- KING’S CHARACTER - CORE VALUES AND MISSION

The character of any individual or organization is defined by their deeply held core values.  

The core values of an organization are evidenced by how the people in an organization treat one another and their clients. But more important than core values (and the virtues they embody) is the reason why these core values exist.  

They exist because someone has to step up to exemplify these core values, and teach them to the organization.  Not surprisingly, the person that holds the greatest responsibility for protecting an organization's core values is their leader.  

As founder of Strength Camp, that responsibility ultimately rests on me.  

The Strength Camp Core Values have grown out of my personal experiences as a team sports athlete, a professional strongman, a strength coach, a father, a husband and a businessman.

The Strength Camp Core Values follow an archetypal theme, or themes following patterns, that we also recognize in religion, poetry, mythology, personal growth methods, and life philosophies of all sorts.

Within each of us is a tendency toward gaining knowledge, having a purpose, enjoying compassionate intimacy, and having the awareness of a legacy that we want to leave behind.

Everywhere we look we can see these themes taking shape, whether in ourselves or in others.  

These four virtues of knowledge, purpose, intimacy, and legacy make up merely a fraction of our core values and all other qualities that they embody. I will share these core values with you in just a moment, but the most important thing here is that we must find and create a balance between these core values.

Before we get to that, I want to first share with you a bit more about myself.

I’ve Alway Had a Purposeful Warrior’s Mindset

I was a football player in high school and college. After college, I applied to join the U.S Marines, ranked as an officer.

As I was packing my bags to take off for Officer Candidate School, I received word that my ship-out date had been delayed.  After being delayed twice, I decided to continue in my vocational work as a personal trainer.

As a personal trainer and strength coach, I had the opportunity to keep my Warrior's Mindset alive, not only vicariously through the athletes that I trained but also through my competing in the brutal sport of strongman.   Using this very same Warrior’s Mindset, I battled my way to the top of my vocation and industry, while raising a family of six.

So if there is anyone who knows how to live a modern-day, civilized Warrior’s life, it’s your old friend E Hulse here, as I’ve done a lot of slashing, succeeding, and conquering.

Yet…

I Also Know What It Feels Like to Be a Failure

I felt like a failure when my football coach told me I was too stupid to play offense.

I felt like a failure when the people I called “friends” betrayed me, and I ended up in jail.

I felt like a failure when a girl, whom I’d secretly admired for months and brought flowers to, laughed at me and called me ugly.

Experiences, especially painful ones, shape our character.  Every time we are judged, punished, or rejected, a part of our true character gets cast into the shadows of our consciousness.  

These unresolved “shadow” issues keep us unbalanced.  I’ll explain in more detail what these shadow issues are, but for now, they may keep you from speaking up when you’ve been wronged; they may cause you to fear failure; and they may even keep you from ever enjoying intimate and loving relationships with others.

They become our character.  

My own character has been greatly shaped by the experiences I’ve just shared with you but also perhaps by countless other experiences. Some of my experiences can be consciously recalled, whereas others rule me at the subconscious level.

Right now, you are also being greatly influenced by the experiences you’ve had in this lifetime… and perhaps by even countless other lifetimes.

Your Character Is Your Destiny

Now join me for a moment in this train of thought, as it follows a lot of the ideas and philosophies that I will soon share with you throughout this book.

Just like how an actor or actress dresses up for a role in a movie, you and I, too, wear a “costume,” our physical bodies, to play our own characters in life.

Our characters can be revealed in the way we carry ourselves and even in our posture, for example. Even these subtle shifts in body language can further be heavily affected by how we feel about ourselves at any given moment.

In later chapters of this book, I will introduce you to some of the latest research on trauma psychology, the field in psychology that attempts to understand the impact of traumatic events on a person’s psyche.  Many prominent scientists and therapists have shown that the ramifications of the pain we’ve experienced (mostly in early-life) can manifest themselves in our physical bodies.

Think of it this way: your physical body must change--grow stronger, in this case--to meet the demands of your exercise program, but it must also change to meet the emotional demands of your own life.

However, in many cases, these demands cause us to reject or ignore critical parts of our nature in favor of self-preservation.

A good example of what I mean is to look at the different behaviors of two young men:

One young man grows up in a house with an abusive father.  The boy may decide that he must be the “hero” of his home to protect his mother and siblings from the tyrant father.  Further, this boy chooses that in order to overcome his father’s aggression he must “stand tall” and “keep his chest up.”

Another young man growing up in a similar environment may decide that it is best to keep quiet and remain unseen by the father, in order to avoid his attacks. For naming’s sake, we’ll call him the “coward.”

Both the “hero” and the “coward” create psychological defenses to protect themselves in these scenarios, but their physical bodies also begin to personify a “big-chested hero” or a “coward with his tail between his legs”, respectively.

