Do it Anyway

決死行
Kesshiko
To take action even though it may result in death.

The best martial artists do it anyway. Martial artists are supposed to have kesshi (決死) or “a do-or-die spirit.” To have a do-or-die spirit means that someone will give such an effort to achieve their goal that it might cost them their lives. This “do-or-die spirit” begins with this concept of doing it anyway or doing something despite our misgivings. To get to do-or-die, we need to change our perspective on how we perceive adversity. The Japanese have this expression called “3K” which means kitanai, kiken, kitsui (汚い, 危険, きつい) or “dirty, dangerous or difficult.” When I was younger, my mom used to say that “young people today don’t want to do anything that is dirty, dangerous or difficult” and she always included demeaning. Along with fear, these apprehensions happen to be the main things which keep us from achieving our goals. If we could get dirty or hurt or if it’s too hard or it could be too demeaning, then we probably won’t want to try it, let alone devote our lives to it. Therefore, to achieve our goals, we first need to learn how to overcome these adversities. It just so happens that these things are things which we face every day in our martial arts training. Every day in class, we must clean so we learn to get over kitanai or our fear of getting dirty. The techniques in the martial arts are lethal and in training, we get to confront kiken or our fear of getting hurt. In martial arts training, we have to get used to being corrected or called out for our behavior or attitude and so we learn to have thick skin and not take things personal or see them as being demeaning. Martial arts training isn’t for the weak at heart so in every class, we get to learn to desensitize ourselves to kitsui or our aversion to difficulty. Normal people don’t choose difficult. However, martial artists are not normal people and so they seek out difficulty because they know that where there is difficulty, there is also growth. When faced with difficulty, a martial artist doesn’t shy away but instead just resigns themselves to “do it anyway” no matter how uncomfortable, painful, or scary. The more we mindfully and consciously do it anyway, the more doing it anyway becomes a subconscious mindset or second nature. In the dojo, we can clearly see students cultivate this do it anyway mentality as they become more comfortable with rolling. When a beginner first learns to roll, there is a hesitancy to their movement. They sputter, second guess themselves and their roll looks kind of blocky. The more experienced a student becomes at rolling, the smoother their roll becomes and with this smoothness, there is less and less hesitancy. From here, the roll becomes a metaphor for life: the more we face something and work through it, the easier it becomes. Joseph Campbell said, “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” To achieve anything requires that we build a tolerance to adversity and act despite the odds, uncomfortableness, or whether we want to do it or not. That is why when faced with adversity, the best martial artists do it anyway.

Today’s goal: When in doubt, do it anyway.

Watch this video of Ito Sensei explaining how to watch Aikido.