Belts

Belts (in the martial arts), are milestones -- not destinations.

(Belts (in fashion) are often wonderful accessories, but I'm no expert. My best friend is, so check out his blog)

I often see students at our school (and elsewhere) get very focused on their belt:

• "which one do I have?";
• "which one's next?";
• "oh! I got a black belt!";
• "I'm ready for my next belt!";
• "why didn't I get my next belt?"...

When you view your belt (and a black belt especially) as a destination, it can become an object of desire. From this perspective the belt becomes a commodity, or item to get. And this is guaranteed to eventually be a path to unhappiness... (a Buddhist tenet is that the root of all suffering is desire)

Sometimes the difficulty with language is that we don't have the words to describe what we mean. 'On the path to black belt' or 'We are a black belt school', could be taken to mean that actually getting the piece of cloth, or annually awarding a piece of cloth, means that the piece of cloth is what you want.

The truth (or my truth anyways) is much different. I believe that the study of the martial arts is a lifetime thing, an alltime thing, not a sometime thing and not 'get the next belt' kinda thing.

From this perspective, any belt (but a black belt especially) is a milestone, a mark of accomplishment, but not a destination. I can't desire it as a physical thing, because what it actually is, is a sign of my continued evolution as a person and a martial artist. Our school has many belts, for many reasons.

• They provide students with an opportunity to set goals.
• They provide instructors with some sense of what a student should (?) know.
• They provide markers for changes in curriculum, and help organize classes.

But that's all they are. What people should desire, is not an object, but the opportunity to embrace continuous change. Everytime I step on the mat, I have a chance to remake myself. I don't need a belt to remind me of that fact, and sometimes it actually interferes with it. I sometimes think that because I've been teaching at the school for three years, that people now have a hard time thinking of me as a student -- but that's ultimately what I am.

I've also noticed that more often than not, the people who view the belt as a destination, are the ones who stop showing up to train once they've got their black belt. They achieved their goal, and find it hard to put it in perspective.

My hope is that our school is a school for black belts, not one where people get pieces of cloth. But that's up to the students who train here. I know what it is that we are trying to do.

As one of my favorite instructors says "Are you a black belt, or are you some one who has a belt that is black?"...

Negative Energy

Sometimes I feel sorry for the people in the world who only have negative energy to share. Well, maybe they have positive energy, but it only seems like they want to share their negative sphere.

I pulled into a parking spot on the street behind our dojang this evening and the man playing hockey with his son on the other side of the road began to castigate me for getting too close to his bumper. I understand why it looked like I did, but I was actually quite far from it. What seemed to make things worse was the fact that I was wearing a hoodie with our club logo on it. That really upset him, as he seems to feel wronged by the increased numbers of cars that park on his street now that the dojang is next door. We've been there for almost three years, but still he holds onto his resentment and wants to lash out whenever he can. I felt sorry for him, and said I was sorry for the trouble he felt we had caused him, but he didn't want to hear it.

I can almost understand where he is coming from. We have disrupted his life, and he needs to express that frustration. Unfortunately, he has never tried to figure out a positive way of dealing with it. Hopefully he doesn't feel the need to take his hockey stick to my car the next time he sees it.

It is always easy to feel hurt, and anger and fear at the unknown, or at changes that we feel forced into. But most of the time, all that is required is for us to change our perspective on the event and we can then try and put positive energy behind it.

Maybe I will figure out something that we can do for the man to help him release these negative feelings. Most likely though, I will choose to ignore his negative waves. Who wants to live like that?

September 11 - what does it mean?

Nine years ago some very deluded individuals committed one of the worst acts of terrorism that the world has seen, and it unleashed a set of consequences that has altered our world. In 2001, I had recently moved back to Canada after six years of living in the States, and felt a really wide range of emotions in the weeks after the attack: sadness, anger, dismay, confusion at how it could have happened and oddly, a sense of disloyalty. I am not American, never really felt American, never really wanted to become an American even while living there. But I have family and friends who live, work and call the US their home and country. In the weeks after 9/11 it felt as if I had abandoned them by moving to Canada 18 months earlier. Mixed in with the sense of relief that I wasn't there, was the feeling that I should have been, to share in the experience and help my neighbours and friends.

I have watched in dismay at what I see as a downward spiral of fear, anger and hatred seizing the US over the last nine years. I've been hopeful that things will change, and hope that people there start paying attention to articles like this one that was in the Washington Post this week. I understand why and how we got to where we are in a post-9/11 world. It is the result of a superpower being deeply hurt, and lashing out in pain, fear and anger. Unfortunately, those emotions are never constructive.

I know this because I train people who want to better themselves, who do not allow fear to inhibit what they do, or want to accomplish. They do this by giving to each other the strength necessary to reach their goal, and by sharing their energy with others around them.

As to why I remain hopeful on this anniversary of a horrible day? I am a truly fortunate man, because I have a constant reminder that hope and birth conquers fear and death. September 11 is my father's birthday. No matter how the world wants to view that anniversary, I know that I will always have something to be grateful for on that day, and a reminder of hope and love, even in the face of fear and death.





But everyone should still be working on their push ups...

WTF?

What is wrong with these people?

I came to adulthood out of a Judeo-Christian (Catholic) upbringing. I've been influenced by Aristotle, Plato, Locke, Marx, Rousseau, Kant, the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius and many many other spiritual and philosophical thinkers. I try and put into practice the values and ethics that my parents, family, friends, mentors and masters have taught me.

Nowhere, No one ever told me it is a good idea to burn books. Especially holy, sacred books. Especially holy, sacred books of a people whose hearts and minds we are trying to win over. Especially the holy, sacred books of a people who are my neighbours, friends and whose inclusion in society is a value in and of itself.

