Fun ...

Am here in Singapore with my family for a few days holiday before class starts back next monday. I couldn't help myself, and took a class fr friend Kon Quek last nifght, their first for 2008! At the end of the class, at question time, oe student asked how to overcome 'an over-reliance on fighting with strength' - I offered up the idea that he was entirely in control of how hard and at what pace he fights. As long as we are 'prepared to tap', we can fitht at any pace we choose; we can fight at a pace that allows us to fight all day; or we can fight at a pace that will see us run out of gas within minutes, or less. The pace, the amount of strength and agression we use, are things that are totally in our control. For me, it all comes down to having fun.

Training is fun. And so it should be. Keeping it fun, means that we will keep doing it. If we are consistent in training, eventually, even without talent, we become competent. Keeping it fun means that we will try new things, experiment, etc. This in turn will keep us on a path of discovery. Discovering new things and ideas, can be a joyful experience in itself. And so the process of having fun and experiencing joy can begin to develop a momentum all of it’s own.

On the mat though, we can often meet people who seem to have a different concept of fun than we do. I am okay with that. Other people are not responsible for my fun. Overly competitive people abound in the martial arts environment; pretty natural really, after all, we are talking about inter-personal combat. And that’s okay with me. Just make the competition fun. It’s all about attitude – our attitude. We can’t control the way other people think; we can control and adjust the way we look at things ourselves. Decide to enjoy every bit of the training experience. Decide to have fun.
JBW