Two distinct roles in your life. One is the role of citizen the other resident. These two positions result in how you hold yourself in your community.
Resident v. Citizen
A resident is a person living in a place, that’s pretty much what they do they live in that place. Done. A citizen has rights and privileges a resident doesn’t have. A resident is not responsible, other than the laws, and a citizen is.
Here is an example. Walking out of the store I watched a young woman pull a candy bar from a wrapper. She then and throws the wrapper to the parking lot ground. She was born to citizenship. I assume, because if you are born in the United States you are a citizen, a leap on my part but there is my assumption.
Work is Required for One Distinct Role in Your Life.
Citizenship requires stewardship. It carries with it responsibilities, not just rights. But the behaviors are not mandated they are assumed and they are observed. You see being a good person is being a good citizen. I know that sounds trite, but it’s not, it’s not a cast-off statement, but a worked for and earned position. These are two distinct roles in your life.
It’s the same in life. You can do the minimum, you can be a resident of your body, of your mind and let your life drift. Or you can actively take on the challenge of being a citizen responsible to yourself, your family, and your community.
So, decide if you want to be a resident living in a place. Or you want to be a citizen one who is entitled to rights and privileges based on your allegiance to the community and all of the responsibilities that go with that role. These are two distinct roles in your life.
Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.
The Best Karate in West Seattle. Each year at the West Seattle Karate Academy we meet with well over 100 people in the West Seattle / White Center area about their desire to start karate training.
Our website is clear about the value of karate training. And the benefits associated with martial arts, as well as our rates, and times.
Sometimes the question arises, “Who are some of the other martial arts clubs you might recommend?”
Not to shy away from the question here are some other schools and clubs in West Seattle. These schools / instructors have great qualities.
This is not a list assembled by googling. I know these people and have been on the floor with them.
I have known Sifu DeJesus for some twenty years. She is affable, pleasant, and has high expectations for her students. I have been on the floor teaching with her at seminars and have had her instruct at some of my seminars. Sifu DeJesus is quick to laugh and wields a mean bullwhip too. Her accolades and skills run deep.
Tae Kwon Do – Again Not Karate
Tae Kwon Do Forms
The West Seattle Tae Kwon Do Club is run by Master Darren Smith. Master Smith teaches at the Highpoint Community Center on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I know it violates the theme of Best Karate in West Seattle, but I think it has become clear it is about the people, not necessarily the art.
Take note: His classes are for adults only, 18+ and beginners are always welcome.
You will find Master Smith pleasant, thoughtful, and dedicated to his students. One of the attributes I like about Master Smith is he is always seeking, learning. You can reach him at westseattletkd@gmail.com
A member of the Pacific Northwest Karate Association Sensei Skip Matthews teaches at the Hiawatha Community Center. The address is 2700 California Ave SW. Seattle. Next to West Seattle High School.
Sensei Mathews and I met about a decade ago and he is a good guy. His classes on are Mondays and Wednesdays in a 2-hour block Beginners first-hour, Advanced the second hour.
Shotokan Karate is what he teaches. Shotokan could be considered the classic Japanese karate. Sensei Mathews is earnest, and pleasant. Ranks are earned with hard work and effort. You will get good training here under his guidance You can email him at: lsmathes2@comcast.net.
Also, the Hiawatha is the oldest community center west of the Mississippi, what a cool place to train.
Best Karate in West Seattle – Not in West Seattle and It’s Judo
Inside the Seattle Dojo
The Seattle Dojo. The oldest Judo dojo in the United States the Seattle Dojo is the place to train in classic Japanese Judo.
I trained there and recommend the instructors as smart, and focused on their students. Tournaments are an important part of advancing in rank but are not required. Not in West Seattle, but they warrant a shoutout. The building was purpose built as a Judo dojo. The floor is spring-loaded and the walls are bathed in tradition and experience.
The facility is basic, no-frills because they train. It is common for Judo-ka from Japan who are visiting on business or for school to train at the Seattle Dojo.
Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.
Discipline must blend into motivation. There are many ways to train the human mind. There are classic forms of meditation, contemplation, and education. No doubt some forms of disciplining the mind have been left off this small list. I am confident you can point to another overlooked form or version of the three presented.
They all are overseen by the great governor of mental training; the primary is discipline.
Discipline means, in this context, doing what needs doing on an ongoing basis. To hold oneself accountable. Self-accountability can also mean who one thinks. The mental game, the mental training, is the separator between the great and the greatest.
Shannon Miller World Champion Gymnast on Training
In an interview with The Dana Foundation, whose motto is; Your gateway to responsible information about the brain, they talked with Shannon Miller. Shannon Miller is a former United States Gymnast. Miller won eleven gold medals, six silver medals, and four bronze medals in world competition.
Shannon Miller
Miller Stated “The physical aspect of the sport can only take you so far. The mental aspect has to kick in, especially when you’re talking about the best of the best. In the Olympic games, everyone is talented. Everyone trains hard. Everyone does the work. What separates the gold medalists from the silver medalists is simply the mental game.”
