Mediocrity

I have always had very strong opinions about mediocrity. I can understand laziness, and even apathy to a large degree, but I cannot accept mediocrity. Mediocrity implies effort with indifference. I can’t think of a more disrespectful attitude or a bigger waste of time. If something was worth doing, then it was worth doing right. Period.

“The height of mediocrity is still low.” - Vanna Bonta (1958 - 2014)

Thanksgiving

A friend of mine who trains under Shihan Nishiuchi shared this anecdote. Shihan Nishiuchi asked - “Who are the most unhappy people?” The students did their best to answer until Shihan answered it himself - “The people who have no appreciation.” What a wonderful, simple observation.

My life is blessed. It is filled with positive, compassionate people who make me want to improve myself every day. I am grateful for the teachers in my life whose priceless lessons have brought me to where I am - here, now, happy.

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” ―Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Staying the Course

My I Ho Chuan team had great discussion yesterday about the difficulties one experiences in trying to stay on the path to mastery. We agreed that there is a lot of faith that goes into staying the course until you have at least one success under your belt. Until that first success, we need to recognize what tools we have in front of us to keep on the path. We already know the path, we just need to stay on it.

A lot has to happen before an abstract dream becomes a tangible goal. Inspiration sparks the dream into existence and continues to sustain it while it remains in the periphery, just out of focus. When motivation and, above all, courage are in sufficient quantity, a plan begins to emerge, bringing the dream into focus with a clarity of purpose. The abstract dream is now a tangible goal.

There is not much that can compare to the excitement that is generated by a goal’s clarity of purpose. The path to success is no longer obscured and there is a direct, clear line connecting where you are to where you want to be. Stay on the path and achieving the goal is a certainty.

Enter life. Plans and goals are irrelevant to life. Inevitable crisis will emerge and priorities will shift in response. It does not take much to knock you off your path, no matter how well you have planned. The longer you stay off the path, the more obscure the end goal becomes. Spend enough time off the path and your goal becomes impossible to envision and devolves into nothing more than an abstract dream. You are back to square one.

Staying the course is not easy. It is human nature to seek the path of least resistance but the easy path is rarely the right path.

• Define your goal. Clarity of purpose is everything. Your path becomes clear when your goal is clear.
• Where am I? What am I doing? It is impossible to stay on the path to mastery if you do not even realize you are off the path. Daily, even hourly assessments will ensure you know exactly where you are and empower you to adjust your path if needed.
• Don't just look where you are going but also remind yourself of where you have been. The path to mastery is long and arduous. Motivation becomes a challenge if you do not acknowledge your progress.
• Be adaptable. The value is in the goal and the path is your way of achieving your goal. Adjust the path to serve the goal.
• Do not lose sight of your goal. There is a reason why you challenged the goal in the first place. Recognize when you are sacrificing the goal to serve your path. The path serves the goal, not the other way around.

“I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacation with better care than they do their lives.Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.” - Jim Rohn (1930 - 2009)

Great Day

I shared a great day with some incredible people yesterday. Our annual forms seminar is something I look forward to every year. It is always inspiring to be surrounded by positive, like-minded people who are striving for mastery. I loved every minute of it.

There is something very intimate about performing your kung fu in front of a black belt panel. With thirty-four degrees of black belts watching, there is not much you can hide. You are totally exposed. Despite racing hearts and dumps of adrenalin, everyone felt safe. I am always humbled by the trust a person places in the hands of the black belts in a situation like this and I am equally proud of the level of compassion the black belts show in return.

I am blessed to live the life I live. It is said that we are a reflection of the company we keep and I could not be in better company.

"Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company." - George Washington (1732 - 1799)

UN Climate Summit

Today thousands marched worldwide to send a message to the politicians that the environment matters. Our elected leader has decided to forgo with perpetuating any illusion that he actually gives a damn about the environment, or what the people he supposedly represents want, and has chosen to skip the summit.

