I Followed My Sensei To School

It was a regular Saturday and I was in my car, driving to the dojo for the 1 pm Saturday class. I was going to the dojo located in Fallen Timbers mall, which is not very close to my house, like the Glendale location is, so I always left early to get there on time. I was making my way down Reynolds Rd, and there were a lot of cars in both lanes. Even though I was not late, I was speeding. Weaving in and out of lanes, I was passing cars left and right, and getting some road rage, for no real reason at all. Its funny how when your the one driving the speed limit and some one speeds by real fast, you think something like "slow down idiot!" but when you are the one who is speeding, everyone else seems real slow and you think "move it gramps!" So there I was, speeding, passing, and getting angry for no real reason, when I spot Senseis' car up ahead. I slow down and start following behind him and all my rage is gone. Because there in front of me, Sensei was driving at peace with the road. Sounds funny but thats how I felt, I felt that there was a man, completely at peace with the road, with the traffic. He wasn't passing, he wasn't speeding, he wasn't going slow either, he was driving with.... mindfulness. To me that was a great moment. In that moment I saw that it wasn't all talk when it comes to Sensei. Sensei is a man who lives the word he preaches. As I drove I bowed my head to my Sensei and I followed him to our dojo.

My Answers to Sifu Brown's Lessons in Mindfulness Lesson #1

Recently I started taking Lessons in Mindfulness again. Through Sensei Hurtsellers I have learned about Sifu Browns Lessons in Mindfulness and I really liked the lessons. Each Lesson is written by Sifu Brown and each ends with a set of questions that the student should answer. So far I only read the first Lesson, and I really liked what I read, and here are the answers that I wrote for the questions asked in the first lesson.

1) How long have you wanted to practice martial arts? I can’t remember exactly when I first was interested in practicing martial arts. I know that I found it fascinating and interesting for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a kid, martial art movies were always my favorite. I always admired martial artists, their discipline, the way they made their bodies move, the way they trained their minds, it was all so cool. Then for a long time Chinese philosophy was more interesting to me than my own religion. I would check out books at the library and read up on Taoism, Confucianism, and I also read about Tai Chi Chuan. I always noticed that the ones, who truly practiced martial arts, were the ones truly at peace in this world. I couldn’t picture them losing their patience during traffic, or while waiting in the DMV line, or when somebody was rude to them, to me they seemed completely at peace and understanding with the world and I wanted to be just like them. Like them I wanted to become enlightened and at peace with the world and to have a greater understanding of life. The answer to the questions how long have I wanted to practice martial arts? A long time.

2) Have you practiced before? If yes, what style, and for how long? I have practiced martial arts before. I was 17 when my parents told me that a family friend of ours is a black belt at a local taekwondo school, and they asked me if I was interested in it. I thought, well here is my opportunity to see if I am cut out for martial arts. I practiced at this dojo until I was 23.

3) If you have practiced before, what did you like the most about the practice? What did you like the least about the practice? What I loved right away about the practice was the respect that every student showed towards our teacher. It’s really a shame that teachers of today get little respect from their students. It’s not just the students, I feel that we as a society don’t respect teachers as much as they deserve. They get paid almost nothing, and sometimes people disrespect their career choice as something easy. I think we all know that being a teacher is not easy. It’s like we don’t honor our teachers anymore. I remember being in high school classes where some kids would tell the tell the teachers to shut up. I mean they got in trouble and everything but the fact is that they said it anyway. In the dojo, nobody would ever even think of showing such disrespect to his teacher. But what I loved most of all is the respect that the students showed each other. I went to a couple of bad schools in Lincoln Nebraska where I grew up and I had some rough days and it just felt so good to be in an environment where everybody respected each other so much. What I liked the least about the practice was the fact that a lot of the students would quit after they would receive their black belt. I felt that too many students cared more about getting their black belt then about becoming a great martial artist.

4) If you have not practiced before, what stopped you from starting sooner? I wish I would have gotten started in martial arts earlier that at 17 years, but I guess it wasn’t supposed to happen earlier, my opportunity came at 17 and that’s when I took it.

5) In other areas of your life would you say you are a perfectionist, or more easy going type of person? In some areas of my life I would say that I am a perfectionist. I can’t settle for just good enough. I feel if I just settle for good enough it means I’m quitting early, and I hate knowing that I didn’t finish a job or didn’t give it all that I have. But I wouldn’t say that I am not easy going either, and most people know me say that I’m a pretty easy going person, and usually I don’t let life get me down, maybe just a little bit, sometimes and even then, not for too long as I always bounce back.

6) What is your occupation or career? Right now I am 4^rd year medical school student at University of Toledo, College of Medicine. I plan to graduate in June 2010, and I am currently applying for a residency position in many different places.

7) In most areas of your life, do you follow through with your commitments’, or do you have a tendency to quit things before finishing? I would say overall I always follow through with my commitments and I almost never quit. I am not going to lie and say I never quit, and there have been times when I would start something new and not finish or quit because I got bored of it, but that is not a repeating pattern in my life. I almost always follow through and even if it takes me a long time, I always finish what I start. An example is Martial Arts. I started when I was 17 and I haven’t quit yet. There were times when I had to take breaks from going every week to the dojo because I had a busy school schedule or because I was going out of state or what have you. But I always returned, and when I moved from Nebraska to Ohio I only had a brief interruption in my training when I was searching for the best dojo for me to join. Another example is Medicine. Just as with Martial Arts, I have always wanted to become a Physician. That was my goal since before High School. But it was a long and arduous path to Medical School and even the path through Medical School was bumpy. I could have quit many times, but I didn’t even think about it once.

8) Have you ever been athletic in the past? How recently? What were your favorite activities? When I was in high school I was involved in some sports. As a freshman I ran for our cross country team, and as a freshman and sophomore I played for our soccer team. In my sophomore year I got involved with Taekwondo and so I stopped playing sports at school and devoted more time to going to the dojo. That and I wasn’t that great at running.

9) List three things you want to achieve or specifically gain from your practice of martial arts. 1) A better understanding of myself and others. 2) Improve my martial art knowledge and technique. 3) Improve my physical fitness and my health.

10) What do you value most in your life and what is most important to you? What I value most in my life is family and relationships. To me my family comes first. What I mean by family is my wife, my parents, my sisters, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, and my first cousins. Relationships are almost just as important. I am fortunate to have a lot of good friends and I know a lot of people. I value the friendships that I have a lot and to me (who has no brothers) my best friends are like my brothers and I treat them like my brothers. What is most important to me? My family.

11) What perception do most people have of you? That is a hard question and I am not exactly sure. I would guess that if people who know me well had to summarize me the following words could come up: loyal, smart, funny, interesting, brave, patient, modest, kind, fair, dependable.

12) Out of the things that you have done in your life, what has given you the most pleasure and satisfaction? The one thing that I have done with my life so far that has given me the most pleasure and satisfaction was finding and marrying Diana. Some other things in my life that come close include my 3 week trip to Europe with my great friend Kyle. Getting into medical school, and my martial art training.

13) Describe one or two of your greatest strengths. Courage. I know it must sound cheesy, and I am definitely not the bravest man out there, but I have courage. I have my definition of courage, one that most of you probably heard of before. To be brave does not mean to have no fear, to be brave means doing something even through you fear it.

14) Describe one or two of your greatest weaknesses. I guess that would have to be Doubt. I have doubts. Mostly in my self. Am I good enough, am I strong enough, am I smart enough, etc. These thoughts run through my head on a daily basis and sometimes they get in the way and slow down the path towards my goals. I realize its silly to doubt myself but sometimes I just can’t help myself.