A road not explored. An old story of the blind men and the elephant is as true as true ever was. The beauty of a swan on your table or on the pond seen over the cup of morning coffee.  Asian martial arts verse European martial arts (no this is not the battle you think it may be) and further other codifications of the martial arts experience.  Then we go full Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the moon, cover art – trust me it will all make sense as you listen. Then we go down to two pure forms of delineation (but not excluding the deep sub-divisions within these two subsets). The we’re all  together section; The Martial Thoughts Podcast a fellow martial artist and podcaster shares a great tip on how to help others step forward and upward. 

Why are my students losing the path? Why are my students leaving?  Let’s look at it from a few different levels. A commercial view is one for sure, and it is not a wrong view as it deals with reality.  The human interaction is the hub on which many of the exits originate. You may want to go back and measure yourself.  It is hard to see the other side when you have reaped an immense benefit – how can they not see the same benefit(s) The peak of education and how it is achieved.  The public school system is designed to destroy your foolish plans.

Sensei Mentor Teacher Coach: Powerful Leadership for Leaderless Times. 

 

 

If this then that is something martial artists love, If this happens then do that. Habits. The trial and error embedding a pattern. The development of those windows. The acknowledgment of a bad habit and how lame that truly is. The Building blocks of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  The practice of the pattern, not until you get it right, but until you don’t get it wrong. The double pump. We’re All In this Together; Vet visits, the animal kind – and a story of one lone person that makes a difference in the people and animal world.

 

 

Brain Files, the things we do without thinking, and how they get ingrained in our behavior. Bottom line: We love habits. Controlling the path in the brain. The analyzing of a moment. It takes time to get the cognition, the mental effort tuned well. Seeing behaviors, seeing patterns, and the call to action can be seen through the eyes of the predator. How an X-Files episode and the Miami Dolphins are a form of relaxation – solving the problem of soothing. Getting the cheese is the goal of a rat, and to an extent us as well.  Surprise, Kill, Vanish  https://www.amazon.com/Surprise-Kill-Vanish-Paramilitary-Operators/dp/0316441430. Your choices and how you build a cell reducing your freedom.  Just acknowledging it doesn’t make it O.K.

Martial mentors can be coaches, but the qualities of each can be slightly different, it’s a Venn Diagram of course. The goods who has the goods and how to find it or seek it in others.  Your movement should be upward and outward. Heroes and saints are not born, but they are made, and they are molded from the present elements.  The dismissal over the single flaw may not be the best course to choose. Motorhead and the gripping clarity of conviction.  The “We’re all in this together,” The sign shop.

Avoiding the cage. We start out with Vince Lombardi and his approach to the game of football – trust me is relevant to the martial arts. This idea of Lombardi’s in respect to perfection is releasing and how joining with this idea will make profound shifts in your time on the mat and dare I say your life. Do you best, make active mistakes, support others become the mantra (if you chose). The horrid phrase, “Nobodies perfect.” Chasing our own excellence rabbit and how it should be an essential part of our day. Being brutal with the worthless things – not rude,  just brutal. And the cage of diminished expectations.  

In the We’re all in this together section, an old student drops by with an initially awkward conversation that soon becomes wonderful.

Dodgeball: The donut scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9AvVu-P6Do

Vince Lombardi Quote:

Military & Community how should they live? The question was posed, should the military live separate for the civilian population, or should they be integrated into the local communities that surround a military base?  How such a question has an answer and how martial artists, albeit far less in intensity, have several parallel experiences that have to do with being part of the local community. And then ghost writers in the sky, how a fighter pilot went all artistic and got in trouble – sort of, after a long time.

The creation of a warm cocoon. The mission creeping of an excellent idea, the safe space. Sometimes rights and prudent behavior are at odds and a person might best get accustom to the incongruity.  The insanity of the whole safe space world spinning out of control like Darth Vader’s Tie fighter.  How a simple idea has now grown to full bloom, and it is not a pretty flower.  What kind of expectations of safety should you come to expect and how may you choose to deal with the world.

_______________________________Links__________________________________

Seattle is Dying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw

The Sleep Podcast: https://www.stickmanpublications.com/sleep/

Bored Panda: https://www.boredpanda.com/bees-sleeping-flower-nature-wildlife-photography-joe-neely/?utm_source=mix&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic

Alzheimer Organization U.K.: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/research/our-research/research-projects/how-does-tau-hallmark-alzheimers-disease-affect-connections-between-brain-cells

 

The soothing aspects of repetition and how it works all the way from our birth to the day of our death. Stagnation is a momentum killer, it is the doldrums of sailing and just as severe to the martial arts practitioner.  The slow growth phenomena and why it is better than the fast burst but is not sought most actively. Then we touch on the plateau. You may detest the plateau, I, however, find it invigorating. Then let’s take a little trip to the pages of the comics and listen to the pointer haired boss from the Dilbert comic strip. In the, We’re All In This Together, section a game of monopoly serves as the tool for goodness.

The importance of Sleep. We all know the necessity of sleep,

good sound sleep. Sleep deprivation is a part of the torture, or viewed by some

and seen as a valuable tool for gathering information. The CIA, (Central Intelligence

Agency) certainly sees sleep deprivation as a valuable tool to speed up

compliance from a subject. Regardless, in extreme classes, the functions of the

body are attacked.  A couple of tips that

I use to get a good sleep. These tips are simple and maybe odd, but boy do they

work.