A true warrior always has hope. People often think that a samurai loves death, but this is far from the truth. A true warrior trains to accept their circumstances and the inevitability that they are going to die. Having this mindset actually teaches them how to live in the moment because they realize that yesterday is gone and there is no guarantee of a tomorrow. No matter how dark things seem, we must have hope. Desmond Tutu said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” To truly live, we must have hope and therefore hope is a choice and so it is a mindset. In battle and in life, we are confronted with many obstacles and some might seem insurmountable. If we allow ourselves to give in to the despair, we will surely be beaten. It is interesting that the first Star Wars movie to be released, albeit being Episode IV, was titled A New Hope and that the last one was The Rise of Skywalker. One unintended reason could be that everyone’s journey is about change and to have change we must have hope. The title of the last movie parallels Rey stating that she is a Skywalker illustrates that no matter who we start out as or what our circumstances might be, we must choose to be who we are and that begins with hope. The force or Ki (氣) flows through us all, but that energy is neither good nor bad. It is our choice to use it for good or evil. Joseph Campbell wrote, “The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.” Aikido trains us to be in harmony with that power. Like the characters in Star Wars who have passed on, I know that our friend Steven Shaw is with all of us and is celebrating with a beer. So have hope on your journey, be at one with the universe and “May the force be with you.”
Today’s goal: Think about what hope means to you on your journey.