The hero may find that it becomes difficult to breathe when his father is present.  He has trouble breathing perhaps because he is physically holding his belly in and his chest high. He doesn’t realize it yet, but this manner of breathing is physically impeding him.

Likewise, the coward takes shallower breaths to avoid being noticed by the raging father. Unfortunately, this manner of breathing also becomes a physical impediment for him.

The young men in both examples are suffering, albeit a little differently: one from being overly stimulated, whereas the other is under-stimulated. These muscular holding patterns (that is, a high chest versus a caved chest and depressed posture) not only disrupt the boys’ ability to breathe fully and deeply, but they also have a deeper psychological and physiological impact on their health and character.

If either of these boys grows up playing the character of “hero” or “coward”, he may subconsciously overcompensate with one of our core values, at the diminishment of the others.

When core values are unbalanced, this can manifest in the young person's personal life and in their physical bodies. Similar to how the young man has paved his destiny and character, we might even say that we are being our destiny right now.

The road to changing our character, to becoming the Strongest Version of Ourselves and living out an enjoyable destiny, has two paths: of soul and of body.

We must travel both paths in order to work on both our mental character (soul) and our physical character (body), and ultimately, to Grow Stronger.

This book reflects the duality of my approach to achieving the Strongest Version of myself. By having read this far, you’ve already begun to move the wheels of your own destiny and shape your character through learning the importance of the core values discussed within this chapter.

The remainder of the book will focus on developing the physical character, the body, through exercise, diet, and a better understanding of our physiology and psyche.

Transformation of mind and body begins to take place when we choose our core values.

As we continue through this book, we will travel back and forth between ideas and the application of exercises that aim to transform both our minds and our bodies, so that we may become Stronger Versions of Ourselves.  

The Four Strength Camp Core Values

Each of our four Strength Camp Core Values relates to a type of spiritual energy, which Carl Jung, the father of analytical psychology, called archetypes.

An archetype is simply a pattern.  

According to Jung, there are very measurable patterns within the human experience.  Some of these patterns are much more grand in scale, like the rise and fall of world empires, while some are less visible and seemingly insignificant, like your daily rituals.

According to Neo-Jungian Professor, Robert Moore, PhD, there are FOUR very distinct patterns within human behaviour.

These four archetypes work together to make a person whole. We each have some portion of each archetype.

#1 - The Warrior aspect: The disciplined, purposeful, decisive, and devoted parts of you.

#2 - The Magician aspect: The knowledgeable, objective, competent, and wise parts of you.

#3 - The Lover aspect: The sensual, compassionate, vulnerable, and intimate parts of you.

#4 - The King (or Queen) aspect: The generous, authentic, integrous, and legacy part of you.

Balancing the Four Strength Camp Core Values

As I mentioned earlier, A Warrior’s Mindset had always come easily to me.  But it has taken me many years to mend the wounds of my Lover or Magician aspects.

Things might be a little different for you, but the fact remains that we’re all doing our best to live a joyful and BALANCED life.

When consciously choosing our core values, we strive to create a balance of Warrior, Magician, Lover, and King.

Core Values of a Strength Camp King

Core Value #1. ACCOUNTABILITY (Warrior)- Accountability represents the Warrior aspect of our system.  The virtues associated with this aspect are: Discipline, Decisiveness, Purpose, and Devotion.

Core Value #2. PROGRAMMING (Magician)- Programming represents the Magician aspect of our system.  The virtues associated with this aspect are: Competency, Objectivity, Knowledge, and Wisdom.

Core Value # 3. COMMUNITY (Lover) - Community represents the Lover aspect of our system.  The virtues associated with this aspect are: Sensuality, Compassion, Vulnerability, and Intimacy.

Core Value # 4. COACHING (King or Queen)- Coaching represents the King aspect of our system.  The virtues associated with this aspect are: Generativity, Integrity, Authority, and Legacy.

Accountability Virtues

Devotion: Strength Camp is about being DEVOTED to a

higher sense of Self, or whatever you perceive to be a Stronger Version of Yourself.  There is no requirement to devote yourself to anyone, or anything else, but your own ideal Self.

This might sound selfish to some, but later on, I will discuss how “I-Love” is the prerequisite for “We and All-Love.”

Purpose: Strength Camp is about having a PURPOSE toward that which we direct our efforts for growing stronger.  Our reason for becoming a Stronger Version of Ourselves must be bigger than ourselves.

Purpose is your Why, the underlying reason for your being a Strength Camp member.  Ask yourself honestly: why become a stronger you?  

Decisiveness: Strength Camp is about being DECISIVE when choosing what is right for you.  Oftentimes, you may wait for the stars to align or for someone else's permission before choosing.

