Count the number of kind acts you do in a day and then at 3 stop counting.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Five Things I Would Like To See In My Lifetime
In no particular order, but, still... in my lifetime.
End of the death penalty.
End of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Universal single payer healthcare.
Equal marriage rights for all couples.
Legalization of marijuana for medical and personal use.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Arrogance and Ignorance
Lately, I've been thinking about arrogance and ignorance. Here's what I've come up with so far: It's arrogance that keeps me from seeing the genius in others. And it's ignorance that keeps me from seeing the genius in me.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
An Open Heart
An open heart is a generous and loving heart. And a vulnerable heart. When confronted by life’s vicissitudes, we naturally build barriers and adopt behaviors to protect our gentle hearts. Yet, these same protective barriers and behaviors impede our natural flow of generosity and love.
Without practices and gatherings which allow us to reopen and reconnect to our loving selves and others, the path away from love grows wider every day and harder to reverse.
Reopening your heart is an act of courage. Learning practices which replace resistance with resilience and competitiveness with compassion begins the process of turning our hearts back to our original state. From clutching to caring, from bitterness to benevolence, and from a living death to a living life.
What practices do you do to reopen your heart? What gatherings do you attend which put you in the company of like-minded people seeking the same goals?
Without practices and gatherings which allow us to reopen and reconnect to our loving selves and others, the path away from love grows wider every day and harder to reverse.
Reopening your heart is an act of courage. Learning practices which replace resistance with resilience and competitiveness with compassion begins the process of turning our hearts back to our original state. From clutching to caring, from bitterness to benevolence, and from a living death to a living life.
What practices do you do to reopen your heart? What gatherings do you attend which put you in the company of like-minded people seeking the same goals?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The Quest for Non-Harming Techniques
It's clear from research that O'Sensei took the old martial arts techniques he had learned and modified them according to his spiritual practice. This evolution of techniques is part of our legacy from him. And one of aikido's cornerstones.
He left us a "work in progress." And it's our responsibility to continue searching for new effective self-defense techniques, and modifying old ones to become even less harming.
The analogy I often use is knee surgury. (Something too many are familiar with.) In the "old days" surgeons cut open your knee, spread it apart, repaired whatever was necessary and closed it up. Very invasive and it took a long time to heal.
The current "modern day" knee surgury is often arthroscopic. A couple of small holes, minor invasion, and shorter healing time.
Doctors are continuing to look for new and inovative ways to solve old problems. Less invasive, less traumatic. That type of quest is also necessary in aikido.
I call it the "Quest for Non-Harming Techniques."
Why throw someone in a way that might cause them injury when another, less risky, way will do the job? Why not deal with the situation in the most effective and yet least traumatic way possible?
So next time you're on the mat, why not look for a new way? Reducing the amount of violence in our lives is well worth the effort.
He left us a "work in progress." And it's our responsibility to continue searching for new effective self-defense techniques, and modifying old ones to become even less harming.
The analogy I often use is knee surgury. (Something too many are familiar with.) In the "old days" surgeons cut open your knee, spread it apart, repaired whatever was necessary and closed it up. Very invasive and it took a long time to heal.
The current "modern day" knee surgury is often arthroscopic. A couple of small holes, minor invasion, and shorter healing time.
Doctors are continuing to look for new and inovative ways to solve old problems. Less invasive, less traumatic. That type of quest is also necessary in aikido.
I call it the "Quest for Non-Harming Techniques."
Why throw someone in a way that might cause them injury when another, less risky, way will do the job? Why not deal with the situation in the most effective and yet least traumatic way possible?
So next time you're on the mat, why not look for a new way? Reducing the amount of violence in our lives is well worth the effort.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
60
I turned 60 today. And what an amazing 60 years it has been. If you had asked me at 12, or even 18, what I wanted to be when I grew up, I certainly wouldn't have said an aikido instructor. In fact, I had no idea that aikido even existed until I was about 21 years old and an Army buddy told me about it.
