Everyday a New Day
AikiWeb 01-2011: Everyday: A New Day
Breathe in: the day begins
Breathe out: the day ends
Everyday: a new day
What could be more appropriate for starting a New Year than talking about a new day everyday? After all, it’s a new year. As tradition would have it, on the first day of the New Year we reaffirm our training commitment to Aikido with a 1000 boken cuts and two-hours of practice.
This is the time of year that we may have already made and broken our New Year’s resolutions. Those are the things that we know we should do, are not really committed to do, and so usually don’t do. And when we don’t do them, we feel bad about ourselves. A friend once told me that he had a problem with commitment. Having known him for a long time I really thought about it and had to disagree because when he decided he wanted something or was going to do something, he got it or did it (even if they weren’t really in his best interest). The problem seemed to be he was committing to things and people he really wasn’t committed to.
I often tell people that in a three step process to get what you want in life you only have to know two things. First, you have to know what you really want. Secondly, we have to know what we need to do to get it. The third thing is we have to do whatever it takes to get whatever we want. Many of us lose what we want because we don’t really do what it takes to get it. We may be committed to wanting but not committed to doing the work to get it.
In the academic and professional world I have colleagues who seem intrigued by some sense of martial accomplishment. Having spent a lot of time in their heads they really haven’t spent a lot of time on the dojo mats. When they approach me about my hobby I ask if they would like these skills. Most say yes. Then I ask if they know what they have to do to get them. They usually say yes they know they have to train. I smile and say, okay then do that. Everyday they put it off until another day (which of course never comes).
In the martial world I also have kindred spirits who seem intrigued by some sense of academic and professional accomplishment. Many don’t believe in book learning or mental training and prefer spending their time in physical repetition hoping someday it will translate to some sense of physical, mental, and even possibly spiritual proficiency. When approached about my profession, they all say they would like to have a degree and they all already know all they have to do is go back to school, but just never get around to doing it. Everyday they put it off until another day (which of course never comes).
I eventually learned about living in the present, mushin (empty mind), and shoshin (beginners mind?. I went around living (as program suggests) one-day-at-a-time with no connection to the past and no future plans. That didn’t work too well for me. In those days mushin (empty mind) was more like being an air-head and shoshin (beginner’s mind) was simply saying I didn’t know anything because I really didn’t. With no past I tried to deny where I was coming from and with no future plans I had no direction.
In the movie Groundhog Day the main character Bill Murray keeps living the same day over and over again. At first it was just weird. Then it got depressing. And then he began to take advantage of the opportunity to learn new skills every day (or continue his practice of an old skill) and become a nicer person. He had no idea how long this same-day-every day would last. He began to just enjoy and embrace the process and the opportunity. The thing about practicing the same thing every day is that it has an accumulative effect. You might just learn something valuable.
In the movie Bucket List Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman decide that they will make a list of everything they want to do before they kick-the-bucket (die) and begin to seek out those opportunities. While they are on this adventure Morgan Freeman realizes that everything that was really important for him to accomplish was already there in his everyday life with his family. Nicholson? Well, watch the movie, it’s excellent.
In many movies about warriors (with an underlying Budo theme) they state that everyday is a good day to die. The commitment is to not necessarily want to die but to not being afraid of it. So they train with that commitment and with that intent. What they often miss until the end of the movie is that every day is also a good day to live. Every day is a new day to reaffirming our commitment and move towards what we truly want in our lives and how to do the work to get it.
I have never been very goal oriented in my life. Early in my life I was not very decisive or disciplined either. So it’s obvious why a good portion of my life just didn’t work too well. I finally found my three-Ds: decision, direction, and daily discipline. When we allow ourselves to be mentally quiet, we all already know what is important and what is right. When we decide to walk in that direction every day (no matter what) we tend to begin making distance.
They say you never step in the same stream twice. So it’s never the same day every day but a new day every day.
Breathe in: the day begins
Breathe out: the day ends
Everyday: a new day
Thanks for listening, for the opportunity to be of service, and for sharing the journey. Now get back to training. KWATZ!
