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2013 New Year's Resolution

12/30/2012

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We are now about to begin a new year.  What will it bring?  Many view this time as a fresh start and a time for making resolutions. Resolutions, either made quietly to one’s self or announced to the world, tend to promise “my life will be better”, “I will become a different person this year, better than before”, or “I’m going to stop _____and start____.” It is easy to fill in the blanks, isn’t it? Although resolutions are made with good intentions, the mere words announcing a resolution is as far as most will go. Even if only to ourselves, we have declared there needs to be a change. It is easy to say what one will do, but can one do what they say? In most cases, no real consequences are foreseen for failing to keeping a New Year’s resolution because many excuse resolutions as just thoughts, just ideas. Sadly and rarely are they ever taken seriously? It takes great self discipline and sacrifice to remain committed to a resolution. In the day of the Samurai, his word was his contract. Once a samurai said he would do something he was bound by his own word. Understand that a resolution is not just a thought or an idea, but is a contract that you have made with yourself and should not be taken lightly. If one cannot keep their word to themselves how can it be kept to another?  Training in Budo gives you the resolve to face many things in life and not all of them are found in a dark alley facing a mugger.  It is important to understand that you are the only adversary who can truly defeat you and, thus, facing your inner self can be a much darker place. Above all, Budo teaches self discipline and the synonym for resolution is courage. Do you have the courage to face yourself?  Mahatma Ghandi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. There is no better time than now, in this New Year, to begin your journey and became that change.

In 2010 at the very beginning of this decade I wrote the piece above and sent it out to friends and family as way to provoke thought, nothing more. And interesting enough it did, I had touched a nerve, obviously something must have seemed familiar. I had a couple of friends who I had sent it to become offended by it and said that I had directed it toward them. One said that they could not make a new year’s resolution now because of what I had said, I had ruined it for them. I’m assuming it is because they knew they had no intention of keeping a promise to themselves and I had inadvertently made them aware of that fact. I guess it was much easier to blame me than to realize they had called themselves out. When I originally wrote this it was never directed at anyone nor is it now.  However, you may find some truth to it and it could help in some way. If you know me you know self realization is important to me and what I teach my students. I just ask that we all look a little deeper into whom we really are. So I post it once more with nothing more than a desire to provoke thought. What you do with this is up to you however,  if you feel the need to blame me it’s OK.



                                                                                 -Shihan Ogle


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A Good Judge of Charactor

12/27/2012

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There are many people who say that they can within moments of spending time with another person know what kind of person they are by how they act, what they say, and how they carry themselves. I believe this to be a great skill for anyone to have; not just someone who studies budo. I consider myself to be one of these people and I try to make a fair assessment of each person I meet based on these and other observations. However, I do not claim to always know right away. Some appear to be obvious while others take more time to read and then there are those who have me hoping I am completely wrong. This is why it is so important to not be quick to judge another. You may have miss read them, caught them on a bad day, or perhaps a bad time in their life. Regardless, always give yourself time to prove your own theory. This is how you can truly trust your judgment about another.

 It is also important to understand that if you do not know anything of your own character, how can you possibly know anything about that of another? This brings me to my next point. If you claim to be a good judge of character, have you ever put your skills to the true test? Have you ever taken the time to stop, take a long look in the mirror and see what you can tell about the person staring back at you? Can you honestly say, based on how you act, what you say, and how you carry yourself, that you are the person you portray yourself to be? Have you ever thought that there are some who can see you for who you really are? Do you see yourself the same way other “good” judges of character see you? Understandably there are always those who will not completely understand you for one reason or another. However, do you live everyday trying to convince everyone, including yourself, that you are someone you really aren’t? Are you living knowing all the while that it has all been a show? These are tough questions when aimed inward and can be even tougher when you realize others can see you for who you really are, even though you haven’t been able to see yourself.  

 There are those who think my job is to prepare my students for an attack from a person who would do them harm in a dark alley or home invasion however, I am more concerned with who they become and their ability to do themselves harm. In many of my classes physical techniques are a byproduct of what I am actually teaching. We will always be our own greatest enemy and once we are able to understand and concur ourselves only then can we begin to understand and defend against another. Having this deeper understanding of who we are will strengthen our ability to be a good judge of character if we are of good character and portray ourselves as the person we truly are. Have you ever heard the old saying “It takes one to know one”?  I think it fits this thought perfectly, think about it.



                                                                        -Sensei Ogle

 

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    Shihan
    Don Ogle

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