navy Seals – the Navy Seals are a special American fighting group from the American military. Very elite, very top fighting unit, fighting group, the Navy Seals.

Commercial realm – in the commercial realm. Commercial means business, it means connected to business and realm means an area or a field. So the commercial realm means the topic of business, the area of business, the business area, the business topic, the commercial realm, the business world. Commercial realm.

Upholding – Upholding means supporting, sustaining, supporting, helping, upholding, supporting.

A code of honor – a code of honor is a set of rules that you follow that are good, that are honorable. It’s like a code of honesty, a code of goodness.

In Effortless English we have a code and it’s basically a code of honor.

Severely lacking – Severely lacking means badly missing or extremely missing or extremely without. Severely lacking.

Differ in degree – Differ in degree means they differ in amount or differ in style. So it says warriors differ in degree, it means their style maybe is different. The level of challenge is different, but essentially they’re the same. Differ in degree.

Conditioned their minds – to condition means to train, in this case. To condition their minds means to train their minds, so to condition their minds, trained their minds.

Well before – means a lot before, very before.

Premise – a premise is an assumption, a hypothesis. It’s something you believe but again, not 100% sure. So it’s an idea that you believe, but it’s not 100% sure. A premise. Premise. It’s a noun. Premise.

To run amuck – to run amuck means to act crazily, to act kind of crazy, to act crazily, to be wild, to run around wildly. To run amuck. So if your brain, if your mind runs amuck it means you’re thinking lots of thoughts constantly, like your mind is jumping around a lot between thoughts. To run amuck.

Untamed mind – means a wild mind. Untamed mind is a wild mind.

Unfettered – Unfettered means unchained or free, unchained or free. The word is unfettered. Unfettered.

Roping the horse – roping the horse is a metaphor. He’s comparing. Controlling your mind he compares to roping a horse. It means you put a rope around a horse, you catch the horse with a rope, so it really means catching the horse. Controlling the horse. Roping the horse.

Charge your mind – Charge your mind means to energize your mind. Give your mind more energy. Charge your mind.

The fertile soil – the fertile soil… soil means dirt or ground. Fertile is an adjective. It means easy to grow in, easy to grow in. So fertile soil means it’s soil that is easy to grow in. It means if you plant seeds they will grow easily in the fertile soil. So soil where it’s easy to grow. The fertile soil, dirt that’s easy to grow in. So he’s saying that this can be a metaphor too, if your mind is fertile soil it means your mind easily can grow, can easily learn, for example.

Internal visualization – means internal imagination. It means you can see things in your mind. Imagine pictures, movies in your mind. Internal visualization.

Nuances – nuances are small differences, very small differences or another way to say it is, subtleties. So the word is nuances, nuances, very, very small differences.

Essentially – essentially means basically, basically. Essentially. Essentially.

Runaway freight train – so this is an idiom and a runaway freight train means something that is uncontrolled. It’s wild and uncontrolled. It cannot be stopped. So you can imagine a big heavy train, a freight train is a big heavy train that carries things. So if it’s runaway it means it cannot stop. The brakes don’t work, it can’t stop. It’s a runaway freight train, so it’s this big heavy powerful train and it has no brakes, so it’s going forward nothing can stop it. So anytime we want to describe a person or a situation that is uncontrolled and can’t be stopped or is hard to stop we could call it a runaway freight train. My thoughts are like a runaway freight train. It means your thoughts just keep going, going, going and it’s very difficult to stop them.

Another idiom, tried like hell- you tried like hell. I tried like hell. It means tried very hard. The like hell here means very hard, you used a lot of effort. I tried like hell! I tried very hard.

Darn it – darn it is a polite way to say damn it. The more common way is to say damn it, but if you want to be very polite you can say darn it. Darn it and darn it just shows emotion. It shows frustration usually or disappointment. So if you’re disappointed or frustrated you can say darn it.

Another one, another polite one what the heck – what the heck is the polite version. The normal version is what the hell. What the hell! But if you want to be very polite you can say what the heck. This, again, shows emotion. It shows surprise and frustration. It can even show confusion, what the heck! It kind of shows that you’re not sure what’s happening, you’re not sure what to do. What the heck, you’re not sure how to succeed, what the heck! It can be said in a different way and it means yeah, why not? What the heck? So it depends on the situation, it has a few meanings. But, in this case, it means its showing frustration.

You are out of there – you are out of there… we can say I’m out of here. You can say you’re out of here. You’re out of there. I’m out of here. These phrases all mean the same thing, it means you’re finished and you are leaving suddenly. You’re finishing or leaving suddenly, so you’re announcing it, I’m out of here. It means I’m leaving right now. I’m leaving. I’m done. You are out of there means, you’re finished and you’re done, you’re leaving immediately, very quickly.

Again, sometimes have the feeling of being frustrated or bored or something like that, not happy.

Sums up – means summarizes or describes. Sums up.

Don’t fret – don’t fret means don’t worry. It’s kind of a command or suggestion. Hey, don’t fret, don’t fret, means don’t worry.

Sympathize with you – I sympathize with you means I feel kindness for you. It means I understand you and I feel kindness for you, I feel compassion for you. I sympathize with you.

I have been down that road – this is another idiom. I have been down that road before. I have been down that road also. I have been down that road means I have experienced that also. It means I have also experienced that situation. I have been down that road before means I have experienced that before.

I can attest to – I can attest to means I can say, I can confirm something. I can attest to that. I

can confirm that, similar meaning.

Sticking with it – continuing to do it, it means continuing to do it. I’m sticking with it. I’m sticking with it means I’m continuing to do it. You could say I’m sticking with English. It means you’re continuing to learn English you’re not quitting. I’m sticking with it.

That is the vocabulary for our interactive essay.

In the next part, part B, I will ask questions and you will answer them. We’ll practice more of this vocabulary, you will learn it completely.

See you in the next lesson.