Begin With The End In Mind!

Begin with the End in Mind!

As the Holiday Season starts to consume our thoughts and priorities we have another element of what I like to call “Hibernation Mode” to battle. That is this feeling of lack of motivation. This hits on two fronts. A) Because of the sometime stressful nature of the Holidays and the familial duties that accompany them, and B) What I call “the cycle of winter” with its effects both psychologically and physically. With less daylight during the day and cooler weather our motivation tends to wane a bit. It’s not about pushing through on the last leg of the race and giving it all you’ve got, but more about not losing focus on our goals and keeping some consistency. While it is okay and normal to slow down this time of year brings up a very good subject matter to discuss, one with which most people revisit very strongly come the first of the year when those dreadful resolutions are made.

Begin With the End in Mind

“Beginning with the End in Mind” means developing a clear picture of where you want to go. This has a wide range of application, from very small projects all the way up to deciding how you live your life. You may not realize it, but you begin with the end in mind all the time. You draw up a blueprint before you build a house. You read a recipe before you bake a cake. In cases like this, it’s the obvious thing to do. But many people don’t take the time to apply this same concept to how they live their lives. If you apply the “begin with the end in mind” concept to your life in the same way you’d apply it on any project, you’ll probably find yourself thinking about your values, goals, and priorities. And when you focus on these, the results are almost always positive.

We symbolize this concept in the martial arts as achieving a Black Belt. Can you think of a way to “begin with the end in mind” for achieving any of your life’s goals? I encourage you to explore this simple yet powerful concept.

In Oneness,

Sensei

Quality of Yudansha

Endurance and Perseverance

As a teacher of the martial arts nothing makes me more proud than seeing a student set the goal of Yudansha (Black Belt) and attaining that goal. I like to always remind my students that earning a black belt and being admitted into the Yudansha grades is not solely about the skill they have learned but more importantly represents the qualities that being a black belt is all about. In simple terms what kind of person have you turned into through hard work and dedication in achieving this milestone. The Black Belt itself represents being admitted into the Yudansha grades and further signifies that the student is now ready to start learning Bushin Ryu in our Dojo. This past week I was honored and proud of a student who has been with me throughout tough times, Dojo changes, and had the loyalty and determination to stick through adversity and many challenges in and out of the Dojo. This student tested for Shodan (1st Degree Black Belt) and past with amazing colors. This student as well as others who've attained this achievement have one quality which is universal to their success and that is the quality of endurance and perseverance. Well wait a minute aren't those two qualities? The answer is yes and no, they are parallels of the same quality. Perseverance is the parallel life quality to the martial quality of endurance.

There is a phrase that says, " Poor endurance makes cowards of us all." What this means is that when you get tired you weaken in every way and that fatigue can also erode your courage. The solution is to train hard to increase your endurance. Physically this means just that, train hard. Mentally and psychologically this means in the many years it takes to reach the beginning of Yudansha grade there will be many challenges which creep up along the way, we generally call this life. Family issues, work issues, and the list goes on, however perseverance is the key to maintaining the balance required to achieve this position in the Dojo. Sometimes there are issues that cannot be helped and other times we simply take the easy road which is to quit for awhile (or in the worst case scenario forever), but in order to make it, one must have the quality of endurance and perseverance.

A great example of this is Thomas Edison. Edison did over 5,000 experiments, which eventually led him to the final success in inventing the light bulb. One day a young reporter came to interview Thomas Edison and asked him, "Aren't you wasting your time trying to invent the light bulb?" Edison replied, "I beg your pardon, I just successfully identified 5,000 ways that don't work." Mr. Edison was absolutely determined to achieve his goal.

So, we'll all benefit if we develop perseverance in our daily lives, just as we develop endurance to succeed in the martial system of Bushin Ryu. You will never regret setting the goal of black belt and seeing it through!

In Oneness,

Sensei