CONGRATULATIONS TO THE STUDENTS WHO EARNED PROMOTIONS SINCE THE LAST NEWSLETTER. JR. YELLOW BELT – Max DiPaola JR. ORANGE BELT – Samantha Heinrich, Kimberly Curcio, Dakota Christiano
The perfect Thanksgiving gift . . . a couple Isshin-ryu patches. Normally $8.00 – – for the month of November – – $4.50. Buy a bunch and SAVE!
NOVEMBER 16TH – – TOYS FOR TOTS KARATE TOURNAMENT – – CHATEAU RESORT & CONFERENCE CENTER – – 300 CAMELBACK ROAD, TANNERSVILLE, PA – – FORMS IN THE DOJO – – LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING.
Remember, today’s action creates tomorrow’s future.
Focus stresses the essential elements of life and karate. The execution of a focused response at the proper moment in a karate block or attack may mean the difference between victory and defeat. The proper response to another person, event or idea may become more important to our lives than executing a good karate technique. As we look at the important areas of our lives; family, education, work, socialization and recreation, proper balance and focus are necessary.
Think about why we at times start to do something or go some place and we end up doing something else or we end at a place we did not intend to reach. Having conceived of our purpose, we should mentally mark a straight pathway to the achievement of our desired end, looking neither to the right nor left. This single sightedness is called the focus.
A focus is the one reason that most of us do not accomplish more. We establish great goals. We write them on paper as the experts encourage. We enthusiastically start taking action, we can feel the power and the energy, we know that this time we are on the right track, this time is going to be different from all those other times. Then it happens . . . Life gets in the way!
What is this thing called life? Each of us can make a list. It may be a personal or family illness; or things get turned upside down at school, work, our daily lives or play. Maybe it is an unexpected financial crisis. This interruption consumes us. Before we know it – our once bright and shining goals that were in front of us, are now just a tarnished and painful memory of what we could do if such and such had not happened. Life gets in the way of everybody, but the successful people have a way of keeping their focus in spite of life.
When life’s challenges begin to appear take responsibility to learn from the fact that even though the best effort was given, the outcome did not occur that was expected. Be prepared for the letdowns that happen every so often. Know that this lost opportunity sets the stage for one to take advantage of the next opportunity. Be reminded that the results are bound to get better. Don’t get down or give up. It’s the next opportunity that matters, not the previous one. The last one matters only in that a lesson may be learned from the mistakes. But the next one creates the opportunity to make the necessary alterations, to and to learn from the previous mistakes. Self encouragement is needed because one should not and hope that someone else will come along to say that the next time will be better. Our training teaches self-reliance. Have faith in personal abilities to determine what works and what doesn’t and most importantly, WHY.
Several months ago I saw a passage by James Allen in “The Mastery of Destiny.” It is one of my all-time favorites on the power of FOCUS:
All successful people are people of purpose. They hold fast to an idea, a project, a plan, and will not let it go; they cherish it, brood upon it, tend and develop it; and when assailed by difficulties, they refuse to be beguiled into surrender; indeed, the intensity of the purpose increases with the growing magnitude of the obstacles encountered.
The last part of the thought is the true secret, ” . . . indeed, the intensity of the purpose increases with the growing magnitude of the obstacles encountered.” Motivated, goal oriented, people accept and cherish a challenge and rise to the occasion.
Gary Ryan Blair writing “The Ten Commandments of Goal Setting” says:
We’re all vulnerable – it’s easy to lose focus. Accept the fact that we must repeatedly recover our focus. A brief loss of focus is a minor derailment, but, if not regained rapidly, loss of focus becomes a wholesale wreck Focus, readjust, and realign.
Life will continue to get in the way if we permit it to do so. People will bother us if we permit them to do so. Stress comes from within each of us because we are human and because we care about how well we perform daily responsibilities. The way we handle life’s stresses shows what kind of people we are and how we focus on the positive results concerning the task at hand. Isshin-ryu training helps to teach us to never give up; to get up each and every time we are knocked down. Our efforts to improve style of kata and kumite thorough proper, disciplined, focused practice goes with us in everything we do in life. Actions speak louder than words. Lead by example.
“What we think, or what we know, or what we believe, is in the end, of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do!”
HOW TO ADVANCE
Dedicate a period of time daily to practice. Do not just spend time on the newest material learned. Practice everything from the first basic to the new material. Break practice times into : Basics & Kicks, Pinans, Kata, Flexibility and Strength Improvement. With just 10 – 15 minutes daily what has been taught will be enhances.
Do not just go through the moves. The way one practices is the way one will perform when the karate skills are needed. A good short period of time is far more important than at long half-hearted session.
Attend the dojo regularly. Train diligently because the effort used during practice will same way that one’s karate skills will be done when used for tournament competition or self-defense. What effort is put in is what reward or application that will be done when needed. There is no substitute for continuous participation in class. Allow yourself to be guided through this knowledge, and do not become concerned with how fast you learn but how well you learn. Being concerned with how fast you learn will develop anxiety which will prevent you from learning.
Understand that there something to be learned – Knowledge to be gained – You must create the will to learn; intention to learn – plus enthusiasm