You have a primal sense about what is right and good for you at any given moment.  Choose to take decisive action on what you believe in.

Discipline: Strength Camp is about having the DISCIPLINE to do what you have to do, whether you feel like

it or not.  When you choose who you want to become, and what you need to do to get there, you just do it.

Nothing worthwhile is ever built without a healthy dose of self-detachment, or being able to step away from situations that may hinder you.  Discipline yourself and work every day on the things that are necessary for growing stronger.  

Programming VirtuesKnowledge: Strength Camp is about exploring a wide

spectrum of ideas, philosophies, and scientific concepts, with the aim of applying what is good and useful to our lives and the lives of others.  

When we are aware of our ignorance and make efforts to gain knowledge, we are actively growing stronger.

Competence: Strength Camp is about gaining mastery in areas of knowledge that are interesting and useful to you.  Mastery requires that you can competently apply your acquired knowledge.

Competence comes from the experiences of having applied knowledge, and is required for living an effective life.   

Objectivity: Strength Camp is about being open-minded to new ways of thinking, training, and being. We

remain objective by taking an “outsider’s view” of our ideas, beliefs, biases, and feelings.

Objectivity releases us from our personal shackles, and gives us a more holistic perspective on the people and circumstances that life presents us.  

Wisdom: Strength Camp is about giving ourselves, as well as the people in our lives, the time necessary to learn and grow.  Some things can only be learned through experience, and with experience comes wisdom.

Wisdom requires patience, which in turn, may be the guiding principle in nature.  As famous American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson puts it, “Adopt the pace of Nature, her virtue is patience.”

Community Virtues

Sensuality: Strength Camp is about being deeply in touch with your senses. By listening to the subtle language of our bodies and minds, we are more grounded in our choices and behavior.

When we hear, trust, and act based upon the primal wisdom of our bodies, we are being guided by “the Holy Spirit.”

Human beings have more than just the five senses of seeing, smelling, hearing, touching, and tasting; we also have reasoning, will, memory, perception, imagination, and intuition, all of which should be given ample consideration.

Vulnerability: Strength Camp is about being honest with ourselves so that we may ultimately have the strength to be honest with others.  Instead of protecting ourselves by willfully remaining ignorant about our real hopes, dreams, fears, and general feelings, we can observe ourselves and make peace with our frailty as humans.

When we are honest with ourselves, we are confident enough to allow ourselves to be vulnerable with others, without fear of rejection.  

There is great strength in allowing yourself to be vulnerable.

Compassion: Strength Camp is about realizing our own imperfections so that we may have compassion for others. Human beings are social by nature.  We are deeply dependent on one another.  

Compassion allows us to forgive ourselves, forgive others, and allow for warming intimacy.

With compassion, we can all be more accepting, knowing that there is a soft spot in ourselves, as well as a soft spot in others.

That we are to love others, just as we love ourselves.  

Intimacy: Strength Camp is about community.  For any healthy community to survive, there must be a healthy amount of intimacy.  We develop intimate bonds--either consciously or subconsciously--with all of the people in our world.

We all want a safe environment in which we can be ourselves and enjoy one another.

Coaching VirtuesIntegrity: Strength Camp is about aligning our actions

with our deepest held beliefs.  When we are clear about our Core Values and allow them to guide the choices we make, we become mentally and physically aligned.

Integrity is about a common thread between our thoughts, words, actions, habits, and characters.

Authority: Strength Camp is about writing the book on our own lives.  By assuming authorship, we are the authority of our own experiences.  It is after self-authorship, knowing our own experiences and circumstances, that authority amongst men begins.

When we take responsibility for the people and circumstances that we have written into our lives, we are more likely to draw the very best of those people and circumstances toward ourselves.

Generativity: Strength Camp is about “paying it forward”, the idea of repaying a good deed by helping others. In life, we will have received support from everyone, including our mothers who brought us into this world or perhaps a stranger who saved your life.  

We ascend in life through the altruisms and blessings of others, and it is our human responsibility to pass on these blessings to others--to pay it forward. Everything--from a firm pat on the back to saving someone’s life--generates hope for the future of our human family.  

Generativity means sowing positive seeds in the hope for a fruitful future, even long after you’ve passed away.

Legacy: Strength Camp is about realizing that the world doesn’t end at our front door.  We are all part of an awesome Universe, so vast and indescribable.

Yet the ripples we create from our actions can effect change.  Your Legacy is measured by both the quality and quantity of ripples that you’re sending out at this very moment.

We are life, and life is happening to us.

These four Strength Camp Core Values, along with their connective virtues, are our tools for reconstructing our characters into the Strongest Version of Ourselves.

As the Strongest Version Of Ourselves, it is our main mission in life to empower one another.

Hence, the mission of this program is to:

Become the Strongest Version of Ourselves, and to empower one another.