Taming An Urban Jungle

There's a narrow strip of public green space alongside the road next door to our dojo. It's a sharply sloping piece of land along an overpass, maybe 30 or 40 yards long by 10 yards deep at its widest point. Not a huge swath of land by any means, but pretty big by city standards. The space is unkempt, overgrown, filled with weeds, and it tends to collect the trash that gets discarded by careless drivers and passers-by. But oh, it's got potential!

The green space I'm describing will essentially be our dojo's backyard when we move into our new space this fall. Because we embrace "environmental self-defense" as a philosophy, I've contacted our local Community Development Corporation and it's network of Green Space Advocates to learn more about how to get my dojo involved in helping to enhance, protect, and maintain the area. It will make an excellent "classroom" for us, and a place where we can readily connect with nature in the city.

It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!

Big Fresh, one of my favorite healthy eating spots, sells "Green Guides" from Chelsea Green Publishing to their customers. These little books cover a range of environmentally friendly subjects: biking to work, composting, conserving water, recycling, saving energy, and greening the workplace. As I sat there eating my bean salad, it occurred to me that I should have these guides sitting in the dojo, as part of the dojo library. I already require my students to complete acts of "environmental self-defense" as part of their training, so these Green Guides should fit right in as a "training resource" for my students — right next to the books on punches and kicks.

(As an aside, we also have a growing list of peace education, nonviolent communication, and anger management-related books and materials on the shelves. Yep, that's right: Ghandi and Funakoshi right alongside one another, and somehow it all makes sense!)

Two of my students will be wrapping up their community service project early next week: As part of their Purple Belt test, they've collected over $1,400 and more than 1,000 books for Boston area schools. (Read the full details here.) I'm truly impressed by the leadership, organization, and communications skills my students demonstrate when they put their projects together. And ahhh! Martial artists serving as a force for good in the world! It just doesn't get any better than this!

Moving into summer now. Must make time to rest and relax, even as I gear up mentally (and financially, and strategically…) for our dojo's big move to a new location in the fall! I keep telling myself that I need to dream BIGGER and BOLDER: It was Helen Keller who said, "Life is a great adventure, or nothing at all." Let the games begin!

The Kind of Stuff That Stretches Me

Lots happening this week. One of my students is helping me to develop and coordinate a training/presentation on increasing our interpersonal conflict resolution skills. (Actually, I should really say that I'm helping HER — she's taken the ball and she's really running with it!) When it's ready, I hope to offer this training for all of my students, and then eventually, to also sponsor the training — or something like it — at the dojo for anyone in the community. I'm sure I'll learn a thing or two from the presentation. More tools for the toolkit of life!

I received a request from the Carroll Center for the Blind to provide self-defense and self-empowerment training to a group of teens during their summer camp program. All of the teens in the program will be blind or have some significant vision loss; a few participants may have other developmental disabilities as well. I ran a similar training session for the center last year, and really enjoyed it: the kids were an enthusiastic bunch, and I learned more from them than I could ever have anticipated. This kind of stuff stretches me — it's an honor to be asked to teach — and I'm looking forward to revising and expanding the program for this year's group.

Some badly needed family vacation time coming up at the end of the month!

Some Thoughts on Falling Short

The UBBT asks a lot of us: diet, nutrition, acts of kindness, community service, weekly journaling, daily exercise and meditation, and more. I do the best I can; so do most of my teammates. I'm not overly disappointed when I fall short. I'm not too hard on myself because the falling itself reveals my own imperfections, my own humanity.

Sometimes I'm too lazy. Sometimes I'm too tired, or sick, or injured. Sometimes, I'm just not in the mood. But, I fail forward. My failings bring awareness and they reveal to me the next steps that I need to take in my personal evolution.

There's something magical about failing publicly, too: Even when I fail, I've usually gone beyond the point that most would dare to attempt. I've failed or fallen short while attempting something amazing (or "insane"). Even when I don't hit the mark, I hope that I inspire others just by making the effort.

Besides, wouldn't it be terribly boring if I did every part of the test exactly as it is prescribed?