I really hope someone comes to their senses really soon. Oh, and to all my fellow Canadians who look at the US and think "Man they are fucked up." I have heard similar sentiments expressed in this country, and if you think it couldn't happen here, you are wrong.

Training time is fast approaching

So last May I began a training regimen mixing 3-4 morning 4k runs a week with core and body weight exercises along with a stretching program to build a base of physical fitness that would help prepare me for our school's black belt test. After about 4 months of this I dialled back the running and focused more on technical aspects of my game to ensure I had a solid understanding of my curriculum. Along the way I had to devote a large amount of energy to teaching classes and helping to train my teammates. After five months I discovered that without intending to, I had dropped almost 15 pounds. By the time of my black belt test, I was down to a weight I hadn't seen since my last year in university. I gained a bit of the weight back over the last six weeks of my training when I sustained my calf injury (see my posts below). The whole experience taught me a great deal about training, about myself and about what I enjoy about the martial arts:

...If I get over 195 lbs I start to feel heavy and a bit sluggish. I'm not actually out of shape, but my body feels different. -- Guess what? I'm feeling a bit heavy, so I'm taking this as a signal to ramp up my training a bit...

...I get a lot out of training other people. So much so that I kind of lose track of the importance of my own training. One of my goals this year is to balance this out a bit more, giving myself time for my own training, asking for help from others, and concentrating on helping some key people achieve all that they are capable of.

...Determining a level of training that you can sustain over a long period of time, but which allows you to vary the intensity of the training is key to staying fit, and interested in achieving the goals you set.

...Studying the martial arts is ultimately about developing self-awareness. This is helpful beyond the lessons in kicking, punching and grappling. One important lesson I keep re-learning is to not take people for granted. Your family, friends and training partners are all concerned about helping you achieve your goals, but don't forget about what is important to them as well. It can't be all about you all the time...

...Kicking Dave in the leg is fun...as is working Tom until he falls over, running Paul until he collapses, and pushing Andrew until he is ready to faint. They take everything you throw at them and ask for more. What more could you ask from students and training partners?

...Bruce Lee believed that martial arts was a form of self-expression. You can learn a lot about someone by watching how they train, perform and work with others on the mat.

So, I'm now on a quest to develop a sustainable training program to keep me fit, to keep me from feeling sluggish, to develop some new skills and refine some old ones, and most especially: to keep me injury free. It all starts with road work, which means early morning alarm bells that I have to actually pay attention to...oh well, sleeping was fun while it lasted.

Time is Flying

It's been more than a month since I last posted which made me realize that I've become a little bit too obsessed with finishing my shed project.

Sometimes my penchant for obsession is a useful thing (like when I'm training for a black belt), but this summer I kind of feel that I've let my (supposedly) little building project overtake my life. Just about every weekend has been spent on some aspect of the build, which while fun, has been a little excessive. But major construction is now finished, and I'll be putting up shelves and moving stuff into the shed on the Labour Day weekend, so hopefully I'll feel less compelled to do work when I should be relaxing or playing or writing. It's really too bad when the crazy gene kicks in.

So, some thoughts I've had over the last month:

I love the internet. This may sound obvious as who would start a blog unless they loved the internet, but here's why. The internet allows me to become aware of interesting people, events and ideas both by getting reports about these things (from a really wide variety of sources) and by getting the unfiltered version of some of them.

Case in point: In July the US District Court for Northern California threw out the state's referendum mandating the bar on same sex marriages. This was widely reported online through mainstream media, blogs, forums, videos but most importantly through access to Judge Walker's written judgement. If you haven't read this yet - DO SO. It is, as one analyst said, the best summer reading you will find anywhere.

The ruling is historic, and is written in a way to make it almost bulletproof. It will be appealed and some say will likely be heard by the US Supreme Court. But what is beautiful and astounding about it is the manner in which Judge Walker, with cold-hearted precision and logic, demolishes all arguments against same sex marriage (and in so doing, shines a much needed light on the issue of discimination on the basis of sexual orientation). This is the Brown v. Board of Education ruling for our time, and I think, will be studied by law students for years to come.

I think I'll write more about this later, but why I think it's important, is because I feel that rule of law is the most fundamental aspect of my belief in freedom and liberty. It is the fact that people who have had discrimination and prejudice thrown at them have recourse before the courts that is the true defining characteristic of our democracy -- and for a poli sci geek like me, this was heaven.

Oh, it is also time to start training again. 5:30 am runs here we go...

Random Thoughts

I'm thinking about a few things right now (while basking in the good feeling of Spain winning the World Cup), and thought 'I should blog about this!'

That doesn't mean that I've thought of anything earth shattering, I'm just trying to get in the habit of writing down what I think are interesting things, when I think of them. Case in Point:

Some people say, everything happens for a reason (my sister believes this). I do not think so.

Instead I think that everything that happens to us, on a day to day, moment to moment basis, are learning opportunities. If we pay attention to what we are doing, and what others are thinking and feeling, we have a chance to learn, to change and to grow. And when that moment of attention happens, we often feel that what just happened, must have happened for a reason -- it is our rational thinking mind trying to make sense of a flash of insight.

'Shi Kin Hara Mitsu Dai Ko Myo' is a ... pledge/creed/statement that is recited at the beginning of Bujinkan Ninpo practice. I don't speak Japanese, and so have depended on a few sources for a translation, but the one I liked the best is this: Pay Attention! This might be the Moment of Enlightenment!

What I've come to appreciate about reciting it, is that it asks me to cultivate a mind that actively participates in the world around me, by paying attention to the actions and feelings of both myself and the people around me. I have not had my moment of enlightenment yet, but I am making myself open to it.