Sometimes our greatest enemy, our grandest saboteur, is the story we tell ourselves about who we are and the value of our contribution to the lives of those around us.
We cannot base our lives solely on the opinions of others, but we also cannot base our lives solely on our own opinions of ourselves. What we think about ourselves, how we talk to ourselves about our short-comings, our past failures, and fears about the future, does nothing to serve our true character and our true potential. We are so much more than what others say about us and we are so much more than we say about ourselves.
Life is much more forgiving than we tend to be. We get far more chances to try again, to change, and to do better next time than we often give ourselves or others. The story of judgement we tell ourselves over what we perceive as unforgivable, irredeemable, or irreversible mistakes or wrongdoings is just that, a story.
The truth is that we are beings of change, beings of possibility. We must allow ourselves to become more than a product of perceptions, more than how we think the outside world perceives us and more than what and who we perceive ourselves to be. In spite of what others may think, in spite of what we may think, we are more than a story.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as well as a founding member of the Severna Park and Baltimore Holistic Chamber of Commerce.
Artwork by Ana, except where otherwise noted.
If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.