Author: Mr. Bo

Hello Fellow Warriors!

Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was great and full of family, food and well deserved naps.

Little late getting the blog up, but…uh…well…stuff?

Ok. What can I say. Got a little lax with the holidays.

Which, brings me to what I want to talk about in this weeks blog

Failure.

Man, no one wants to have that word associated with them! It brings up a lot of feelings of shame. And the feelings that are generally associated with failure are:

Not being good enough

Not being smart enough

Not being fast enough

or whatever area we’re in that we just don’t quite measure up.

But you know there is good news with any type of failure. We can use it to make ourselves bitter or we can use to make ourselves better.

We can use that moment of failure to sit in our shame and look at all the things that we didn’t do right and beat ourselves up about it.

OR we can use that failure to adjust in the areas we didn’t quite make the mark, and do better next time. In this case, it’s no longer a failure, but a lesson learned.

When we fail, it just shows we are trying something that’s out of our comfort zone and that’s a good thing! It takes a lot of bravery. In most things in life that have value we will not succeed at the first attempt.

Thomas Edison tried over 10,000 times to invent the lightbulb. It only took him one success to be successful. He is credited with saying “ I have not failed , I have just found 10,000 ways that don’t work”

When we fail at something, the good news is that we can choose. We can choose to be defeated or to get back up and try again. I have learned many things in life. The greatest teachers in my life were my failures. They taught me my limits and where I needed to improve, and that’s what we have to do as students in martial arts and in life.

So when you try a new kata, a new kick, or a new judo throw and you don’t get it right the first time – be encouraged that you have found a way that doesn’t work for you and keep going.

A great wartime General Douglas MacArthur is known for a saying

“ I don’t judge a person by how far they fall. I judge them by how far they bounce back up”

The Bible offers encouragement as well:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So take your wins and your losses and use them to propel yourself to the next level. It’s ok to mess up. Mistakes are how we learn. As long as you never give up you never truly fail.

Love you guys

Stay strong

Stay dedicated

Stay motivated

And above all, be that Warrior of God, I know you are

Hello warriors!  

At the time of this writing the weather is winter(ish) and really coming in to look like the winter.  Although next week it will be in 80’s.  

Meh.  Louisiana!! 

I want to talk about a word that gets some bad press.  

Discipline.  

Yikes!!! That word can conjure up thoughts of punishments.  Depending on your age it can be groundings, a nap or restrictions on enjoyable hobbies.  Which, my young warriors take heart!  As an older warrior, a nap becomes a reward.  

However.  

There is freedom in discipline.  The discipline I talk about is taking control of yourself and your body.  

Also it means taking control of emotions.   One thing I have learned in life is that: If you don’t own your emotions, they will own you.  

And that means they will dictate how you behave.  

And that’s not a good thing.  Our emotions are real and need to be recognized.  They should not tell us what to do.  But guide us to where our heart is at.  

The Bible speaks to this. 

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We must bring our thoughts under captivity to Gods ever present love and wisdom.   

When I find myself offended, mad, or hurt. I go to God and ask him to help me find what is causing that and what He needs me to do with it.  

That takes discipline.  And in that I can find my freedom.  

Freedom to give God my troubles and worries.  Freedom to know He will direct me where I need to go.  

Stay strong Warriors!  Stay Disciplined!

Lessons from the Dojo

Hello! This is my first attempt at doing a weekly blog.  While my musings and  attempts at comprehensible speech are entertaining to our dog (Tully is her name) . Let’s hope this will be the same success with you guys!

Back in September we had a tournament.  Yes.  A tournament.  A word that can conjure up the innermost nerves and fears. 

However, what makes a tournament a tournament is not what many think.  Is it a way to showcase your training? Yes! Is it a way to compete against others of the same rank? Absolutely!  It is also a forum for fellowship and community!  100 percent! Is it an excuse to eat candy and call it “My fighting energy “! Probably not and that’s just me.  

Those are important things that the tournament represents.  For me though the most critical aspect is this.  

Staying humble. 

What?!?! Humble?  “ Bo, did you get kicked in the head too hard?”  Why yes I did. (Lonestar Martial Arts don’t play)  However, that’s not the point and I digress.  

At the heart of Martial Arts is staying humble and teachable.  If you don’t hold that humble spirit.  Then you don’t have a teachable spirit.  And if you don’t have that teachable spirit.  Then what are you in martial arts to really do? 

When you step in a ring to fight, perform Kata or weapons.  There is always going to be someone better than you. That’s not a knock on your/our skill level, but a nod of the head to the dedication that person has put into that part of their discipline.  

It is  motivation for us all to practice a little more each day.    It takes being humble enough  to tell yourself. “You know, their stance is really good and that kick was perfect.  I need to put more time in to get there”.  

 

The Bible speaks to that teachable spirit as well. 

It is not something I say to condemn confidence. We need to be proud of the training we are working on. 

But to have that reminder we all have something to continue learning.  

So get in there, get sweaty, and keep pushing!!!

Stay Humble Fellow Warriors of God!!

We are so proud of our students! They have worked hard to belt up to the next level

Parker N

Parker R

Harley

Yvie

Graham

Ryan

La’marcus

Shawn

River

Stetson

Aliah (Honey Badger)