Meditations on God

Stand Up And Be Judged
We cannot live a meaningful life while also expecting everyone to like us.

It simply will not happen.

If we are attempting to be ourselves, to fulfill our potential, and to live a life in accordance with our truth, someone, somewhere will look down on us. Someone, somewhere will have something bad to say about us.

It is impossible to figure out who we are and who we are meant to be by conforming to the expectations, limitations, and insecurities of the people, community, and culture around us.

We have to be bold. We have to be brave. We have to live out loud, in the open, and in the light.

But, we must be aware of the fact that standing in the light makes us vulnerable.

The light shines on the good and the bad in us.

It shines on our strengths and our weaknesses.

It highlights all that makes us unique, especially our flaws our failings.

We cannot step out into the light without being criticized and without being judged.

Judgement is inevitable.

We can either choose to face it, embrace it, and to transcend our fear of it, or we will succumb to it, shrink away from it, and hide because of it.

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.

All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.

Follow Robert Van Valkenburgh and Holistic Budo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
July 28, 2020

be yourself, bravery, courage, criticism, fear, judgement, self expression, transcendence, vulnerability
Improvement Requires Effort
That which we do not actively maintain or improve upon will entropy.

Growth, progress, and improvement are not promised to us.

In fact, quite the opposite is true.

Those aspects of our lives, our relationships, and our selves that we do not work on, put effort into, and try to improve, will decay.

This may happen quickly or it may happen slowly, but it will happen.

Unfortunately, we have no guarantee that our efforts toward improvement will produce the results we desire, but we are guaranteed that no effort will result in neither progress nor stability, but regression.

Simply put, if we want something to get better, we must work on it.

Hope, alone, is not enough.

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.

All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.

Follow Robert Van Valkenburgh and Holistic Budo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
July 27, 2020

change, decay, entropy, goals, growth, improvement, life, progress
From Specifics To Fundamentals
As parents, teachers, leaders, or mentors, one of our most important and powerful tools we have at our disposal is the object lesson.

If we are able to point to and extract from a specific incident, a lesson or principle that applies to a variety of situations or circumstances, and if we are able to communicate that lesson or principle to the person or persons we are attempting to help in a way that is heard, understood, and, most importantly, felt, we empower them to make better decisions in the future.

It is difficult to do this if we are caught up in the immediacy of the moment, however. In order to find the greater lesson or principle in a specific incident, we must be able to step back, to distance ourselves psychologically and emotionally from what is happening, to look at the situation objectively, and to consider what single shift in mentality or behavior would either prevent or replicate this occurrence en masse in the future relative to our desired outcome.

Object lessons are a means of pointing out and communicating repeatable patterns, whether good, bad, or neutral, in a way that these patterns become predictable and controllable. In other words, object lessons are a way to teach causality so that it can be used to one’s advantage, ideally in an ethical, productive, and socially contributive way. Simply put, object lessons empower us to see beyond the specifics to the fundamental.

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.

All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.

Follow Robert Van Valkenburgh and Holistic Budo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
July 26, 2020

essentialism, fundamentals, leading, learning, lessons, life lessons, object lessons, parenting, patterns, priciples, teaching
Focusing On Our Goals (For Our Tribe)
Our actions should support our goals, but our goals should support our community.

It is important to have clarity with regards to our personal goals and to shape our lives in such a way that we are working toward them, not against them.

As we become more focused on what we want to achieve, we begin to notice that one of the greatest barriers to success, in whatever way we define success for ourselves, is overcommitment.

If we say yes to everything, it is very difficult to accomplish anything and discernment becomes imperative.

We have to learn how to say no to activities and commitments that do not help us achieve our goals because our goals, if they are worth achieving, require our undivided attention.

We cannot do this at the sacrifice of our meaningful relationships, however, because, as important as our goals are, it is equally important to remember that any goals that do not include other people in some capacity may not actually be all that worthwhile.

Even the most personal of achievements is better when it is shared in some way.

This is especially true when our achievement is shared with people who love us, support us, and help us along the way, the people who rejoice in our success and agonize over our failure, and for whom we do the same.

These are the people who understand our need to focus, who know that, even if we are not around, we will always be available when it truly matters, and who trust that what we must do, even in solitude, we do for the tribe, for the community, and for them as much as for ourselves.

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.

All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.

Follow Robert Van Valkenburgh and Holistic Budo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
July 25, 2020

achievement, community, discernment, dreams, family, focus, friends, goals, life, purpose, success, support, tribe
Fear Of Change Is The Fear Of Loss
Fear makes us perceive the potential for change as the inevitability of loss.

Fear is a thief. It steals opportunity, growth, and relationships.

It tells us that, if we will lose control, we will lose everything.

It lies to us by saying that, if only everything stays how we think we want it, all will be okay, but that nothing is ever really okay.

Fear does not allow other people to help us. Fear does not allow us to help ourselves.

Fear is mind control.

It blinds us from seeing our potential.

It deafens us to the possibility of love, acceptance, and purpose.

It prevents us from speaking our truth, forcing us into conformity or isolation.

Fear binds us to itself, weighing us down so that we cannot ascend beyond our perceived place in this world.

Fear destroys our lives by convincing us that change is a threat to our security, our safety, and our future.

It tells us that different equates to death.

The truth is that a life worth living exists only beyond the boundaries of fear.

Fear may never go away, but we can learn how to live in spite of it.

The only thing we have to lose is that which is holding us back.

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.

All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.

Follow Robert Van Valkenburgh and Holistic Budo on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.

If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Share this:
X
Facebook
Like Loading…
July 24, 2020

acceptance, ascention, change, conformity, courage, fear, growth, isolation, life, possibility, purpose, risk, transcendence, vulnerability

Stand Up And Be Judged

Share this:

Improvement Requires Effort

Share this:

From Specifics To Fundamentals

Share this:

Focusing On Our Goals (For Our Tribe)

Share this:

Fear Of Change Is The Fear Of Loss

Share this: