Who are you when you think nobody is watching

A martial artist must have hin.  The dictionary definition of hin or hinkaku is to have grace or dignity, but it is a hard word to translate into English because it has no direct translation.  Hin can be thought of as an air a person has about them or more generally how they carry themselves. The famous Kendo master Mochida Moriji used to say, "Since we are not at war anymore, a kendoka should not be aggressive but should be a person of hin."

There is a story (that may or may not be true) that supposedly describes Mochida Moriji Sensei and what it means to have hin.  One day a famous Kabuki actor named Ichikawa Danjuro was riding in a taxi when he saw a man walking down the street.  The man walked with so much presence and grace that it caused Ichikawa to say in awe out loud, "Who is that man?"  The taxi driver supposedly said, "That is the Kendo master Mochida."

I don't know if this is a true story or not but I do have another story told to by Furuya Sensei about one of his Iaido teachers named Ebihara Sensei.  Ebihara Sensei was one of those old school sword teachers who carried himself like he was eight feet tall despite being someone of slight stature.  He had so much presence that he embodied his art.  If he just walked into the room, you got scared and stood up straighter.  One day Sensei went to the movies with his friends.  They were being rowdy as young people usually do when they are away from their parents.  As they were playing around Sensei noticed this man sitting in the front row with impeccable posture and right then he realized that it was Ebihara Sensei.  Sensei immediately stop messing around and told his friends to stop.  Ebihara Sensei never turned around or made any notice of their presence, but his mere presence made Sensei and his friends behave.  That is true hin.

Most of us pretend to be certain way only when we think others are watching or will notice.  A martial artist never gets to have an off day and must be en garde.  To be en garde means to assume that we are being watched and judged by our behavior.  That is why Sensei used to say, "Always act as if your teacher is watching."  Please take care and carry yourself with hin or with the utmost consideration.

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It is easy to judge.

 

Complete this sentence.  That person is ...

a Jerk. a Loser. Bad. a Dork. a Geek. a Weirdo. Ugly. Fat. a Wimp. a Human being.

Every word on that list besides the last one is a label that comes as a result of a judgement.  To truly see someone we must look past the labels that we or society has placed upon them.

People are first and foremost human beings and we must do our best to see them as that.  This will enable us to see them first and hopefully not judge them second.  I know, easy to say and hard to do.  I am just as guilty as the next person, but I am a human who is just trying their best.  How about you?

Every person is a human being who is doing their best to find kindness, compassion and forgiveness just like you and me.  I hope that I can see you.  Can you see me?

Dojo party tonight

Food, drinks and fun.  Please come join us tonight for our Seminar Social.  Everyone is invited to attend. 6:00 PM 1211 N. Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90012

"Success is no accident." - Pele

 

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” - Pele

This weekend is our annual O Sensei Memorial Seminar.  Our dojo has observed O Sensei's passing every year since it opened in 1974.  Furuya Sensei started doing a memorial seminar commemorating O Sensei's passing in 2005.

One of the main reasons why Sensei started doing a memorial seminar was that he felt that people were starting to forget O Sensei's passing.  So, he felt that the best way to memorialize O Sensei was with training.

Each year as I plan this seminar, I labor over schedule.  Besides trying to find the best mix of times and number of classes, I try and think about the students and what they need.  Of course, every seminar should be filled with good techniques, good teaching and hard work, but I also think about the student's experience.

This year, I thought that I would do it "old school" style and do it like our monthly Intensive class and not invite any outside guests.  This way, we could we could teach the classes our way and not have to be stressed out with guests or feel the need to ourselves.  In short, I just wanted the students to train hard unencumbered.  So I decided to do it like our monthly Intensive and start early.  O Sensei was a huge advocate of early morning training and said that the Earth's energy is the most abundant in the early morning.

Pele said, "Success is no accident" and he is correct.  To get something different we must do something that we don't ordinarily do.  The seminar is an opportunity to for each person to experience their success.  I say "their" because each person's journey is different and each person has their own stuff to deal with.  Teachers and students alike, each of us has an obstacle to overcome.

Some people need to be more patient and go slower.  Some need to show heart and stay to the end.  Some need to forgive and just show up.  Each of us has a journey and I hope that this seminar will give each of us the opportunity to grow.

