It is Not Over Yet

From the Aikido Center of Los Angeles’ Aiki Dojo Message - It is Not Over Yet

If you are reading this, it is not over yet.

A while back, a TV show called me about doing an interview about the samurai. The producer asked me, “Why do the samurai love death?” I said, “They don’t.” I explained that through their training, they realize the buddhist concept of mujou (無常) or “impermanence” and the eventuality of their own deaths. They learned that life was transitory and that nothing is guaranteed other than death and this one single moment. Understanding this, they learned how to live knowing that they were going to die and tried to live a lifetime between each moment. Subsequently, I didn’t get the job.

Within one calendar year there are 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, or 31,536,000 seconds. Time and dates are man-made constructs and so we really don’t miraculously change as the year changes. Measuring the passing of time just allows us to create a sense of order within ourselves or in our lives. But one thing that measuring time can do for us is help us to stop wasting time.

One interpretation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is this idea that no matter how late it seems, there is still the possibility of change. Scrooge is visited by all these ghosts who show him the folly of his ways. The most poignant moment comes as they show him his death and only then does Scrooge realize that he has been living his life all wrong. He awakens with the joy that there is still enough time to redeem himself.

In Aikido, the training is supposed to be a mirror which reflects back to us those things which we need to address. Every experience that we have in Aikido is trying to teach us something about ourselves. Those students who think that other people or other things are to blame are like Scrooge. The experiences on the mat are like the ghosts. Thus, on a certain level, the only thing left is the realization. Like the samurai and Scrooge, we must somehow become sober enough to have the realization that our life is our own and that in this one single moment we get to choose. As Anaïs Nin said, "We see the world not as it is, but as we are.” Thus, everything that happens to us is a mirror reflection of our inner state that only we have control over.

The bulk of Aikido movement is irimi or “moving in.” Existentially, we can see irimi in terms of Life and moving into our goals or fears. Not in a confrontational way but in a way that helps us to learn things about ourselves that would ordinarily remain hidden in our day to day lives. Later as we master irimi, we add in other movements like tenshin or “moving back” or tenkan or “turning” and apply those concepts to how we live Life.

There are nine days left of the year. Thus, there is still time left to make our goals happen or at least put in a sizable dent into them. “To admit defeat,” the Japanese say ne wo ageru (音を上げる). Ne means “noise” and ageru means “to stop.” One can posit that to admit defeat is to stop making noise. Nothing happens overnight but nothing will happen if we just sit there quietly and do nothing. As the samurai learned, they alone have the power to live life to its fullest and that begins with choosing to change how we think and what we do. If you are reading this, there’s still time to right the course of your ship and choose to live the life you have been waiting for.

Today’s goal: There is still time left, keep banging away because there might not be a tomorrow.

Watch this video to better understand how to use your time wisely