Motivation will only take you so far. Motivation is like a middle school crush. It is intense and it will go away. Motivation is a wonderful initiator. See motivation for what it is, a white-hot burn, then sort the discipline. Coaches will often say, “Find your motivation.”
A reporter may ask an athlete, “What’s your motivation?” these are not good questions, they are like asking a comedian, “Where do you get your ideas from?” That implies the ideas fly into their head, and sometimes their inspiration too, but mostly it is work. Disciplined work. Without the substructure of discipline, motivation is useless.
Calendar of Discipline with Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld preforming.
Jerry Seinfeld is well known for having a calendar in his apartment in the early part of his career that he used to track his work. Every day he wrote jokes. Then he put an “X” on the calendar for that day he wrote. His discipline was not breaking the train of continuous days of joke writing.
Discipline must blend into motivation. It is not inspiration alone; it’s grinding it out when you don’t want to.
Ray Lewis Will Light You Up
The furnace of discipline needs stoking. Although I am fairly self-contained in motivation and discipline, we all need a boost. Something or somebody to blow on the coals in that furnace. I listen to, “Everyday Greatness, The Ray Lewis Podcast.”
It works for me. And it works for everybody I have recommended the podcast to. You may be the one off, but I doubt it. If you don’t know who Ray Lewis is here are a few of his American Football career highlights
Remember motivation is like the middle school crush, it will fade. Discipline must be executed even when the motivation is less than it could be. This is what separates the amateurs from the pros. Discipline must blend into motivation
And here is a trick to writing a joke.
Write the joke backward. Start with the punchline and then write the joke to serve the conclusion, the payoff. There is your pro tip of the day.
A few suggested links you may also find interesting.
Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.
Concern is better than worry. Concern is life-affirming if used correctly. Worry is draining. Worry drains you and it drains those around. It steals your energy and is exhausting to those that surround you. The concern is external in many ways. Concern has a less internal residence in your emotional house.
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”
– Leo Buscaglia
Concern can stand outside of the issue being observed that worry does not process. Concern allows you to see an issue that is in front of you, to set the majority of the emotion. Worry, on the other hand, personifies the issue at hand. Worry takes the issue deep inside your body. Then worry, like a fine guitarist, plucks the strings of your emotional guitar.
If I’m concerned about my teenage child or I’m worried about my teenage child, the results inside the body are different. It is no secret that a calm mind makes better decisions. But, the connection between a distressed body and bad decisions is often overlooked. And it takes an adroit mind to sort the modern-day world. Not that the modern world is horrible, it has outrun or physical and mental systems.
A Layer Cake of Worry
This is where you insert the modern culprits. The media, social media, traffic, bureaucracy, forms, rules, debt, divorce, etc. No one thing is responsible for the worry. Stack them on top of one another and you have a layer cake of worry
Worrying and concern travel together, but worry does not have a conclusion it spins on itself over and over again. A simple test you may want to use is to ask yourself every day, “Am I concerned about my work or do I worry about my work?” “Am I attentive to ____________, or am I worried?”
Fedor
Kind of Mellow
Fedor Emelianenko (Fedor) is a Russian heavyweight mixed martial artist, sambist, and judoka. I loved watching him fight, direct, smart powerful. One powerful moment I recall was before one of his fights. I will do my best to recall the essence of the moment.
Fedor was sitting in his locker-room straddling a bench. Fedor was playing cards with another person, I assume his trainer. The announcer commented on this unusual pre-fight activity. In asking Fedor about the causal approach he replied, and I paraphrase, “The preparation is done, all that is left is to fight.
Turn Down the Worry
Here is the lesson. If you worry, turn down the volume of the worry by taking small action in the correct direction. It needn’t be large. Small acts, infinitesimal acts, are interpreted as action. Your mind and body respond in a positive way to correct action. This begins to prove concern is better than worry.
Buscaglia is correct, worry fixes nothing, and steals your future. Fedor is correct also, be prepared and you only need to act when it is time.
Summary: Take a small act in the direction of removing worry, and then prepare. The first act relaxes your mind and body into thinking things are moving in the right direction. The second part is the full-on Zen. Be ready and be in the moment.
Let’s make that concern is better than worry idea even smaller, three words
Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.
It’s in the doing for a better life. That is a phrase that is common and thrown about with ease. But there’s also a deeper aspect to doing. That is making the effort about the steering of one’s life.
A person not only needs to seize their life and their direction but make a concerted effort in the direction of their goal.
People need to make an effort to steer their life towards a virtuous target. A person can set their life towards a non-virtuous goal. In their pursuit of a non-virtuous goal, they may well succeed.
To the reader, this likely sounds hollow.
People who undertake martial arts training are seekers, and the path is internal. The martial arts may appear to be an external act and that is part of it, but it goes further.
Once the mind and heart are linked focusing on a goal the world begins to snap into place. Call that sensation clarity. A martial artist sets about ordering their lives from the inside outward. They make this movement by adopting a curriculum that is tested and has gotten results over time.