Friday, April 15th: 6:30-7:30 PM: David Ito 8:00 PM: No host dinner at Nickel Diner

Saturday, April 16th: 6:30-8:00 AM: David Ito (please be there by 6:00 am for clean up) 8:00-9:00 AM: Breakfast 9:30-10:30 AM: Ken Watanabe 10:45-11:45 AM: Memorial Service 12:00-1:00 PM: James Doi

6:00 PM: Seminar Social at the dojo

Sunday, April 17th: 7:45-8:45 AM: David Ito 8:45-10:00 AM: Brunch 10:15-11:15 AM: Ken Watanabe 11:15-12:15 PM: James Doi 12:30-1:30 PM: David Ito

Live life by the C's

 

Wednesdays always seem like the toughest to get through.  Maybe that is why they call it Hump Day.  This picture illustrates a good outline to help  you get out there and go for what you want in life.  To be successful requires some "C's."  Choice-Chance-Change.  I would add three more C's: Courage, Consistency and Constancy.

Is there something out there that you want?   Then, have the Courage to take a Chance, Choose to be Consistent and be Constant in order to create Change.

Have a great day!

What is Aikido?

https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability?language=en#t-1198063 Do you want to understand Aikido?  Then watch this video, but please watch it until the end.  What researcher Brene Brown is speaking about in this TED talk is the underlying philosophy of Aikido.  It is difficult to explain what Aikido is.  Aikido, more than just being a martial art, is an understanding of not only the world but of humanity too.  What I can tell you about the philosophy of Aikido is this:

Every person is good and only doing the best that they can. Every person is suffering and going through their own battles. Every person is human and humans make mistakes. Every person is ignorant to the true cause of their actions and thus not entirely at fault.

Therefore, every person deserves kindness, compassion and forgiveness just like we do.

Aikido is built on this platform of love and compassion but that too is a bit abstract when laid over this martial art called Aikido.  It is hard to explain Aikido, but this video describes the whys or underlying motives and the hows or impetus for the structure of the Aikido techniques.  I hope you can understand.

The martial artist's credo

 

Who we really are is reflected when we are at our top and hitting our bottom.  "Two things define you.  Your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything.  This aphorism by Imam Ali Ibn Abi Tabib is so true  that it could possibly be the martial artist's credo.

Every great martial art and every great religion teaches us that we must be humble and to show humility regardless if things are going bad or good.  This equanimous mindset is what budo strives for.

Probably the hardest things to do is be patient and kind when things are not going well and kind and humble when they are.

Heijoshin Kore Do

What is the ultimate goal of training in Aikido?  Calmness.  The ability to be calm is born out of Aikido's harmonizing nature.   Without harmony we cannot be calm.  Without calmness we cannot act appropriately.  When we are confronted, our training teaches us to be calm, centered and collected so that we may act mindfully in an appropriate manner.  If we are not in harmony then we run the risk of reacting or acting mindlessly.  How does this sense of calmness arise?  This scroll reads, "Heijoshin Kore Do" or the original mind is the way gives us a clue.  Many interpret this to mean that the original mind means calmness.  This is true but it doesn't leave us with much to go by when it comes to attaining this sense of calm.  I believe that the original mind that we are striving for is the mind that we had at the moment when we were born that was free from the bindings that society conditioned into us as we grew up.  When we are born there was no anger, jealousy, fear or hatred.  The only thing that existed was the love from our parents or caregivers.  From there we grew to know fear and that fear manifests in things like anger, hatred, jealousy and scarcity.  With that realization, we try to get back to the heijoshin or "original" mind and shed those negative traits.

We return back to the heijoshin only by training.  Training is the vehicle by which we develop ourselves so that we may meet any of life's obstacles with sense of harmony that is calm and centered.  That is why Furuya Sensei used to say, "The Way is in training."

Time to make the donuts!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwfrBbNo5Jg Time to make the donuts!

Martial artist are people who stave off pleasure for purpose.

Do you remember these commercials for Dunkin Donuts with Fred the Baker?  The commercial is a series of shots of him waking up before the crack of dawn muttering, "Time to make the donuts."  I think what the advertisers were trying to get across was that their donuts are delicious because they are baked fresh every day by a human being.  What a great commercial.

