A good martial artist never loses hope. Hope is “an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.” A few of the words for “hope” in Japanese have the character (光) for light in them. For instance, one way to say “hope” is koumyou (光明). Interestingly, koumyou also means “bright light.” Koumyou is also a Buddhist term for “the light which emanates from the Buddha” which symbolizes wisdom and compassion.” Conversely, when “we lose hope,” the Japanese say menomaegamakkuraninaru (目の前が真っ暗になる) which means “to be plunged into darkness.” Hope from this standpoint can be thought of as our inner light which guides us through the dark times. Hope may be an emotion, but it is also teachable. Thus, one of the many things that martial arts training teaches us is how to deal with discouragement. All martial arts are skill-based and as we build those skills, we are confronted with frustration and discouragement. If we tease the process out: we are shown something, we try it, we are horrible at it, we become frustrated and/or discouraged, we keep practicing, and with patience and practice, we eventually master it. In between each of those steps is hope. Someone once said, “When the world says ‘Give Up,’ Hope whispers, ‘Try it one more time.’” With hope, we realize that there is still a chance that we may prevail and that is what keeps us going. Long ago, I had a client who had a very sunny disposition and always had a smile on his face. Whenever he entered the room, he always greeted everyone, and the mood of the room always lifted. One day, he learned that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The next time I saw him, he had lost all of his light and within only one month, he died - he had lost all hope. Furuya Sensei said, “To be discouraged is a part of training.” It is not only a part of training, but a huge part of life as well. At every stage of one’s training, no matter if we are a student or teacher, every person becomes discouraged at some point. What separates a martial artist from a normal person is that we have learned to be hopeful because we have experienced frustrations and setbacks before and have surmounted them. Later on, on the actual battlefield or on the battlefield of life, when things get bad, the student can look back upon their past difficult situations and remember how hope carried them through. That hope then becomes the light that guides them out. That is why teachers shouldn’t be too discouraging or make the learning process too frustrating. In the old days of martial arts training, discouragement was one the teacher’s main teaching tools. It was thought that a student should have “thick skin” because having thick skin was thought to be the precursor to developing mental toughness. I would argue that the thing that we are really learning in the martial arts is how to never give up no matter how hard it gets. Therefore, the true key to mental toughness is our ability to never lose hope and never give up.
Today’s goal: “If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.” — Banksy
Watch this video from Ted Lasso to better understand hope.