Keeping it Real

In the big picture, intentions are nearly as valuable as results....perhaps even more.

In my daily work with teens, I often encounter minor confrontations when my insistence on following directions is challenged with empty motion, devoid of intention.  A message like "read this story", to a disengaged student, can become "stare at the page and think of something else while my eyes glaze over the words".

When I call them on it, the argument from my misguided students usually sounds like: "What's the difference?  It's getting done, right?"  Done?  Perhaps.  That's arguable.  It's not authentic though....it's not real.

The difference, subtle as it may be (by their perceptions), means EVERYTHING.

In our world, there is training, and there is TRAINING.  You could train for a year and still be just as terrible at the end as you were when the year began unless you really TRAINED with the intention of operating at level 10, of setting a personal best, or of (insert your metaphor for all-out performance here).

What's the difference?  Well, for us, it's the gap between where we began and where we are going.  I hope that, after nearly a year, you are finding yourself to be in a different place than where you began.

If not, there's still time. 

Keep it real, my friends.  That intention will drive you to create results. :)

Self-Defense Against An Overwhelming Life

I have a lot on my plate today.  If I didn't know better, I might feel overwhelmed right now.

Truth is, a part of me does feel that way and I thought that my own process of refocusing my head would be worth sharing, as I often have conversations with students, co-workers, and relatives who are similarly overwhelmed with the circumstances of their own life, so I thought I'd think out loud here.

5:00pm.  Six more hours before bedtime, if I'm lucky.  In that time, there's a lot to be done.

First, before you go any further: stop and be still, Garcia.  Have a cup of tea and refocus.  You're no good to anyone if your mind is on a faster spin cycle than your laundry machine. (Crap, the laundry.... *facepalm*)

But I don't have time....

Fifteen minutes is a minimal loss.  45 minutes of focused time-on-task will outperform an hour's worth of frazzled, panicky work.  Just do it.  Drink some tea and check your Facebook.

Hey, this might make for a good UBBT entry - save that thought.

How am I possibly going to get all of this done in time?

Maybe you will, maybe you won't.  It definitely won't if you just sit there and freak out.

So what do I do?

One thing at a time, as you always do.  Your work requires you to focus.  You're not fighting a 5-on-1 sparring match.  That's different.  The multitasking you can do is for mindless tasks, like drinking tea while you check your Facebook.  With real work, multitasking might be handling other business while the copy machine prints for you, or some simple thing like that.  However, that's not what you do - so start with one thing, finish it, move to the next.

Time's up.  Focus.  45 minutes of focused work.  You've got this, Black Belt.  Handle it.

Okay, it's go time!  What's first?

Oh yeah, that blog entry - ten minutes.  Type it, post it, move on.  Go.

Where The Path May Lead

In life, Man commits himself, draws a portrait - and there is nothing of Him except that portrait.
~Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism

I find myself in need of a larger canvas these days.

When I first viewed the UBBT, my thoughts were to myself.
When I first began the UBBT, my thoughts were of my students.
As I progressed along my UBBT journey, my thoughts went to my school.
As I developed my school through the UBBT, my thoughts moved to the community.

That vision is growing larger, and as I expand into it, I find myself needing to sharpen my sword on all other fronts to prepare myself for the next step.

After some time in Hilo, Hawaii with Coach Tom, along with some conference calls with our teammate Kanentokon Hemlock, I've refocused my sights on locating, recruiting, and supporting other school-based programs like Kanentokon's in Kahnawake, and my own in San Jose.  The kind of work we've been doing here is not only a different kind of dialogue for the martial arts community - it's been a much-needed missing link in the world of public education, which could use a similar revolution.

This project excites me because it holds the potential to unite two major parts of my life which, until now, have remained largely separate.  I really don't know where this is going to lead, but I see a lot of room for growth here, so together, we're going to take some bold steps in beginning something new.

It's time to visualize, mobilize, and actualize!  Stay tuned, awesomeness is coming.