One way to look at this commercial is from the point of view of what it means to be an adult.  To me, being an adult means sometimes staving off pleasure for purpose.  The reality of being an adult means that sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do because they need to get done.  A martial artist is no different.  In order to get good, we must do things that we sometimes don't want to do, are too tired to do or are bored with.  Getting up before the crack of done when all of his competitors are asleep is what a serious baker aka a true martial artist must do to be successful.  Therefore, Fred the Baker is just modeling the behavior of what it means to be not only an adult but a good martial artist too.  As martial artists we have to do things that need to get done when they need to be done and there are never any short cuts in training or life.

Do you want to be good?  Then I guess it's, "Time to make the donuts."

What you seek...

 

What you seek... Cannot be found on your phone or online. It cannot come from others. It can only be found inside of you.

Martial artists are seekers.  We are looking for a place of self-mastery.

Our true inner beauty is hidden inside us and covered up with layer upon layer of conditioning and feelings.  It takes a tremendous amount of courage and training to get to a place where we can feel comfortable enough to let our true inner beauty shine.

To be able to "let it go" and open ourselves up takes countless hours of training.  We have to teach ourselves how to undo what has been done and to unlearn what has been taught.  The main goal of martial arts training is to liberate us from ourselves.

Every great martial art teaches us that true mastery only begins when we learn how not to fight.  This is the paradox of the martial arts - one learns how to destroy an opponent but then doesn't.  We don't because we realizes that the real opponent that we are fighting against is really ourselves.  At this place and with this clarity we can unleash our innate beauty and find that harmony or happiness that we thought was waiting for us at the end of our fists.  That moment when we realize ourselves or find that place where we "find ourselves" is when we can unleash our true inner beauty and greatness.  This moment is what O Sensei referred to as Masakatsu Agatsu or "the true victory."

I wish that I could tell you that martial arts training was designed to teach us how destroy others, but it really is just an ingenious way to help us defeat our real enemy - our self.

I saw a nice quote by the prolific Karate teacher, Gogen Yamaguchi that sums it all up, "I will be happy if you understand that the essence of the martial arts is not the strength, not the art, but that which is hidden deep within yourself."

So true indeed.

Do you have a daily practice?

A true warrior trains in order to deal with the question that lies between life and death - "How do I live knowing that I am going to eventually die?"  In Japanese to see life in the presence of death is called shichu usho. In Buddhism it is said that, "Life is suffering."  In many ways and on many different levels this is one of those truisms - life is full of unsavory situations.

Besides being a physical way of life, our martial arts training teaches us "how" to deal with life and meet all of its ups and downs with a sense of calmness, clarity and acceptance.

Existentially, when one is confronted with the reality that they will not live forever or that they may soon die, it can create a sense of despair and in Japanese this is called seichu musho or "seeing death in life."  To be able to live in the face of death or shichu usho requires that we be in the present moment with a sense of calmness, centeredness and acceptance.

To be calm and centered, one needs to have a sense of stability in their life regardless of what is happening around them.  One of the best ways to find that calmness is to have a daily practice.  Having a daily practice gives us stability and enables us to move from a place of chaos and meet our challenges with calm, clarity and acceptance.

A daily practice is something that one does out of personal discipline to push them out of complacency and back into the present.  It could be something as benign as waking up every day at 4:30 am to meditate and clean your room or something bigger like forcing yourself to do your homework every day.  One of Admiral William McRaven's daily practices was to make his bed everyday after he got up.

I recently read an article by Max Moore's How Soap Saved My Life where he illustrates how he found that having the daily practice of cleaning himself enabled him to meet the possibility of his death with a sense of clarity and acceptance.  With a daily practice Max Moore was able to turnaround a horrible situation into a life changing event.

A daily practice is nothing more than an almost spiritual discipline that one exercisers on themselves to stave off complacency and negativity.  What will you do as part of your training to improve yourself and and to meet your challenges calm, cool and collected?

Special thanks to Heraldo Farrington for initially sharing this article.  Mahalo!

Source: http://www.ozy.com/true-story/how-soap-saved-my-life/68580

Click here to support Max Moore

Time to get to work

 

目指すべき所に、近道は存在しない Mezasubeki tokoro ni chikamichi wa sonzai shinai "There are no short cuts to any place worth going"

What do you want to achieve in this life?  What are you willing to do or sacrifice in order to make that dream come true?

