If someone brings out the worst in us, we should be thankful.
They are doing us a favor.
They are teaching us about parts of ourselves that we may have otherwise remained ignorant of.
It is not easy to unearth the deepest, darkest aspects of our character.
These parts of who we are want to remain hidden.
They avoid the light, knowing that exposure may lead to their demise.
In the shadows of our being, they hide and whisper to us, trying to control us subtly so as to go unnoticed.
Their language is fear, anger, insecurity, and all other forms of life-stealing thoughts and emotions, our isolation and alienation from the light being their only goal.
But every once in a while the darkness within us shows its hand.
Some person or circumstance affects us in just the right way at exactly the right time and the darkness consumes us.
In these moments, it feels as though the light leaves us and all we feel is anger, fear, and pain.
In spite of how we may feel, these moments are a gift, however, for it is through them that we gain our greatest insight into that which is holding us back, controlling us, manipulating us, and keeping us from living a life as our true selves.
If we allow them to be, these moments are enlightening in every sense of the word.
We should, therefore, be thankful for those persons and situations that bring us to these dark, hidden places within ourselves.
For it is only by traversing the darkness within us that we will find our light to shine unto the world.
HOLISTIC BUDO: As in Life, so too in Budo. As in Budo, so too in Life.