“These days too many people stop training once they pass 2nd or 3rd Dan, they don’t realise that belts are not important. Grades mean nothing; all that matters is to train hard.” (End quote) – Tatsuo Suzuki Wado-Ryu (1928-2011) . Are black belts in martial arts given away too easily? . If your black belt…
Tag: Humility
Do you revere your sensei or teacher?
“We received from our ancestors, the old masters of karate, the Kata, which they have created with their blood and their hearts, putting their whole souls into them.” (End quote) – Mabuni Kenei . . Do you revere your sensei or teacher, as is often quoted by the older generation of Karate masters? . Reverence…
“Trouble comes to those who don’t have courtesy.”
“If you have good manners, you can survive anywhere. Trouble comes to those who don’t have courtesy.” – Masahiro Nakamoto 10th dan Okinawa Dentou Kobudo . . In society a general definition of courtesy would be polite behavior that is well accepted in the society. This value holds great importance in the correct development…
“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”
If you are going to master a new skill, you have to accept that for the first few times you try it, you’re probably going to get it wrong. You’re going to fail, you may even be embarrassed. You just have to accept that. . Martial arts are complicated – if what we are doing…
Excellence is an attitude. And attitude is your choice.
If your coach PUSHES you. If your coach DISCIPLINES you. If your coach DEMANDS the best from you ALL the time… Then he or she truly CARES…….. The McCaw Method. . . Consistently having a good attitude, committing to good routines and habits, controlling the controllables, giving your best effort, putting in the extra time….
“There’s only one way to avoid criticism.”
“There’s only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) . Sometimes we have to test ourselves and push ourselves to the limit. It is how we grow, and it is how we gain life experiences. You never know your real strength until you push your boundary. ….
You QUIT karate?
You QUIT karate? . It’s a harsh reality that the students you’re teaching right now will not be the same students you’re teaching a year or two from now. Every dojo or school goes through it. They quit. . There are many reasons why people quit. The novelty of training may have worn off, or…
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” — Epictetus . What happens to us is in life is an objective reality, how we respond is a subjective choice. The Stoics — of which Epictetus was one — would say that we don’t control what happens to us, all…
The goal is to live a life that avoids violence, not encourage it.
Whether you’re a Karate practitioner, MMA fighter, combat fighter or any other competition martial artist, you train for are a very specific arena, dealing with very specific parameters. Outside in the real-world, if you use those parameters, oftentimes you will find unskilled people, who just have the ability to want to hurt you, are going…
Be ready to free your mind.
Gichin Funakoshi’s 6th precept stated – “Kokoro wa hanatan koto o yosu” (心は放たん事を要す). Be ready to free your mind. . There are many interpretations of the exact meaning of Funakoshi’s precept, but I believe part of it is that we should always keep our minds open to learning new things. . I often watch students…
Don’t waste your most valuable asset……
“What do you think is the most valuable thing you might have in your life, that you really don’t pay attention to, especially when you’re young, because you just feel you have an abundance of it? It’s never ending…….… Time.” – Sylvester Stallone . The reason why people keep saying, “the trouble is you think…
The problem with closed-minded people, is that their mouths are always open.
Close-minded is when you believe in something or in someone and your mind will stay closed to that belief and will not even try to acknowledge any other idea or concept. . Nobody wants to admit they’re close-minded. Ask anyone, and 90% of the time, they’ll tell you they’re an open-minded, positive individual who’s (apparently)…