Paths of Transformation

As a martial arts instructor, I have a unique perspective of my students’ lives. When I meet them, I am offered a snapshot of who they are. I don’t have a sense of what preceded them entering the Dojang, and I don’t know where we will end up. As I get to know students and their families over time, the depth of my knowledge of their pasts, and my understanding of the potential in their futures grows. I always find the unfolding of who my students are to be an interesting process and one that is often filled with surprises. Some surprises are small, some are stunning. I had one of the later while talking to a parent a couple of weeks ago. continue reading…

Many people are drawn to martial arts because of fear of physical confrontation and a desire to be able to defend themselves effectively if things get dangerous. Students at Traditional Martial Arts Academy learn self defense, as with many martial arts schools. But we also explore fear in general so that we can limit how it holds us back. Fear isn’t just a problem when someone attacks us. It is the single greatest limitation in our ability to fully live life to our potential. continue reading…

With the return of children to school and of cooler weather, we are moving into flu season.  In fact, we are already seeing a wave of flus, including the much feared H1N1 “swine flu,” as well as other viral infections move through our students and their families.  Attendance is down, and I’m hearing from families how schools are being hit hard with students and faculty missing many more days than usual to being sick.

There is a ton of information available regarding flu.  With the fear associated with H1N1, and the penchant for news outlets to capitalize on fear to improve ratings, there is a lot of histrionics that are accompanying information that is actually helpful, making the whole situation very confusing. continue reading…

For the past posts, we’ve been looking at fear and love, and how these emotions effect our lives. We’ve also looked at some strategies for dealing with fear more effectively and how we go about bringing more compassion and love into our lives. For this posting, I want to continue exploring the cultivation of love. continue reading…

Psychologist Abraham Maslow established through his work a description of how we process the immediateness of our needs and establish our priorities around motivations and behaviors. continue reading…

In my last posting, we looked at the importance of moving to a love-based approach to life and away from a fear-based approach. The conclusion was that we should embrace fear and cultivate love. But how? continue reading…

Fear is something we live with everyday. It can be the small doubt about yourself that arises in a conversation. It can be the dread that sinks into you as you face your boss. It can be the nervous anxiety that rattles you when someone is walking towards you on a dark street. continue reading…