TIQA: The warrior, the spear, & the inner-child
“Depth. Clarity. Next Steps. In under 5 minutes, every other week.”
Here’s your TIQA.
One Theme, one Insight, one Quote, and one Action — to help you show up more fully for yourself and those you love.
Take what’s useful. Chuck the rest.
The Theme
If you’re like me, you feel the tremendous pressures of our time—political, environmental, social, and spiritual.
The list of things we are asked to worry about is endless. The dissonance between the largeness of these problems and the smallness of our individual ability to change them creates an inner tension that makes hope hard to hold and despair all too familiar. I know I’m not alone when I sense that the underlying message is: we’re powerless, and we’re doomed.
But I don’t believe it.
Since the last TIQA, I’ve worked with several men who are taking a stand closer to home:
One man admitted his wrongdoing to his wife, standing in humility and saying, “No more. I will not add to the disfunction in my family, no matter how validating my righteousness feels.”
Another completed a two-week technology fast, planting his staff in the ground: “No more seduction by energetic parasites. I choose to be present—for myself, my wife, and my family.”
Yet another man walked away from a toxic relationship, committing to the listening process of celibacy, grief, and inner strength “for as long as it takes” so that he might one day attract a woman worthy of his deepest heart.
These men inspire me.
In the face of enormous pressures and crises, I’m learning that for me, it’s not about making my little dent in the big problems of the world.
It’s about consciously choosing moment to moment how to relate with life, inside and outside. To practice the art of stewarding my attention with wisdom, care, and discernment.
The practice of daily alignment — of spirit, body, heart, mind and choice — over time is enough to make a huge difference.
The Insight
I bought a spear last week. Razor sharp, eight feet long.
Now, before you write me off as trying to be macho, compensating for something I don’t have, or prepping for a SHTF (Shit Hits the Fan) scenario, let me explain where I’m coming from.
The spear represents the warrior self. It’s different from the shield and even more so from the sword. It is defense, offense, and stillness potentiated simultaneously in a moment of readiness and clarity.
It stands as a vertical axis between heaven and earth—source and body—reminding me of my centerline—that I have the power to choose wisely and consciously how to meet life’s challenges, moment to moment.
This is the spiritual warrior—the one who fights to stay conscious, loving, and awake in a world that profits from our distraction.
It’s the opposite of the tantrum throwing "child in an adult body" who uses domination, control, coercion, and violence to get it's way.
The spiritual warrior is intimately connected and informed by his inner-child — that little one who still knows how to spontaneously play tag, who leap-frogs from boulder to boulder across a forest stream, who finds a precious flower and carries it all the way home without crushing it to the one he loves most and says “I got a flower for you, Mom.”
As men, our spiritual warrior protects that inner child, and to the degree we have access to this warrior energy is the degree to which we may safely open our hearts without it being trampled, consumed, or taken advantage of.
The inner child also informs us, through the contrast of knowing his opposites, the evil that must be challenged and the good that we must protect.
We must fight—for our freedom, our presence, and our love—first within, then without. Because if we do not choose consciously, the world will choose for us.
The act of choosing, again and again, is one path towards a better world. It spreads. It adds up.
The Quote
“The positive Warrior energy destroys only what needs to be destroyed in order for something new and fresh, more alive and more virtuous to appear.”
- Robert Moore, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
The Action
We continue with the energy of the spear — This week, a powerful experiential exercise to activate your psychology and physiology with a visceral clarity and groundedness.
Take a moment to stand up straight with your feet firmly rooted on the ground.
Imagine holding an invisible staff or spear in both hands, centered in front of your body.
With a single quick motion, plant it into the ground with a whoosh, a grunt, a yalp, or a sharp exhale marking your readiness and presence.
Now hold. Feel the energy ripple through you. Track it through your body—your breath, your muscles, your spine, your heartbeat.
Stay curious. What does it feel like? What does it make you want to do, say, or stop doing? Does it anchor you, awaken you, ground you?
If it feels right, invite that energy to walk with you throughout the day.
Let it remind you that strength and heart are not opposites—they are partners.
Want to share this issue of TIQA? Just copy and paste this link:
https://wholemanmentorship.com/articles/tiqa-the-warrior-the-spear-the-inner-child
Until next time,
Tyler White
Visionary Relationship & Life Mentorship
p.s. Wielding a pencil as his sword, Issa Nyaphaga carves awareness with his art.