The strongest warriors have the ability to let it go. In Japanese, to “let go” is yubi wo hanasu (指を離す) which literally translates as opening the fingers. Years ago, I asked Furuya Sensei if his parents ever spoke about their time in the Japanese American internment camps during World War II. He said plainly, “No.” When I pressed him about why, he said almost matter of factly that it was “shoganai.” Shoganai (仕様がない) means “it can’t be helped” but that is too literal. Shoganai is an attitude of resiliency that one gets from accepting an unfortunate situation and moving on from it. I wanted to know more so I asked Sensei if his very samurai like grandfather ever said anything about the internment camps and Sensei said, “The only thing he ever said about the internment camps was ‘war is war.’” Sensei’s answers always puzzled me because I couldn’t understand how they could seemingly just get over it. The more I trained in Aikido, the more I understood the attitude of shoganai. A weaker person holds on to that which they cannot change which is generally unfortunate things from their past. A stronger person has the ability to let go of that which doesn’t serve them. Miyamoto Musashi said, “Do nothing which is of no use.” Thus, anger, fear, and hatred don’t serve us and so holding on to them is of no use. The more we train, the more we come to understand humanity and that every person is suffering on some level. None of us are perfect and when we make a mistake, we hope that people give us kindness rather than destroy us. The strongest warriors understand humanity and so they have not only the strength but the ability to let it go.
True Humanity
Like me, every person is good and only doing the best that they can.
Like me, every person is suffering and going through their own stuff (sh*t).
Like me, every person is unaware and so they may not even know that they are doing it.
Thus, every person deserves kindness, compassion and forgiveness just like me.
Be safe and have a Happy New Year!
Today’s goal: You deserve kindness, compassion and forgiveness. Give it to get it.
Watch this video to better understand kindness.