“All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves,
regardless of what others may think of them.” - Miyamoto Musashi
The best Aikidoists believe in themselves. One of the hardest things to do in this life is to shinjiru (信じる) or “believe” in ourselves. The character for “belief” or shin (信) is made up of the characters for nin (人) or “person” and gen (言) or “say.” Thus, one could posit that belief is what we say to ourselves. A disease that pretty much every person suffers from is “not good enough” disease. A person who suffers from “not good enough” disease “experiences feelings of inferiority, inadequacy, worthlessness, or just not feeling like they are ‘enough.’” The Buddha said, “Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.” In the deepest darkest recesses of our minds, we are quietly talking to ourselves. In Japanese this is called kokoroniomou (心に思う) or “to secretly believe.” These thoughts or dialogues shape what we think and thus develop us into who we are - it creates our reality. The problem with many of these thoughts or things that we are saying to ourselves is that sometimes those thinkings are only slightly true. Most of the time, we need to see with our own eyes that we aren’t as bad as we think. One of things that Aikido training excels at is that it helps us get out of our heads. In our mental reality, we are influenced by our thoughts which may or may not be true and thus we begin to see things askew. On the mat, the physical reality is rooted in what we can actually do or not do and we get to “see” exactly who we are and how we are doing. How we think is largely habitual and that is why the Buddha said “mind-wrought” which conjures up this idea of the mind being beaten and forged like a sword. Understanding this, our mental states are shaped by not only what we say to ourselves but also what we think. In Aikido, we cannot be successful if we do not believe in ourselves. Thus, most of us need to “see” it for ourselves and thus the training of Aikido helps us to understand our true reality. Knowing what we can do versus what we can’t do gives us a sense of confidence and thus we begin to believe in ourselves because we know what we are capable of. On a certain level, this is where the outside begins to influence the inside because the way to combat the things, stories, or thoughts in our heads which may or may not be true is with the physical reality on the mat. Each of us is immensely powerful but that power can be used against us if we don’t know who we are. Aikido training, if nothing else, is the study of the self. The more we see our true reality, the more our minds start to change and thus we begin to believe in ourselves. Believing in ourselves benefits every aspect of our lives and this is where we start to see the benefits of Aikido training. We are only as powerful as what we think and that is why the best Aikidoist believe in themselves.
Today’s goal: Believe in yourself. You are only as good or bad as you think.
Watch Queen's Sir Brian May discuss the reality of the Imposter Syndrome