CREATIVITY … the wellspring

Creativity … for me, is one of the powerful driving forces that we each have at our disposal. When people talk of fitness … I think of physical fitness, mental fitness, relationship fitness, financial fitness, etc. When people talk about defending themselves … I think about defending myself physically, mentally, relationship-wise, financially, etc. When people talk about their assets … although my mind does go to finances and physical possessions, it focuses much more strongly on things like, knowledge, skills and creativity.

Creativity is something we don’t tend to talk too much about … it is though, the well-spring from which much of our world pours. Our creativity tends to erode as we get older, as it is replaced by logic, structure, reason, and the like. Creativity is about child-like thinking – it is about being unreasonable – it is about being overly curious – all these qualities, children have in abundance … until ….

When we are children, everything is a puzzle .. walking upright is a puzzle, climbing the stairs is a puzzle, and so we build and tap into our creative powers. But then, as we conquer the world, as we bring the beast that is our life under control … the well-spring begins to dry up. That is often the price we pay for adulthood. But we can have both … we can, with a little courage, and willingness to fail … regress a little and look at the world with child-like wonder. It is after all … an amazing place. JBW

Mindful Practice ...

We have all heard of the adage ‘practice makes perfect’ – but of course, when we think about it, we realize this to be a non-truth. Practice makes permanent – not perfect. I don't’ even like the improved version of the adage, which I used over the years, ‘Perfect practice makes perfect’ – now I simply ask student’s to engage in what I call to ‘ Mindful Practice’.

Mindful Practice requires that we completely abandon the idea of ever just ‘going through the motions’. We should be attentive to what we are doing – attentive to the smallest details – and make a habit of it. Attending to each training session as if it was our only opportunity to learn – as if it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – because it very often is!

I am not impressed when people say they have 30 years of experience under their belt – that alone is not enough to mean anything – it could for example, mean they have had one year of practice and twenty nine more years of repeating those behaviors they learned in that first year. In my mind – this is nowhere near as meaningful as thirty years of Mindful Practice – that is, each and every year, month – even day, trying to re-invent the way we understand what it is we are practicing. Thirty years of approaching each session with a completely open mind - with full mindfulness – now that is something worthwhile.

Imagine if Thomas Edison had repeated his light-bulb experiment exactly the same way 9000 times! Of course, he did not do that – he mindfully tried a different and novel approach each and every day, until he finally succeeded. And none of us have to look very far to see evidence of the success of his approach.

Mindful Practice – this is how we make gains – in almost every endeavor. JBW

THIS IS NOT ADVICE!!!!

It is just the way I have tended to operate in the world … and again, I am just ‘thinking out loud’ for the amusement of all my Blog & Facebook friends.

More often than not, I have figured out what I am supposed to do – then resolved not to do it … strangely, this has worked out for me. The times when things went pear-shaped because of that thinking, I learned. But again, surprisingly often, things turned out for the better.

I really should finish that university degree … nah, I’ll head to Asia and study martial arts instead … that makes sense!

I should study desktop publishing at Uni, then get a job at a print-house … nah, I’ll glue and paste a martial arts magazine together, print 10,000 of them and see how it pans out … that makes sense!

I really should do the floor-plans for my house first … nah, I’ll make a model out of balsa blocks and glue and then figure out how to fit everything I need inside that shape … that makes sense!

I should stick to one martial art, and work on it till the end of my days … nah, I’ll go against the trend and against all the nay-sayers and MIX my martial arts up a bit; I’ll even try to combine stand-up with clinching, takedowns and groundwork … that makes sense!

Sometimes … you just have to follow your instincts and see how things pan out. Our instincts can be often be wrong – but then again, they got our ancestors, and subsequently us, to this point in history … perhaps we should listen to them more often than we do. I do – oft times, against the advice of experts.

JBW

Puffer Fish techniques ...

Puffer Fish - apparently, if you get it right, it is a taste sensation ... the problem is, if you get it wrong, people die! Horribly! Consequently, most people stay away from eating Puffer Fish. I think the same mechanism is at play in BJJ - there are techniques, if executed EXACTLY correctly, work really, really well - but if one little aspect is overlooked, one tiny detail omitted, things turn out badly for us ... these are the Puffer Fish techniques. Most people may try them once or twice, have a bad experience, as a result and never try them again. In my view - we should embrace these techniques - not just for their own sake - but to nurture and develop our love of nuance and technical detail. JBW

Work the problem ...

NASA does it ... pro athletes do it ... engineers do it ... and more MMA fighters need to do it - and that is ... work the problem. Once we have identified a problem - a hurdle - a hiccup in our performance, we should set our minds (and bodies) to the task and work our way through it. This takes time and mindfulness. I think too often, it is just easier for people to keep blasting away, to keep fighting hard (or working hard) and confuse effort with results. Once we identify a problem, we should embrace it, own it, come up with a solution, work that solution and subsequently remove the problem from our 'to do list'. Sprinters will not just keep 'running hard' to get better results, they will slice their efforts down into thinner and thinner slices, and examine and refine their technique - always working the 'small stuff'. Fighters - need to do take the same approach.
In New Zealand right now - with my friend Geoff Grant - about to head to class. Another chance to work the small stuff. Here's a clip of Gilbert Melendez (as I am wearing his Hoodie right now - cold here) working on a string of the 'small stuff' at his training centre in the Dogpatch - in San Francisco.
JBW