Gratitude for Yourself and Others

[Millennial Martial Artist]

I've gotten to thinking a lot about what I have to be grateful for. As I continue my training as a third degree black belt, preparing for my fourth degree and continuing to learn the business of martial arts so I can open my own school, I have been finding myself quite overwhelmed with these new things. It has added a lot of stress on my shoulders, but a new kind of stress. Before when I was working a fast food job, and then a retail job, I was stressed just as well. But I truly don't think I had anything to be grateful for. I mean, of course I was grateful I had these jobs, and I was grateful that I was working with pretty cool and alright people. I was grateful for the money I was making, and the things that I was learning. However, this gratitude has shifted a lot. I am now working towards the career that I have envisioned for myself since I was 18 years old, which seriously manifested about 3 years ago. I finally took my biggest steps towards my goal of owning a martial arts school about 8 months ago, and it has been a rollercoaster. I brought this up to my instructor, and he gave me his excerpts on gratitude, and some background that he had when he was in a similar position that I am in now. If you want to read any of it to get a better insight, check out What is Gratitude? A Mastership Thesis by Master Travis Dillow. In this time now, I have seen that martial arts has given me a new sense of gratitude, regardless of how stressed I might feel. I know that this is a long story, so the TL;DR for you guys: martial arts can bring a sense of gratitude, especially when using the skills to hone in on your leadership. What is it you guys and gals are grateful for in your every day lives? What are you grateful to have learned and accomplished through your training? And who are you grateful to have met? Overall, what brings you a sense of gratitude through your martial arts?

 

[Jenna]

I've gotten to thinking a lot about what I have to be grateful for. As I continue my training as a third degree black belt, preparing for my fourth degree and continuing to learn the business of martial arts so I can open my own school, I have been finding myself quite overwhelmed with these new things. It has added a lot of stress on my shoulders, but a new kind of stress. Before when I was working a fast food job, and then a retail job, I was stressed just as well. But I truly don't think I had anything to be grateful for. I mean, of course I was grateful I had these jobs, and I was grateful that I was working with pretty cool and alright people. I was grateful for the money I was making, and the things that I was learning. However, this gratitude has shifted a lot. I am now working towards the career that I have envisioned for myself since I was 18 years old, which seriously manifested about 3 years ago. I finally took my biggest steps towards my goal of owning a martial arts school about 8 months ago, and it has been a rollercoaster. I brought this up to my instructor, and he gave me his excerpts on gratitude, and some background that he had when he was in a similar position that I am in now. If you want to read any of it to get a better insight, check out What is Gratitude? A Mastership Thesis by Master Travis Dillow. In this time now, I have seen that martial arts has given me a new sense of gratitude, regardless of how stressed I might feel. I know that this is a long story, so the TL;DR for you guys: martial arts can bring a sense of gratitude, especially when using the skills to hone in on your leadership. What is it you guys and gals are grateful for in your every day lives? What are you grateful to have learned and accomplished through your training? And who are you grateful to have met? Overall, what brings you a sense of gratitude through your martial arts?

All experience and all thing that happen in our life we can give gratitude to.. IF, that is, we can liberate our selves from the adjudging of one experience as good and another as not good

Me I try when I am capable of it to live such that there is not anything I am not grateful for even though to others that some time seem odd

My MA to me is not just set of technique and but rather have had significant shaping on how I have lived

through my MA I have sense of gratitude that I -on most occasion- do not bring any more disharmony to a reality which is already brimful of that as it is

every one I have met have taught me some thing even it is a way not to be or having caused some kind of deliberate hurt or injury to me still I have learned about how to be and how not to

I am glad you can step out of your plans for a moment and establish where you are and from where you have come.. I wish you every success on your journey xo

 

[jobo]

I've gotten to thinking a lot about what I have to be grateful for. As I continue my training as a third degree black belt, preparing for my fourth degree and continuing to learn the business of martial arts so I can open my own school, I have been finding myself quite overwhelmed with these new things. It has added a lot of stress on my shoulders, but a new kind of stress. Before when I was working a fast food job, and then a retail job, I was stressed just as well. But I truly don't think I had anything to be grateful for. I mean, of course I was grateful I had these jobs, and I was grateful that I was working with pretty cool and alright people. I was grateful for the money I was making, and the things that I was learning. However, this gratitude has shifted a lot. I am now working towards the career that I have envisioned for myself since I was 18 years old, which seriously manifested about 3 years ago. I finally took my biggest steps towards my goal of owning a martial arts school about 8 months ago, and it has been a rollercoaster. I brought this up to my instructor, and he gave me his excerpts on gratitude, and some background that he had when he was in a similar position that I am in now. If you want to read any of it to get a better insight, check out What is Gratitude? A Mastership Thesis by Master Travis Dillow. In this time now, I have seen that martial arts has given me a new sense of gratitude, regardless of how stressed I might feel. I know that this is a long story, so the TL;DR for you guys: martial arts can bring a sense of gratitude, especially when using the skills to hone in on your leadership. What is it you guys and gals are grateful for in your every day lives? What are you grateful to have learned and accomplished through your training? And who are you grateful to have met? Overall, what brings you a sense of gratitude through your martial arts?

Everyday I am grateful that they invented the paragraph. It makes reading so much easier

 

[JP3]

What is it you guys and gals are grateful for in your every day lives? What are you grateful to have learned and accomplished through your training? And who are you grateful to have met? Overall, what brings you a sense of gratitude through your martial arts?

Man... this could be long. I mean like the Amazon river kind of long, but that'd end up boring as y'all don't know the people by name or description, so I'll try to not beat it up.

My first aikido instructor, Paul Chang (traditional, Ueshiba line), when I was 8 y/o, introduced me to an entire new world of life possibilities. It was that big a deal.

Entering college, after figuring out that a Division 1 basketball life was not in the cards (dern it), I turned to TKD, and went nuts. Trained 6 days a week, every class I could get into, even the one for the little kids, in which my instructor (Mark Prosser) had me helping kids out when I wasn't in line with them, demonstrating line drills properly (or.. as properly as I could for a yellow, green, blue then red belt).

Then Mikhail Kuns, a guy my own age who was already deep into chasing his own dream of being a professional MA instructor. Mike had his own school and (as I had no real money, just lots of energy and some skill) offered to waive my dues if I'd teach some of his TKD classes in exchange for a place to workout and learn hapkido (HKD) from him. This became a pattern later in life.... teach in exchange for learning. It is a nice system. I was going to be at the dojo anyway...

Then into more schooling and repeat the same pattern as I had with Mike, with my buddy Frank Yoon (Yoon's Judo & Taekwondo School in Tulsa), where again, traded teaching for learning, this time judo.

And, capping them all, for my wife. When we were first dating, she wanted to come see what it was I did all the time in the afternoon and evenings (teaching TKD/HKD and learning judo). It... um... had a positive effect on her with regards to our relationship, let's put it that way and leave that be.

All along the past 41 years.... training and having places to train, learn, grow, laugh, sweat, consider, philosophize, sometimes pontificate (badly) and be forgiven for it and so on.

 

[Buka]

I'm grateful I had the opportunity to not miss one class for the first five years I trained, missing the first one because of a transportation problem. (I actually cried) I'm grateful, that later, I had a lot of students who felt the same way. I'm grateful that I realize not everyone has had that opportunity.

I'm grateful that the people who taught me Martial Arts actually knew how to fight, grateful for the people that made me understand it was going to take at least ten years to have even a clue of what Martial Arts are about, grateful for some of the older guys I saw when I was a pup-belt-kid because they led by example and not hyperbole. I'm grateful Martial Arts was the most difficult thing I've ever done on purpose. I'm grateful that when I cinch my belt around my waist, I still get that "alright, let's do this" feeling that I've always gotten. If I ever lose that feeling, I won't train any more.

And I'm grateful for ice.