The Case for Competition

It is my contention that the idea of competition has deviated from its original meaning. 

Had our concept of the word been in line with its original meaning, there would be far less of a negative connotation associated with the word.  As it stands right now, the word refers to rivalry and contests between people, functions which help some people to rise, while others fall.

To some, this is not a healthy thing.  It is not the model by which a teacher builds people, creates connections, and heals communities.  In this mindset, competition is damaging because it is a means to separate people, whether actively or passively.

This couldn't be farther from its true meaning.

The word compete comes from the Latin competere, which can be divided into two parts: com- (with), and -petere (to strive).

To compete, in the classical sense, is literally "to strive with" someone else, a process by which everyone involved is expected to give their absolute best.  In that kind of a relationship, there is no surrendering to mediocrity, no voluntarily deciding to be any less than your best self (and you can always be better!), no walking away from opportunities for growth, and no abandonment of the support team that is "competing" with you....in the sense that they are right there with you, striving to be at their best.

That's the kind of competition that we do. 

That's the only competition that really matters.

Let the games continue. :)

Coastal Cleanup Day 2010

On September 25, 2010, Epic Martial Arts students, together with members of the LPS San Jose community, joined forces with thousands of volunteers worldwide in support of International Coastal Cleanup Day. Our team assisted with local efforts at Hellyer County Park.

Be The Candle

I cannot rave enough about the writings of Matthew Woodring Stover.  He's a contemporary sci-fi/fantasy writer, best known for his Blade of Tyshalle series and his most recent work penning a few Star Wars novels that threw fans for a loop.  In the novelization for Revenge of the Sith (arguably, in my opinion, one of the greatest film novelizations of all time...infinitely better than the movie itself), Stover wrote this beautiful piece on the nature of darkness and light, which appears in portions during the book as the story plunges into darkness:

(Warning: long post, but worth it!)

The dark is generous.

Its first gift is concealment: our true faces lie in the dark beneath our skins, our true hearts remain shadowed deeper still.  But the greatest concealment lies not in protecting our secret truths, but in hiding from the truths of others.

The dark protects us from what we dare not know.

Its second gift is comforting illusion: the ease of gentle dreams in night's embrace, the beauty that imagination brings to what would repel in the day's harsh light.  But the greatest of its comforts is the illusion that dark is temporary: that every night brings a new day.  Because it's the day that's temporary.  

Day is the illusion.

Its third gift is the light itself: as days are defined by the nights that divide them, as stars are defined by the infinite black through which they wheel, the dark embraces the light, and brings it forth from the center of its own self.

With each victory of the light, it is the dark that wins.

***

The dark is generous, and it is patient.

It is the dark that seeds cruelty into justice, that drips contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt.

The dark can be patient, because the slightest drop of rain will cause those seeds to sprout.

The rain will come, and the seeds will sprout, for the dark is the soil in which they grow, and it is the clouds above them, and it waits behind the star that gives them light.

The dark's patience is infinite.

Eventually, even stars burn out.

***

The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins.

It always wins because it is everywhere.

It is in the wood that burns in your hearth, and in the kettle on the fire; it is under your chair and under your table and under the sheets on your bed.  Walk in the midday sun, and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet.

The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.

***

The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins - but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back.

Love is more than a candle.

Love can ignite the stars.


Today, I watched a young woman feel the weight of the world on her shoulders, having witnessed firsthand how much darkness many people carry within them.  Those who dwell in that much darkness would sooner extinguish a flame because the sight of a light burns their eyes.  For them, it is more comfortable to remain in the dark than to walk in the light.

It is easier to embrace the darkness.  Sooner or later, you will always be right.

It takes courage to walk in the light: the courage to be wrong, to misstep, to risk and lose.

It is never the easier path, but no matter how temporary the successes may be, no matter how much the odds are against you, and no matter how many stand with you, it is worth the effort to hold up a candle to the night.

Even in the darkest of nights, find the courage and the strength to be the candle that lights the world.