“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” - Sun Tzu
The best warriors are always patient. Having the ability to be patient is often the difference between winning and losing. Patience is defined as “being able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.” When the Japanese talk about patience they either use nin (忍) or gaman (我慢) which both mean to have “patience, endurance perseverance or self-restraint.” In combat, being patient is about self-restraint which means knowing when to strike and when to retreat. Sun Tzu once wrote, “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.” If we are patient and attack when the moment is right, then there is a high likelihood that we will be victorious. If we are impatient or impetuous, then we run the risk of attacking when the time is not opportune and we will most likely fail. In the dojo, being patient is about learning to persevere through the ups and the downs of training where we have to be patient with how fast (or seemingly slow) we develop. Just yesterday, someone much wiser than me reminded me that, “training is a marathon and not a sprint.” Most of us want to develop as fast as possible, but true skill is only born out of consistency and constancy and that requires the patience to persevere. With patience, we circuitously learn to have tact and deftness. Furuya Sensei once wrote, “In Japanese, there is a word, ‘sunao na’ which means to be ‘gentle.' Be gentle in our outlook and try to see what the teacher is trying to teach us. Sometimes, understanding does not come immediately and may take days, weeks and even many years before it comes to us. This is what it means to be ‘gentle’ and have a little patience.” This gentleness is one of the greatest gifts that comes out of training because it teaches us to have the humility of the student which dictates that we are all on the journey of self-discovery and so we should always be kind, gentle and patient. Ian MacLaren said, “Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.” In Aikido and in life, being patient is the difference between winning and losing and that is why the best warriors are always patient.
Today’s goal: How can you be patient with others or yourself today?
Watch this video to better understand patience