Strengths & Weaknesses

On any good mat, it soon becomes clear what each of our strengths and weaknesses are. It becomes obvious because our weaknesses betray us and we pay the price of tapping. Our strengths are also obvious because they become self-evident by allowing us to succeed and better control the fight. In life outside of the mat – our strengths may be evident but our weaknesses are often far less apparent.
In life, our weaknesses, those things we are not so good at, can be very easily overlooked. They are sometimes, brought to our attention by friends and loved ones, but on many other occasions, they are not … our friends and loved ones can far more easily ‘let it slide’ and we therefore continue on our merry way, in blissful ignorance. On the mat, we would have tapped – but in life, we often fail to modify our ‘game’ and make the same mistakes, again and again.
Just like on game on the mat, it takes courage to re-invent our game off the mat. It’s almost always far less traumatic to keep doing what we are doing – and stay in the well-understood confines of our personal comfort zones. It takes care and courage to have honest talks with our friends and family in a way that exposes our or their weaknesses. But this is all a part of what constitutes ‘closeness’ when it comes to family or friends – the ability to ‘open up’ and expose personal weakness. In doing so, we open ourselves to the possibility of growth. But just like on the mat – this process is not for everyone – we have to be able to take the ‘bad’ with the ‘good’ – as each of us are replete with both strength and weakness.
Re-invention is a process – it can often be a bit of a roller coaster ride; and like a roller coaster ride – it can be scary at the outset – but you always feel beter for having done it.
Warm regards
JBW