In a mercurial life, there is only reinvention — and Pat Croce has done it masterfully.
There have been many incarnations of Croce as a public figure over the years: In the 80s, he flashed onto our screens as the eccentric trainer of the Sixers and Flyers, and then as a personal fitness entrepreneur. Improbably, he became an owner of the Sixers, took them to the NBA Finals (led by Allen Iverson, of course), and acrimoniously exited — all before things got really nuts. In the past 25 years, Croce has hosted a nationally-syndicated TV show, opened restaurants and bars, discovered a long-lost shipwreck, and, at 71 years old, climbed Mount Everest with terminal cancer. (Read more about that here.)
But his latest transformation as a spiritual guru and author, according to Croce himself, is the most meaningful of his life. His new book, Enjoy Your Self Now!, shares insights and lessons from the winter of his life, which has been spent studying with monks and mystics — from a variety of traditions — around the world. Every week, he shares what he knows during a “Sunday sadhana,” a spiritual workshop.
“I don’t care what religion [you follow], they all say the same thing. There’s one truth: peace, love, and happiness is our being and we share [that] with everyone,” Croce said at the Fitler Club on Tuesday night. The event was sponsored by Zarrett Rehab and Fitness.
In conversation with Citizen Media Group CEO (and longtime friend) Larry Platt, Croce spoke to a standing-room-only audience and later signed copies of his book. But he began the event with an impromptu meditation, asking the audience to listen silently to the sound of a Tibetan “singing bowl” which Croce had acquired in Kathmandu.
“I want you to pay attention closely to the silence at the end of the sound,” Croce instructed. “Now I ask you all: during that silence, what is the difference between you and me? What is the difference between you and your neighbor sitting right next to you? That’s the divine self … That’s who we share. That’s the loving presence that’s always at peace, never disturbed, never strained, never disrupted by anything we perceive. Nothing outside can touch the inside of you, and that’s what we’ll talk about tonight.”
And so the evening was. In that spirit of sharing, here are a few “practical prescriptions” from Pat Croce:
- On his own book: “I suggest you don’t believe a word that I say. Don’t believe a word that you read. They’re only pointers,” says Croce. His book is not meant to be prescriptive, necessarily. It offers teachings as suggestions, with reflections and three-word mantras intended to help readers develop their own experience.
- Sacred six-second pause: If you’re looking for more practical advice, he recommends instituting a “six-second pause” in your life. This brief period of time will allow you to think before you act, helping you to break instinctive responses to all manner of situations — and, eventually, to literally “change your mind.”
- Name the “noisemaker:” Everyone has an inner voice that can be crippling, a voice that speaks self-doubt into our minds. Croce writes about finding peace through the realization that his own “noisemaker” is not who he truly is. “Naming it will give you a little space from the chattering,” he said. “As quickly as you’re aware of it, it disappears.”
- Meditate the way you want: Never one to be still, Croce has found that even small moments of quiet — the silence that descends after the audible vibrations of the Tibetan singing bowl cease, or a pause to listen to birds during a hike — suffice to center himself.
Photos of Enjoy Your Self Now! event with Pat Croce:
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