There is also the mentorship that takes place. The advanced practitioners reaching back to aid those on the climb and the newest of students reaching upward. This is how the select organize themselves. They find a system, adopt the process, and vest themselves in the process. Like a strong river current, mentorship runs through the entire experience.
Legions of practitioners are living examples of a better life built around a virtuous goal. The quotes regarding the martial arts as a means of self-improvement and self-understanding are numerous. Here are three examples of these ideas in quote form.
3 Martial Arts Journey Quotes
“The warrior learns of the spiritual realm by dwelling on the cutting edge of the sword, standing at the edge of the fire pit, venturing right up to the edge of starvation if necessary. Vibrant and intense living is the warrior’s form of worship.” ― Stephen K. Hayes
“The most difficult part of traditional taekwondo is not learning the first kick or punch. It is not struggling to remember the motions of a poomsae or becoming acquainted with Korean culture. Rather, it is taking the first step across the threshold of the dojang door. This is where roads diverge, where choices are made that will resonate throughout a lifetime.” ― Doug Cook, Taekwondo: A Path to Excellence
When people on the path of self-betterment, in this case using martial arts as a tool, order their world a wonderful thing happens. These people can help those in their immediate sphere of influence. This is an important role and touches on that mentorship part of who we are.
Martial arts are far more than punching and kicking, but you knew that. You are getting an independent third-party validation. That’s what you just read.
Good on You! It’s in the Doing for a Better Life!
A metaphorical tip of the cap in your direction. An acknowledgment for embarking on a journey. A journey of becoming better, better for yourself, serving your family, and bettering your community.
You are involved in one of the more difficult tasks in life, getting better at being a good person, a virtuous person. You have found a time tested and solid path that will not make your work easier, but it does provide a road map.
The journey continues. It is in the doing. Always has been and always will be.
A couple of links from which to choose if you want more.
Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.
Must I Retreat from the World? Here are some answers. Peter Owen Jones (1957- ) made a BBC 2, television production calling it, “Extreme Pilgrim.” Jones spent time researching and experiencing different religions.
Peter Own Jones
At one point found himself in the desert under the guidance of Fr. Lazarus. The transformation of Jones, over his time in the desert is profound.
Thoreau Thinks You Should Retreat – Some
Henry David Thoreau
Two years, two months and two days by Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) The author of Walden. Thoreau recounts his experience as he lived in a small cabin on the shores of Walden Pond. Walden Pond is next to Concord Massachusetts in the United States. Thoreau writes, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
Do You Find Yourself When You Retreat from The World?
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit. I recommend this book.
The odd case of Christopher Thomas Knight (1965- ) a hermit of the Central Maine area. Knight spent 27 years in the wilderness. Speaking in a 2014 GQ interview by Michael Finkel, Knight waxed, “What I miss most,” he eventually continued, “is somewhere between quiet and solitude. What I miss most is stillness.”
Knight said he’d watched for years as a shelf mushroom grew on the trunk of a Douglas fir in his camp. Finkle commented, “I’d noticed the mushroom when I visited—it was enormous—and he (Knight) asked me with evident concern if anyone had knocked it down.” I assured him it was still there.
In the height of summer, Knight said, he’d sometimes sneak down to the lake at night. “I’d stretch out in the water, float on my back, and look at the stars.”
These are three examples, and there are many more. The gradation of experience and purpose can range from intention to take something back into the world, or a complete snubbing of the world. A retreat from the world and a snubbing are different.
The World Does Not Go Away
A small sample of The Rule of St. Benedict
The Rule of St. Benedict, written by St. Benedict (c.480–550) has one section titled, “Chapter 70: The Presumption of Striking Another Monk at Will.” Yes, there had to be a rule about hitting each other.
Retreating From The World
Retreating from the world, whether solo or in a group can have a positive side and bring us great works like Walden. Or this kind of retreat can be a deep dysfunction exhibited by Christopher Knight.
To be clear Knight stole over his 27 years to support his hermit behavior. Knight did this by breaking into local Maine cabins. Knight burglarized and stole to survive.
Then you have St. Benedict having to put into writing a banning of monk-on-monk violence.
You don’t have to retreat from the world. You can, but it is not necessary. And Knight and St. Benedict prove the problems of the world are real no matter your location.
Musashi, the greatest swordsman of feudal Japan went into the woods to live and study by himself? Well, yes, and no. He went into a solitary life for a period. The majority of Musashi’s life was spent in the company of other warriors and students.
Further, can you name one modern athlete that has retreated? No, all of them, to a person, lean into their coaches, trainers, and social support systems.
Periodic retreats are a good thing, but they don’t solve everything.
If you look to the great spiritual leaders you will see they go into the wilderness, for periods and then return to the world.
Humans are social animals, not always well behaved, but social none-the-less. A person is more valuable to themselves and others when they can retreat, learn, and return. And in that return share with those who take an interest.
Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.
