Learning the Way

So many aspects of my Kyokushin training is spilling out into my daily life that there is a blur of the barriers between Karate, and non-Karate.

I find myself looking at my home/ work challenges, and problems with the same calm strategic thoughts as if I was facing a sparring session. I think things such as "Where is the weakness? Where is the strength? What can I use to my advantage? What should I just absorb, and work past? How do I take a position of command in this situation?" I find that I'm not getting as upset as I used to. Instead of feeling out of control, and threatened, I feel like I have a choice to seek for solutions rather than focus on complaints.

Suddenly, I've realized that I bring the dojo with me, and that I can train all day, both physically, and mentally. I've used my breaks at work to put in an extra 50 sit ups, or push ups in the ladies washroom, or at the base of our office's stairway. I found that no one goes down to the lower level of the stairway, and that it is only viewed by the security staff by camera.. so I sometimes walk down that extra flight of stairs, and train in that little secluded dusty corner of my workplace. I'm thinking of bringing a rag to clean the area up so that I can use it better.

During those quiet times at work when there is no activity, I pull out a notebook, and study my Kyokushin history, Japanese terms, rank requirements, kata bunkai, and other such things. I give myself quick home made quizzes on the various things that I need to know for my rank level. I work towards finding questions inside me to reveal gaps in my knowledge. "Why do I need to have this specific stance when I execute a certain technique, what advantage would it give to me? What if I tried to do the same technique in side stance? How would I make that work?"

My daughter came up to me last week, and asked if she could avoid class as she didn't feel like training. I stopped for a second, and didn't respond instantly with my usual response. ( "Of COURSE you have to go train!")

I looked at her and asked "Were you seriously telling me the truth when you said that you want to go to tournament next spring? or that you want to improve in your skills and achieve a new rank?"

She nodded, and answered "Yes.. Yes.. I really want those things.."

Then I smiled and said "How will you succeed in getting to that goal if you do not put in the effort, and training required to get there? Answer me, when will you train if you find so many reasons to avoid training?"

My daughter didn't respond, she just smiled, and went and got her gear, and got ready to go to class.

We didn't have a fight. We didn't argue. We didn't need to confront each other. It was unbelievably "different". I just reminded her of her goals, and she agreed. It was AWESOME!