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When you blame others you give up the right to change!

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two spirits inside us all.

“One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

“The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which one wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

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There are several ways to improve awareness. A game: you and some friends one at a time go to the nearest window, take a quick scan of what is around then try to recount what you saw. You can test each other by asking questions like how many you saw of something or what color something was. An exercise: Whenever you enter a room, look around count the people. How many are male, female, blonde, dark haired, red haired, what ethnicities are they, etc.; where are they standing; where is the nearest exit? For fun try this at a Halloween costume party

Balance is key, in martial arts, and in life. In a self-defense situation if you are the one who controls the balance, you have the upper hand. If you balance your diet you will be in better health. If you balance your time between work and play you will be more productive and happier. Studying the martial arts is a great way to learn about balance.

This week we are focusing on balance. When learning about balance you want to not only learn to improve your own balance, but to “take” the balance of your opponent while keeping that of your own. As you continue to learn about balance you will start to figure out ways to get your opponent to “give” you their balance.

When you have a problem don’t place blame, fix the problem!

Everyone thinks of changing the world but no one thinks of changing themselves!

Character is doing what is right, even when no one is looking!

Learning and practicing the martial arts will increase your focus even if just as a side effect, but there are things you can do the move this process along. Working with the kids I like to use focus pads to improve their targeting skills, but I also challenge them by telling them to punch at the pad as hard as they can but stop the strike or kick just before they reach the pad. This not only helps them to focus on what they are doing, but helps them develop control.

This week we are focusing on timing. With timing in the martial arts we are mostly concerned about reaction time for example, when blocking a punch if you anticipate you block too early and the punch gets through after the block; and if you block too late the punch reaches before the block. In turn, if you also focus on your rhythm and mixing that up, you then can slow down or speed up your opponent’s reaction time to your own advantage.

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