Where is your focus? Is it on the process of achieving something or is it on the completion of achievement? Without the process, there will be no achievement. The process is what I call the journey. The journey can not be restricted by time! It is only restricted by time if that is where you place your focus. I have seen many students make this mistake. When they do not meet a deadline they have placed on themselves, they move on to something else. Nothing worthwhile comes easy in life or in the martial arts.I am not talking about patience. To be patient is to have a calm endurance. That is a state of mind. I am talking about action. I am talking about actively working on a goal without placing a time limit on the outcome. I watched a program of “The Dog Whisperer” and he was working with an adult who was trying to teach their dog to return an item to them by dropping it from their mouth. The adult wanted the dog to do it on command and NOW. That might be fine once you have taught the dog the behavior but not during the process. The dog could feel the aggravated energy and fought back with aggravated energy. The dog whisperer explained that you can not rush mother nature. You must stop putting a time limit on your dog’s progress. Once the dog felt the energy of in the moment, without the value of time, it released the item and submitted to the command. It was a really excellent example of the energy needed in life and the martial arts!
Please think about this and practice without a time limit on your progress. You will experience a more enriched journey!
Tang Soo!