I’ve actually never told anybody this story because I’m not so proud of it. But I believe there’s a lesson in here for those of us who do Jiu-Jitsu and strive for a better practice. Growing up I was very, very poor. There were times when there wasn’t a lot of food – that kind of poor. And … [Read more…]
In the 1980s, when I was doing karate, our running joke was that Americans would do karate and then all of a sudden, they’d have a Japanese accent. We laughed at them – they’d been practicing for five months and suddenly they acted like they were Japanese. Then in the 1990s, I noticed the same phenomenon … [Read more…]
Growing up, one of my mother’s mantras was “think before you speak”. She would drill it repeatedly into my head. And if she had to say, it was usually too late for me. For those of you that didn’t grow up in the south in the ‘70s, the switch was the primary mode of discipline. It … [Read more…]
In last week’s post, we were discussing what it means to live a memorable life. We wanted to take a longer view of this topic of “resolutions”, since around this time of year we start adjusting our plans for the future, considering what we want to improve and change. Such a project, living a memorable life, leads us … [Read more…]
In the classroom we discussed a Bruce Lee quote that I paraphrased like this: if you want to have a memorable life, if you want people to remember you, you have to live a life worth remembering. That notion leads us into the new year, where traditionally people set goals and re-evaluate their habits. Over the upcoming … [Read more…]
Wednesday mornings is the day that I do kung fu with Sifu Vizzio. Yesterday we were working on a six-punch combination and a four-kick combination. And he was asking me every time I threw the cross to duck under his cross and come back with a hook. But every time he threw the cross, I … [Read more…]
In ’94, when I was competing for a spot on the Pan-American Olympic karate team, I was going against the heavyweight national champion from the rival organization. During a heated match, he fell and broke his neck and is to this day paralyzed for life. That event totally spun me around. It was what Stephen Covey calls a “paradigm shift” – a moment when … [Read more…]
There’s an old Zen saying that the way to enlightenment is to chop wood and carry water. In other words, there’s no secret or magic to it – it’s just hard work in the service of others. Do you know what you do once you become enlightened? You chop wood and you carry water. That’s … [Read more…]
I had dinner on Saturday night with someone who trains Jiu-Jitsu very seriously at another school in this area. Or rather, he said he had been training. I asked, “Why aren’t you training now?” And he said “I can’t – I tore my A.C.L.” In class, I asked? “No,” he said, “not in class.” He continued.”I was … [Read more…]
Studies have shown that two of the major fears modern people share are the fear of public speaking and the fear of falling. There are a few others on the list, like fear of heights and fear of death, but there’s something that’s really hardwired into us when it comes to either getting up in … [Read more…]