To get what we want requires that we put in the work and make some sacrifices.

Getting what we want then comes down to one thing - choice.  We must choose the course of action that will enable us to achieve our goal.  With that being said, there are only two questions we must ask ourselves: "What is my goal?" and "Does this bring me closer to that goal?".

Our answers will inform us of our course of action.

Change is about choice and martial artists are people of change.  We chose to start studying a martial art and we choose to keep going despite any discomfort that we might experience on the journey.

How badly then do you want change?  Change requires action.  Remember, everyone starts as a beginner.  There is no such thing as prodigies or phenoms - everyone has to put in the work.

Exercise vigilance

 

Be aware of your surroundings Be mindful of your thoughts and actions Because you never know who is watching

There is a saying in warfare, "A talented hawk hides his talons."  This is because in battle, the element of surprise is the number one asset any warrior has over their opponent.  We were taught that we should always assume that our opponent is of equal or greater skill.  This mindset keeps us ever vigilant in our training and thus enable us to not fall prey to our opponents surprise attack.

I read a recent article on CNN.com about travel advisories that recommended that people "exercise vigilance" while traveling abroad.

Martial artists are supposed to vigilant people.  Our training teaches us to be ever aware of "what is going on" at all times.  We don't have to "exercise vigilance" because we are always vigilant.

But, what does it mean to be vigilant?  Furuya Sensei used to say, "Always act as if your teacher is watching."  With this assertion, we will be aware and to be aware means being diligent in our approach and to act accordingly at all times.  If we are present in the moment then we can be aware of ourselves and our surroundings.  If we "fall asleep" then we lose the ability to monitor our own thoughts and actions and will completely lose track of our surroundings.

One can only be surprised if one didn't see it coming.  To be vigilant means to be first self-aware then secondly aware of one's surroundings.  How could we possibly be caught off guard if we are always on guard?  Always "act as if your teacher is watching."

The simple things sometimes are the hardest things

Just do as much as you can.Not more than you can. Not less than you can. Just as much as you can. But, are you doing as much as you can?

If one wants to get better at Aikido, all they have to do is just do more Aikido.  I can't tell you how many times I get asked this question, "What else can I do to get better at Aikido?"  My answer is the same answer Furuya Sensei would give which is, "just train more."  It is a common malaise for people to think that a magic pill exists or that the answer to their questions about Aikido or life are complicated or mysterious.  The truth is never quite that sexy.  If one wants their head to stop hurting then they should stop banging it against the wall.

The answers, if there is such a thing, can usually be found in the most obvious or most simplest ways or Einstein put it, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."  Simplicity applies to not only training but to life as well.

Stop doing that thing that causes you pain. Stop doing that thing that causes others pain. Trust more and don't ask so many questions. Be kinder to yourself and to others. Let go of control and just go with the flow. And most of all just train and be patient.

Spring has arrived!

 

The bluebird and the cherry blossom are the universal symbols that Spring has arrived.  In Japan, the arrival of Spring brings with it the opportunity for renewal and hope of prosperity.

The two motifs are a favorite among the warrior class.  Both symbols have a certain sense of balance to them in regards to life.

Bluebirds symbolize happiness but their songs also represents perseverance in darker times.  I am sure a samurai in the heat of battle who had the awareness to hear the song of the Bluebird would think that it was a good omen and that their song might give him the strength to carry on.  It is said that the Bluebird carries the sky on its back and with it eternal happiness.

If Japan had a national flower, it could easily be the sakura or cherry blossom.  The Cherry blossoms usually only blooms for one to two weeks from the first blossom called kaika (開花) and full bloom called mankai (満開).  After mankai is reached the blossoms begin to fall off the branches.  There are five petals of the sakura flower and thus it said to represent human beings.  Therefore the falling of the cherry blossoms off the branch are reminiscent of a head being chopped off or life being lost.  The cherry blossom falls off the branch at the peak of its beauty and just as men are cut down on the battlefield in their primes.  The cherry blossom reminds us that there is no tomorrow and that we must live our lives well.

Spring has arrived!  Rejoice, get out, find happiness for there is no tomorrow.  Oh and come to class if you can.

What do you see?

