MONDAY MINDSET: SERVICE

MARTIAL ARTS MINDSET FOR SUCCESS BOTH ON AND OFF THE MATS

 

Too often we approach things we enjoy as if they exist to serve us.  Truthfully (and to an extent, problematically), many of our pastimes and hobbies do.  Video games, Netflix, snacking — these are indulgent behaviors and often serve their purpose well.  For better or for worse.

But training is a different beast.  The martial arts do not exist purely to serve you.  In fact, I’d suggest that the opposite is true: we exist to serve the art.

If you come to training each time focused on what you can gain from this activity, you will quickly become frustrated.  Some times, it will feel like you have gained nothing from your efforts that day.

Maybe your partner is a little too slow with the pads, or a little too fast for you to control with your guard.  Perhaps you’re a little too tired to be at peak performance.  Or a thousand other things that can make it feel like you are unable to extract something from the day.

But if you come to training focused on what you can give to this activity, to the partners you work with and the community at large (above and beyond the borders of The North Star Academy that is), then you will find purpose through service.

It is the service to an activity that creates passion.  Passion, after all, coming from the Latin word Pati, meaning “to suffer.”  Through this suffering we can find meaning, wisdom, growth, and purpose.

To take you must give, and to receive you must also serve.

While we aim to find equilibrium in all we do, I can guarantee you one thing: you may not always receive something on any given day of training, but you can always find something to give.