It seems like common sense but no one seems to care enough to listen. An economic model based upon perpetual growth on a planet with finite resources is not going to serve us as a viable species. It could be that the extreme right is correct, climate change is not going to kill us all, but if we are willing to destroy most of the planet to maintain our economic growth, does it not follow that we should be concerned whether or not that growth is sustainable within our current economic model? Whether or not you believe climate change to be a man-made phenomena, it cannot be denied that fossil fuels will not last forever. It is in the economy’s best interest if we diversify and shift our economic paradigm and embrace diversification.

Of course as long as the corporate establishment continues to make record profits for their shareholders, it is unlikely that they will be willing to shift to an economic model that requires them to give up a sure thing for anything else.

Change is coming whether we want it or not. It would be much better if we had a say in that change as opposed to having it thrust upon us by mother nature. It is time for us to stop allowing Harper to pit the environment against the economy.

“It’s really disappointing that none of the major parties has put climate change at the centre of their agenda and really developed economic policies that are based on credible science. You know, it seems that the price of admission for any politician who wants to be ‘taken seriously,’ quote un-quote, is to pick a pipeline and cheer for it.” - Naomi Klein (b. 1970)

Dabbling, Stressing, and Mastering

I just heard Tony Robbins’ thoughts regarding the path to success this week and he really struck a chord. He outlined the three personality traits of entrepreneurs but there is a definite correlation to students of the martial arts.

The first is the Dabbler. The Dabbler is one who enjoys variety. He is excited to learn new things and he revels in the ability to learn quickly. When learning something new, the Dabbler’s understanding of the basics happens very quickly and results in immediate improvement. The problem is that the Dabbler looses interest when the improvement is not so dramatic. We all know of people who have studied many martial arts but have mastered none of them. They definitely fit in the Dabbler category.

The second personality is the Stressor. The Stressor differs from the Dabbler in that he pushes through the plateaus of the learning process and finds ways to overcome obstacles. Failure is not an option. The problem is the Stressor will burn out, and rarely achieve success. In the martial arts, these are the students that lack wuji. Their training is always at the extremes and at those extremes, they end up serving their kung fu rather than having their kung fu serve them.

The third personality in Robbins’ view is the Master. The Master neither quits nor fights. The Master is content with the learning process in both successes and failures. And almost verbatim from Tony Robbins - By recognizing the small successes and learning from the failures, the Master gauges success on the previous day’s achievements - asking the question, “Am I better today, than I was yesterday?"

“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.” - Tony Robbins (b. 1960)

Anger Management

Managing anger is possibly the most overlooked component of self defence training. The keyword here is ‘management’. Anger is a normal emotion that exists to organize and mobilize our bodily systems to respond to our current environment. Emotions in the anger family are a survival mechanism in the brain that are hardwired to help protect us from danger.

Emotions, like anger, are regulated by the limbic system. Within the limbic system is the amygdala where emotional memories are stored. This is why we may experience anger that is actually caused by a mixture of what is happening now and the experiences in our pasts. Old anger is activated by the brain to protect us. Neuroscientists call this implicit memory, meaning we can experience the effects of a memory without even realizing it.

Anger expression is a behaviour that, like all behaviour, has a purpose. When we get angry we are usually trying to accomplish some goal. The problem is that anger is rarely effective in getting us what we want and most of the time it actually makes things worse.

Anger can be positive. We all know of people who have a perpetual positive facade, repeating “Have a great day!”as their credo, yet their facade breaks down at the most inappropriate times for insignificant transgressions. Maintaining a facade and not showing anger is not managing anger, only suppressing it. Anger is a healthy release. It takes an enormous amount of energy to hold anger inside. Releasing it appropriately helps reduce stress and build healthier relationships.

Simply put, we have an emotional area of the brain and a thinking area of the brain. It is up to our frontal lobes, the thinking area, to rationally deal with the anger that the limbic system has set in motion. As thinking, reasoning beings, we have the unique ability among the species to have options in how we choose to deal with our anger. It is all about properly managing our anger, not eliminating it. Anger is a normal, healthy response to a situation. Our chosen response to that anger is not always normal, nor is it always healthy. In fact, our response might actually be the difference between life and death. This is why anger management skills are such an important part of self defence.

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. “ - Buddha