How discriminating is your eye?  The mark of good student is not in what they can do, but what they can see.  What one sees is a function of "how" they see things or their perspective.  To be a good student requires that one's perspective be open and willing to see things beyond what is being shown.  With the picture above, one can see just how discriminating their eye has become in both good and bad ways.

Take a good long look at the picture before answering the questions below.

• How many tourists are staying at this camp?
• When did they arrive: today or a few days ago?
• How did they get here?
• How far away is the closest town?
• Where does the wind blow: from the north or from the south?
• What time of day is it?
• Where did Alex go?
• Who was on duty yesterday? (Give their name)
• What day is it today?

For the answers, click here.

How far did you get?  How many did you get right?  There is no right or wrong answer to this exercise.  It merely points out how one's perspective colors how they see things.  How we see enables us to see or not see things.

A martial artist is supposed to be able to "see" things that are not readily apparent to someone who isn't trained.  The element of surprise is one of the most critical elements in any confrontation.  If one can read the situation properly then they won't be surprised.  If they read the situation wrong, they might find themselves in a compromising situation.

Source: http://shareably.net/challenging-old-puzzle?tse_id=INF_9de4241f4641457cbc4ab79ac986be6e

 

In the earliest part of Spring in Japan the snow sometimes lingers as the cherry blossoms or sakura begin to blossom.  It is kind of a strange but pleasant paradox when you have the leftover bitter cold and snow of Winter along side the fragrance of the blooming cherry blossoms of Spring.  This occurrence has been a constant theme over time for many artists and poets in Japan.

This same paradox exists among humans.  We are all beautiful despite the coldness and bitterness that we have faced and triumphed over.  The question is, "Can we let our beauty shine despite being covered by snow and surrounded by cold?"

This is the same question that martial artists face too.  When we are surrounded or up against seemingly insurmountable odds, "Can we still maintain our composure?"

Training teaches us to be this paradox of beauty in spite of the circumstance.  Our paradox is actually the opposite whereas we have the ability to do great harm, but instead exercise restraint and show the true beauty of man by acting with kindness, compassion and forgiveness.

In Spring, the seasons start over.  The cold demanding Winter is starting to fade and give way to the possibilities of Spring.  With a peek of light and a hint of warmth, Spring brings us renewal.  I hope that you have a wonderful Spring.

Mottainai

もの は 大切 に使わなければならない                                                                                                             (mono wa taisetsu ni tsukawanakerebanaranai)                                                                                  Everything must be used carefully and not wasted

From the outside looking in, the Japanese are voracious consumers of the latest gadgets and only seem to be into the highest fashion so they must in turn be wasteful people.  On the contrary the Japanese are most likely the most frugal nation in the world.  Per capita the average Japanese household saves 28% of their income compared to the US which is at about 14%.  Also the Japanese are serious if not borderline fanatical recyclers.  When I was in Japan a year or so ago, they gave out a card detailing how to recycle.  The card was so specific that I still got a reprimand by the garbage man because I mixed up the categories.

Japan's spendthrift ways could stem from the time after WWII when supplies were short or it could because they are an island nation with limited natural resources, but how is to know for sure.

I am not sure but what I do know is that culturally the Japanese have a certain jenesequa about not wasting things.  There is a certain phrase that every Japanese person says when they here about something being wasted - mottainai.  It's the kind of thing you say when you see food being thrown out or when someone is being wasteful with their time or money.  This phrase is for anything wasteful but it could also be extended one's efforts or towards people.

To the Japanese culturally everything has value and this may stem from the Shinto belief that everything has a soul.  This reverence for things can clearly be seen in the best selling book in Marie Kondo's book on tidying up or from the seminal work The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura.  Both books talk about how things have souls and that they should be treated respectfully.  I saw this first hand many times growing up.  I can't tell you how many times I saw my grandmother wrapping leftovers in an old restaurant to-go container that was then wrapped in an old grocery store shopping bag or how Furuya Sensei would insist on keeping old scraps of wrapping paper or old boxes "just in case" he might need them.

This idea of conservation is something that most of us only think about as the toothpaste nears the end or as the shampoo is about to run out.  Wouldn't it be nice to not be wasteful and take more than we need in the spirit of conservation when we open the toothpaste or before we order too much food?