:)

Same Stuff, Different Applications

Life has been a whirlwind lately. Lots going on in every area — personal, home, dojo, work — and it's left me precious little time to eat and sleep, let alone journal. Please forgive my lack of recent UBBT updates.

Our environmental clean-up project on the Emerald Necklace was a great time. Everyone seemed to have a good time working in the muck together. A great bonding and "environmental self-defense" experience. We weren't in the dojo, but we still managed to squeeze in some training after ward.

An interesting opportunity for demonstrating "how the Black Belt attitude has relevance in everyday life" has come my way: I've been invited by a local, nonprofit "family nurturing" organization to speak on the subjects of goal setting, positive thinking, visualization, and persistence. Here's the twist: My audience will be a group of recent immigrants (most of them non-English speakers) who are facing the challenges of language, culture shock, working and paying the bills, and keeping their kids safe and in school. Apparently, someone in their organization thought that a local karate instructor and marital arts activist like me would make the perfect person for the task of encouraging and motivating such a group. I guess they're right in a way: no one earns a Black Belt without goal setting, positive thinking, visualization, and persistence. Same stuff, different application. I'm looking forward to making the connection. Okay, now, things are getting interesting!

Working with the wonderful folks at the Defeat Diabetes organization, I've decided to sign up for the MADDCAP program to educate the people in my community about the Diabetes. With their help, I'll be adding a health based curriculum component to what I teach at the dojo and in my community: this aligns perfectly with my concept of fitness, wellness, and healthy living as "self-defense."

Learning to Fly

A personal, huge MOMENT OF TRUTH is approaching for me and my dojo, folks. An opportunity to expand our dojo from its current footprint (a "whopping" 840 square feet on the second story in the back corner of an old industrial building - yep, that's a grand 520 feet of training space) to a stand-alone 2,500 square foot building with parking and visibility from the street (Not to mention changing rooms, bathrooms, an office, a lobby area, and all the other amenities that you'd expect to find an a professional martial arts institution)!

(Team, you can ask Hal Gustin about my dojo. he's been there!)

This is something I've wanted to happen for years now. Something that would enable us to take our dojo to an entirely new level. Something that I believe would be nothing short of AMAZING.

So, what's the problem? Well, tripling our size would mean tripling our rent, and even though the landlord is willing to be flexible with a graduated ramp-up rent schedule, I'm absolutely terrified. I can't see how I'll make it all WORK, and I'm hesitating.

I have rationalized all the reasons why I should turn and run from this challenge, all the reasons why I should continue to hide my light — and the light of my students — in the back corner. But it's go or no-go time. THIS is MY Ultimate Black Belt test, my biggest goal. It's the main reason why I signed up for this $%*&! adventure in the first place. I know that all I really need to do is increase the size of my VISION, and then take the leap of faith (and learn how to fly before I hit the ground).

It's time for me to put up or shut up. It's time for me to either step up, or shut down the dojo and walk away — and forget about teaching the martial arts at all.

Teammates, I need your support, your encouragement, your experience — and, perhaps, a gentle, compassionate nudge off the edge of this cliff that I find myself standing on!

Help!

Even On The Busiest of Days...

Missed journaling last week. Caught up in all of my to-do lists, I guess. I've got too much on my plate, but then again, so does everyone these days, right?

I've come to realize that what I really lack is the organization and sense of clear priorities that will help me navigate the chaos more successfully. (Somehow I've gotten away from my daily planner, and I have de-evolved to a "system" of post-it notes. Gotta fix that!)

I also need to admit – and be comfortable with – the fact that I'm never actually going to get it all done. As I heard Wayne Dyer say in an audio presentation, "I'm going to die with a half a tube of toothpaste in the bathroom." If I'm always waiting until everything is 100% done to relax, I'll never actually get to take a breath. So, no more killing myself so I can "afford" to take a break.

This week, I've committed to doing LESS multitasking and more focusing on the NOW. After all, as I heard on one of my audiobooks during this morning's commute to work (okay, that was the "good" kind of multitasking!): "Even on the busiest days, the cramped hours come to us in single moments." Is essence, we can only do one thing at a time, so it's foolish to try to do more.

The Tao Te Ching says, "the sage accomplishes more by doing less." I'm willing to give it a try, and enjoy more of my single moments NOW.