Jamie,
There is no thanks needed. I am humbled by the response so far and feel that in working in a vulnerable area as such, I become stronger. Indeed the risk is well work it. Even if the only consequence of my words was to get people to review exactly what aikido has taken from them, and in turn given back.
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Like Jeff, I too am a firm believer that nothing worth having in life is ever attained easily. As such, I have always strived to constantly push myself and test my limits. In the process, I'd like to think that I have somehow gained a stronger sense of self-knowledge and self-ownership.
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In a sense, through pushing our selves, we learn what our "preconceived" limits are, and in turn realize that we can reach so much farther. In pushing my away my "stay away from , stay away from me!" attitude I realized just how much I had to learn from contact. I also grew out of the mind set that I was nothing but a weak victim. Such is a freedom from our minds, in a sense. Though this differs greatly from person to person.
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In retrospect, I have found that the short time in which I have studied Aikido thus far has already given me greater patience with myself than I had once thought possible. I've learned to go easier on myself if I'm not quite catching onto something new right away, to accept that I will learn at my own pace, concern myself less with the pace of others (I was raised by extremely competitive parents) and simply to enjoy the journey
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Hmmm.. Patience becomes such a trying virtue doesn't it? We have to slow down from our everyday lives, which for some can be chaotically frantic. I have actually found that I've gained a great distaste for competitive arts, specifically competitive martial arts. Now I would like to say that my opinion is but an opinion with no disrespect to those who practice the latter. Personally , through my short study of aikido I have found that , in my opinion, if we used an art that is so personal and de "ego-fying" to promote a competitive spirit, we take ten steps back on what we learned and compromise our integrity and balance. Just my two cents on that .
Best regards and once more many thanks for replying!