It is ok to own things just  as long as we use those things to their fullest with the spirit of mottainai.  Conservation, reusing, re-purposing or recycling is the spirit of mottainai.

In Aikido our uke (partner) gives us their body in order for us to improve.  This is the highest form of compassion in which we sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of the other person.  Their efforts should not be wasted or abused.  Their efforts and sacrifices are some of our greatest possessions.  We shouldn't waste it so please mottainai.

"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." - Dalai Lama

https://vimeo.com/151715092 In the video Trail Angel, Pony-tail Paul demonstrates the entire philosophy of O Sensei's Aikido.

To do Aikido means to have regard for all living beings and nature as well.  The core philosophy of Aikido is this idea of "non-violence."  Simply put, "non-violence" means not to fight or to hurt others, but more deeply it is a philosophy of harmony.  The ai (合) in Aikido means for two things to join or come together.  Harmony can then be defined with this quote from the Dalai Lama, "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."

With that being said, Aikido then become this kind of dichotomy.  On one side we have the potentiality for death and destruction and on the other we have this idea of harmony, non-violence and compassion.  This same dichotomy exists within all human beings.

To reconcile this dichotomy takes training and discipline.  We need to learn that harming others only harms us and this is something that is usually only discovered through hours and hours of training.  We then need to develop the discipline and inner strength to manifest this "turn the other cheek" philosophy.

Training in Aikido is the physical manifestation of the balance of these contrasts.  When we are nage or throwing, we have the ability to do great harm, but because we are learned we realize the futility in harming others.  When we are taking ukemi or being thrown, we are sacrificing our bodies for our partners salvation or in a sense physically manifesting compassion.  The nage thinks of the uke and the uke thinks of the nage - both are in harmony.

When we throw someone it is our responsibility to ensure their well-being.  They give us their bodies and because of their sacrifice we must act responsibly.  By thinking of them and taking care of them, "We rise by lifting others."  As Pony-tail Paul said, "I am helping them, but they are helping me at the same time."

To understand their suffering is to understand our own.  Then, to help them is to help ourselves in the process.  From this, we can understand the Buddhist understanding of suffering and use it as a way to cultivate compassion.  The Dalai Lama said that we are all the "same" and from this same-ness we can find a common ground and thus find and give compassion.  They suffer just as we do.  Therefore, their destruction is our destruction.  From this place, the harmony within us is manifested and we come to realize this universal concept of oneness and that all things and people are sacred.

Look at the smiles from the people in this video.  Could you feel the kindness, generosity and compassion from not only Pony-tail Paul, but from the people he helped.  He doesn't have to, but does it anyways.  Of course, he helps them because it helps him but he does it because he understands and cares.   As learned people, Aikidoists understand that too that life is tenuous and that all life is precious.

With the right attitude, we can learn anything

 

Reading these nine precepts, I can only think that the one thing missing is "Keep the right attitude, always."  With the right attitude, we can learn anything.

Zig Ziglar said, "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude."  Furuya Sensei used to say,  "I'll take someone with a good attitude over someone athletically gifted every time." 

Physical skills can be learned by anyone.  After all, they teach sign language to monkeys so physical things like kicking, punching or joint locks are things that any physically capable person can learn to do.

A good attitude is something that cannot be taught.  It is something that can be learned, but not taught.  A good attitude is something that one has to want to learn.

Numbers one through nine are just techniques.  Having the right attitude enables us to get the most out of these techniques - it is the basis by which all else can be obtained.

How does one get the right attitude?  It is hard to say, but having the right attitude begins by being open and willing.  Openness implies that one is receptive and sincere with respect to the teacher and the art or to what is being taught.  Willingness implies that we are eager and ready to learn.  Now plug in the words open and willing to those nine statements and see just how powerful they become.

1) I am open and willing to value the process. 2) I have the openness and willingness to lose and see what it can teach me. 3) Being open and willing means that I will always have the beginners mind. 4) I have the openness and willingness to meet adversity. 5) I am open and willing to being present and engaged. 6) Staying open and willing allows me to shift from stress to recovery. 7) Being open and willing allows me to walk the middle road. 8) Having the attitude of being open and willing enables me forego fancy for fundamentals. 9) Being open and willing enables me to see the bigger picture.

Mastery is nothing more than become a better person with the right attitude.  Everything else is just monkeying around.