A little goes a long way.

 The weather has turned here in South Australia, there is a distinct bite to the wind and the Dojo is becoming like the winter icebox I have come to know so well. 

Its cold outside 

Training in the cold is always good when it's over. In a conversation today, I talked of how to overcome low motivation. Something the cold weather seems to embrace as it is always more difficult dragging yourself out of a warm house in to the cold to train. But then again, with this said, it all comes down to discipline. 

I read a post last week that said, if you do something for just 16.5 minutes a day, every day, then at the end of a year you will have done 100 hours. I used this in the conversation I had {did not take credit for it} and said the most difficult thing was actually doing the first 5 minutes. 5 turns in to 10 turns in to 20 then 30 and maybe 40. Which if you did every day then more than 240 hours would be achieved in a year.

The Karate maxim of doing a little every day never rang so true, and if nothing else gives purpose and meaning to what might otherwise be sedentary and mundane. A little really does go a long way. 

Be ready....

 Where I reside was a life choice. It's a sleepy little town with low crime and almost zero violence. I like it. It is a complete contrast to the urban areas of inner and outer Birmingham where I grew up and lived for forty years.

But this said, there is always the occasional wanker who might just be out to try and ruin your day. I experienced such an asshole today.

Minding my own business he threw verbal abuse at me for pulling up at a petrol pump he wanted to use, apparently I should be a mind reader and understand that although he was facing the wrong way and turning around, I should have know he was next in line. So acting all tuff he verbally abused me. For about 5 seconds, then he stopped. I wonder why that was. Well, he was faced with an imoveable force greater than himself, an imoveable force that is no stranger to being accosted albeit not that often These days and, as is the norm he turned to mush. Altercation over and he never got hurt.

Ok so my little story, whilst being dead set true is one thing but, it got me thinking and raised a few questions.

The small town I live in is under development and is set to grow quite substantially.

Q,  so will this mean more assholes?     A, quite probably.

Q, Will there be an increase in crime and violence.                     A, Probably. .....solution- work more on fitness and speed to eliminate self doubt and to create readiness.....Better to be prepared and not need it than to need it and not be prepared. 

It's a changing World we live in with snowflakes, namby pamby's and those easily offended like woke people. The thing is there is little to no patience that these people have and flying off the handle so to speak is a normal occurrence for them, they just don't know what to do when someone doesn't give a flying FK about them .... My advice, be ready. 

Going soft

 

Late night training in front of the wooden mirror....

As the title of the post suggests, this has been me. 

It's very easy to let life, injury and the grind of 12 hour rotating shift work get in the way of training, tiredness is ever present.

But this said, when you realise that you are going soft, it doesn't sit right. Training lately has been spasmodic at best, and Ive actually caught myself making excuses not to. Quite different than having a reason.

Tonight, and quite late I might add, I faced the wooden mirror (makiwara) for more than an hour. By the end of looking at myself I was no longer soft. Sore and a little bloody, but certainly not soft. 

When part of an Authentic dojo, a lesson early on was to be "honest with yourself" and if you can't be that with you, then who can you be honest with.....

So with sore hands and arms I begin a new 12 hour shift.... Feeling in general, far better about things...

Jony

 

 

Just you ..

 What you mean to others is actually very little. Outside of family that is. 

And whilst karate groups, organisations, clubs and even small private dojo have this 'thing' they call family, they're not. 

This is evident when you stop training with them. Lip service and b.s is prominent. 

Budo, the art of looking inward to oneself carries no weight it would seem. For if it did then outside of Karate you would still matter. 

It's a common theme,  with no difference in the work place either.

But this being said, and I know how negative the above sounds, it does help develop a ' stoic ' nature. It hardens you mentally. Words like self sufficient, tenacity, and endure have a deeper meaning. As a Karateka, you realise that all the things you thought you needed were really just add-ons, and that ' letting go ' as we so often hear, would serve you well here too.

Being yourself. Is this you? Or haven't you met that person yet? 

A poem " the glittering black" kind of sums this up. 

" With the deepest gaze in to the glittering black, to feel the hand of insignificance pat firmly on the back.

To whom does it matter when the farewell clock strikes its final chime 

Save to yourself and those who love you so, beneath the glittering black." 

