I do some of my best thinking in the garden.  

For many of you reading this, the gym is your escape.  It’s where you do your best thinking.

It’s my escape too, but it’s also my office!  So I tend to find my escape in other areas as well.  Since moving to Mt. Airy, it’s largely been my garden (shout out to my IG @coachnorthstar if you like pics of gardens, dogs, and MMA).

I spent over 15 years of my life as a professional landscaper so I’m not a stranger to the outdoors.  And between my professional experience in the ring as well as in the garden, my wires have gotten seriously tangled.  But the parallels between the two are fundamental, really, so it’s a happy accident.

Here’s a tip for you gardeners (aspiring or established): oftentimes when weeding people tend to just weed around the plants they have.  Because those are the weeds you see.  However, weeds also grow underneath and within the plants themselves.  And over time, you tend to get weeds that grow very, very well and very, very sneakily like this.  Typically these weeds even resemble the plant they’re invading because, well, survival of the fittest and all that!  So, when weeding, also explore within the boundaries of the plants you are cultivating to find and excise unwanted growth.

I call these “Stowaways.”  They are easy to miss, because they hide in plain sight and often resemble the very thing they’re hiding in.

So anyways, I got to thinking last weekend as I was making a much needed pass through the garden – what kind of “stowaway” thoughts and behaviors do I overlook in myself?  Thoughts and behaviors that resemble healthy, positive habits but are, in their nature, invasive and against the order of our own internal gardens?  Taking a step back, and really looking critically at myself, I had an uncomfortable but productive moment of reflection through the lens of this idea.

How does it pertain to combat sports, though?

Well, for example, I see this a lot in sparring and rolling, especially in newer students.  They pursue “toughness” as if it’s a badge of honor to take a beating or go really, really hard.  And while toughness and physical intensity are important, if not essential qualities for a fighter, they are actually more like assets in an emergency fund that you never want to tap into.

This is just one of many, many examples I could give you.  But the point is not about how we can use this perspective to simply become better fighters (although it’s extremely useful in this regard).  It’s larger.  How can we use it to, simply, become better?

So today I ask you.. What stowaways are in your garden?  What invasive behaviors, thoughts, or qualities hide in plain sight because, on the surface, they resemble the very things you seek to cultivate and grow..?

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