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Old 07-13-2006, 11:17 AM   #13
Bronson
 
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Dojo: Seiwa Dojo and Southside Dojo
Location: Battle Creek & Kalamazoo, MI
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,677
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Re: Brown Belt Syndrome

Thanks Chris, I was going to write out my ideas but you already did it for me

I think that as we train we will encounter different transitions. Transitions in how we move, learn, think, feel about the art, etc. It's at these transition stages that you're likely to loose people. Our bodies and minds seek to maintain the status quo. All change, even change for the better, is resisted at some level. If you can resist the resisting you can make it through to the next phase.

I remember once when I almost dropped out. It was much like Chris said, aikido training had lost that specialness in my life. It took on a much more mundane quality... like brushing my teeth. When I wake up in the morning I'm not excited to brush my teeth, but I do it everyday and if I happen to miss a day it niggles at the back of my mind.

For me the trick was to embrace the transitions. I had to learn to know them for what they were and that if I persisted some new learning or phase was bound to come. The interesting thing is that now when I hit one of the transtitions I often become excited again. My techniques don't work, I question my commitment, I feel like I should just quit... but at the back of my mind I'm excited to find what I'll learn on the other side of the transition so I stick it out. It's worth it every time.

Interestingly I think this continues throughout life. I've been told that the founder of our style Rod Kobayashi used to call Godan, Go-Down; as at that point he had noticed peoples commitment and ability start to wane.

Bronson

p.s. George Leonard's book "Mastery" speaks to this subject very well.

"A pacifist is not really a pacifist if he is unable to make a choice between violence and non-violence. A true pacifist is able to kill or maim in the blink of an eye, but at the moment of impending destruction of the enemy he chooses non-violence."
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