Be you, train for you, learn to be stoic and know that ultimately it's just you.

Always has been and always will be

And then be ok with it...

.  

 

You must.....must I !

 So I/You, We, reside within a world, that on a daily basis decisions are made by somebody somewhere at sometime that are supposed to be in My/Your, Our, best interest. 

There's a few things wrong with this.

Firstly, and quite often the decisions made do not come from a position of experience, but are made from one of good intention. That's admirable and all that, but it doesn't necessarily mean that its right, and certainly doesn't mean that You should adhere to it. 

Being a bit of thinker, I'm quite happy to look at decisions made for me by someone else objectively. If I think that there is value in it and it ' fits' within the scope of things I'm happy to do, then ok, I'll go along with it. 

However, if it doesn't, if I'm not happy about it or it doesn't align with my values, then good luck enforcing it, because it just ain't going to happen. 

You see, far too many cowtow to others simply because somebody somewhere at sometime said so.

Be your own person. Don't be a sheep, and make decisions based and what you want, right or wrong. 

Either way, you'll be standing squarely at the feet of experience and not just because you were told to do something that isn't necessarily right. 

Passage of time...

 I was asked the other day if I missed training with others. My immediate answer was a resounding No. 

Understanding the kind of person I am has been at the forefront of seeking contentment, of which I found some time ago. I'm not needy. Don't need others, and for good or bad I'm quite capable of training on my own. This way I don't get caught up in other people's B.S. 

I watched a guy receive his Sensei's black belt once, being promoted to 1st Dan.... he couldn't make his Karate work, and his ude tanren ( arm conditioning) was weak, but hey his Kata looked peachy so why not, good luck to him. This is the sort of thing I don't miss. 

                      No Needy

Karate-do, a solitary pursuit done in The company of others.... To quote my last Sensei..."Or not." To quote me.

I'm finding that these days there are more and more 'needy' people. 

The need for acceptance, the need to be with others, the need to be acknowledged, the need to be validated, the needy list goes on. And again as my last Sensei once remarked, "the need for likes and shares."  

In fairness though, the latter is only relevant if that's what you're after....many aren't. 

So where does Karate fit in? 

Well, if you train in the manner in which Karate used to be trained, then you will learn to be self sufficient. When there is just you, there is no escape from the task at hand and no blaming others for your short comings, you become less needy, self reliant and learn to be by yourself. Completely by yourself. Something I think many have trouble with these days; the passage of time will tell and when looked back upon from the vantage point of experience, you may get a glimpse of who you are, needy or not. 

Beating the Black Dog

 Despite another shoulder injury, this time my left supraspinatus becoming detached just like the right one did years ago, Ive still been training. Nothing to heavy obviously, just simply trying to keep a range of motion that lets me continue to work and provide a living for me and my family. Pain... Yes, giving in ....No 

Rehabilitation of such injuries is hard, with the mental health aspect of recovery probably being the biggest challenge. Accepting that you can't do what you want to or what you once did, being the major source of a downward spiral in mental health. I can't even begin to imagine what service men and women go through with such horrific injuries that they may return home with after putting themselves on the line that we me live in a relatively peaceful society. 

Unless you have hit " rock bottom " and faced the black dog you won't really understand what it's like and the struggle involved in recovery. 

Yes I have, it's bloody hard. 

A friend of mine, a Karate-ka ( person whom studies Karate-do ) is in a pretty rough physical place at the moment which is also impacting on his mental well being. He continues to train despite his injuries, albeit at a toned down level, or is it. 

My last Sensei once said that training at 100% is different for everyone, but as long as you're not slacking off, and giving it 'your' 100% then that is all that can be asked. This in my mind especially includes injury. Infact it probably takes more character to train when being injured than when we are not. 

I generally find that Karate-ka are not very subservient people. The mind set is different. They make good leaders and make and stand by their decisions and moreover own their mistakes. Karate-do breeds tenacity and mental strength, the shear ability to move forward when faced with unpleasantness. Sure there are times when you don't feel like it, can't be arsed or make a feeble attempt at excuses, but the bottom line is you're a Karate-ka and will always be one and, that is enough to move forward one small step at a time, one more kick, punch or Kata to get yourself to a better place, physically and mentally; Beating the Black Dog.