The best martial artists have positivity bias. In Japanese, Kokorogake (心掛け) is one way to say “way of thinking.” Kokoro means “heart” or “mind” and gake means “to hold.” Thus, the way we think is based upon the things that we hold in our hearts. Anais Nin said, “We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.” A normal person tends to think more negatively or be more negatively biased. Negativity bias means that “our natural tendency is to give weight to and remember negative experiences or interactions more than positive ones.” Martial artists are not normal people and so they tend to think of things in a more positive way. Don’t get me wrong, martial artists have their bad days too, but the difference is that they don’t allow themselves to wallow around in their misery and if they do, it is not for too long. To have a positive mental attitude is to have “a mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the bright side of life and one that expects positive results.” One metaphor for a positive mental attitude can be something called komorebi. Komorebi (木漏れ日), in Japanese, means the “sunlight coming in through the trees.” In the forest, when the trees darken the light of the day, we can focus on the dark or take some solace in the little rays of sunlight that are peeking through the branches. Seeing the sunlight peek through is natsukashii (懐かしい) or “nostalgic” but in this sense it means the “nice feelings” that focusing on the rays of light bring us. Martial artists strive to live their lives in the present moment by focusing more on the good rather than doomsdaying on the bad. In the Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo wrote, “There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue.” Therefore, a martial artist knows that focusing on the positive things might not change the outcome, but it makes the unbearable just a little bit more bearable. In training, it is the same way. Every day in class, we are supposed to be challenging ourselves to improve. To improve, we focus on changing the minutest details of each technique which we know will influence the whole. By focusing on the small things that we can change, we are unknowingly teaching ourselves how to focus on the good and not catastrophize on the negative things which we may not be able to change. For instance, sometimes when we can’t best our partner, the only thing we can do is keep attacking. By not giving up and with every repeated attack, we learn to have heart or to have unwavering perseverance in the face of adversity. With time and experience, this mindset then carries over into our daily lives and we learn to focus on the good or the things that we can change. Henry Ford famously said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.” Thus, we learn that what we choose to focus on is a choice. We can choose to see the dark or we can choose to see the sunlight. The best martial artists have positivity bias and so they always choose to see the little rays of sunlight breaking through the trees.
Today’s goal: Nothing is 100% bad. Choose to focus on the good even if it’s only 2% good.
Watch this video about fishing to better understand a positive attitude