Forge Away ...

We are always forging new versions of ourselves; at least, that has been my own experience. I guess some people stay pretty much the same throughout the course of their lives - but that, in my view, is a poor expression of our talent for exploration. I think we need to be open to improving who we are and deepening our understanding of the world we live in.

Who we decide to learn from, to spend time with, to be like … greatly determines how our lives might unfold. This is why I cringe when I see good people, interesting people, spending time with martial arts instructors who don’t even know how to run their own lives. Such wasted opportunity. 

Someone once said that each of us are an amalgam of the five people we spend most time with … in fact, I disagree with this. I think it is much more a case of ‘being inspired by’ rather than ‘having spent time with’ ….

There are people who I have spent very little time with, yet I have found myself deeply influenced and inspired by some aspect of who they are or what they stand for. 

Martial arts teachers can easily find themselves in a position to influence and inspire those who train with them … and this is why I believe, that as teachers, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard. We cannot be all things to all people, but we should always strive to be the very best version of ourselves that we can be … in the hope of inspiring others to do the same. - JBW