Now, 33 years after I began aikido, here I am with my own dojo and thriving community. I've been a full-time aikido instructor for 21 years and have been in the same location for 19 years. No small feat given the rise and fall of strip mall martial arts schools I've seen during that time.
It's hard to put into words how my practice has changed over the three decades. The closest thing may be something like, "It has deepened." The gradual unfolding that has happened has made me appreciate that something as life-changing as aikido takes years to even begin to understand.
I want to take a moment here, on my 60th solar cycle day, to express gratitude to Morihei Ueshiba, O'Sensei for his grand vision and his commitment to his own spiritual path; and to my first teacher Stan Pranin Sensei for his enthusiasm and curiosity about aikido and O'Sensei's life; and to my current teacher, Frank Doran Sensei for his continued support in allowing me to find my own personal path within the larger path of aikido; and to my wife, Linda for waking me up to the fact that without loving support from a life-partner, an important part of one's deepest self may never get expressed in the world; and to all my teachers over the years, both in aikido and in other practices, who have shown me both how to be and how not to be; and to all my students who have also been my teachers; and to my former wives, all my friends, my family...
To all of you, I love you.
Thank you.
It's been an amazing 60 years.
Now, 33 years after I began aikido, here I am with my own dojo and thriving community. I've been a full-time aikido instructor for 21 years and have been in the same location for 19 years. No small feat given the rise and fall of strip mall martial arts schools I've seen during that time.
It's hard to put into words how my practice has changed over the three decades. The closest thing may be something like, "It has deepened." The gradual unfolding that has happened has made me appreciate that something as life-changing as aikido takes years to even begin to understand.
I want to take a moment here, on my 60th solar cycle day, to express gratitude to Morihei Ueshiba, O'Sensei for his grand vision and his commitment to his own spiritual path; and to my first teacher Stan Pranin Sensei for his enthusiasm and curiosity about aikido and O'Sensei's life; and to my current teacher, Frank Doran Sensei for his continued support in allowing me to find my own personal path within the larger path of aikido; and to my wife, Linda for waking me up to the fact that without loving support from a life-partner, an important part of one's deepest self may never get expressed in the world; and to all my teachers over the years, both in aikido and in other practices, who have shown me both how to be and how not to be; and to all my students who have also been my teachers; and to my former wives, all my friends, my family...
To all of you, I love you.
Thank you.
It's been an amazing 60 years.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Allow No Harm. Do No Harm.
My wife, Linda, came up with one of the best short descriptions of Aikido I've ever heard.
"Allow no harm. Do no harm."
Brilliant.
Take care of your yourself: Allow no harm.
And don't harm the other person: Do no harm.
O'Sensei said (or so it was said he said), "Aikido is the loving protection of all living things." All living things. Not just those things we already love. But the other things as well. The not so loveable things in our lives.
Jesus said (or so it was said he said), "Love your enemies." Loving your friends, and/or even close aquaintences is not so difficult. But your enemies? Now that's a practice.
I've created friends and I've created enemies. And I've turned friends into enemies. The hardest practice for me is the turning enemies into friends. That's worth trying. Again and again.
And while I'm practicing all that. I'll do my best to allow no harm and to do no harm.
"Allow no harm. Do no harm."
Brilliant.
Take care of your yourself: Allow no harm.
And don't harm the other person: Do no harm.
O'Sensei said (or so it was said he said), "Aikido is the loving protection of all living things." All living things. Not just those things we already love. But the other things as well. The not so loveable things in our lives.
Jesus said (or so it was said he said), "Love your enemies." Loving your friends, and/or even close aquaintences is not so difficult. But your enemies? Now that's a practice.
I've created friends and I've created enemies. And I've turned friends into enemies. The hardest practice for me is the turning enemies into friends. That's worth trying. Again and again.
And while I'm practicing all that. I'll do my best to allow no harm and to do no harm.
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