Meditations on God

Art Is The Result (Not The Goal)
“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”
― Steven Pressfield, ‘The War of Art’

The artist’s commitment is not to doing good work, but simply to doing work. Whether that work is good or not can only be determined in hindsight, once it has been created. Insisting on only creating that which is good is a form of procrastination the result of which will be no work at all.

By removing any expectations for the quality of the results we get, we give ourselves space to explore and room to grow. We give ourselves permission to make mistakes and to see our work for what it truly is. That is to say, we begin to see our efforts as merely practice.

If our practice results in something beautiful, inspirational, or insightful, we should see this a gift. As with all gifts, we should neither expect nor demand this from ourselves or our work. Instead, we should receive it graciously and share it generously, again, with no expectation for any particular result because sharing is merely another form of practice.

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.

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April 24, 2020

art, artist, creating, creation, gift, giving, graciousness, Inspiration, journey, path, practice, receiving, the war of art, work
Live A Life In Opposition To Regret
Figure out what the one thing is that, if you do not do it, you will forever regret it, start moving in the direction of that thing, and never stop.

Regret tells us more about who we want to be than passion does. Passion comes and goes, it changes focus, and, ideally, it evolves as we mature. Regret, on the other hand, stays with us until we do something about it, until we face it and until we overcome it with action.

Our passions can change from day to day, moment to moment, based on input, on environment, and on circumstances. We become passionate about different things at different times in our lives depending on what we are personally going through, the influence of our peers, and even the cultural climate. Our passions wax and wane as we age, changing with the seasons, leading us in whatever direction we are willing to follow, but regret, real, deep regret remains inside us, regardless of whatever else is going on.

Unlike passion, which can be influenced by external forces and can therefore deceive us, regret is tied directly to our essence, to who we are at our core, at a soul level, if you will. Regret is linked directly to our conscience, beyond what we perceive as right and wrong, beyond who we think we want to be, demanding that we be who we truly are or suffer its gnawing, nagging, malignant voice for the remainder of our days. By understanding and amending our regrets, and working tirelessly to not experience new ones, we are much more likely to live meaningful, fulfilling lives than our fleeting and fickle passions will ever lead us to.

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.

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April 23, 2020

fulfillment, intention, journey, life, meaning, passion, path, purpose, regret, understanding
Lead In Your Own Way
If you look around and do not see a leader, it is you.

My grandfather used to tell me a story about a study that he had read about. It represented what he liked to refer to as an object lesson. This particular story, and its subsequent lesson, was about leadership.

Researchers put ten strangers in a room and gave them a task to complete. After some back and forth chatter, one of the strangers took the lead, began strategizing with the others, brainstorming a course of action, and delegating tasks. Together, they completed the project.

Once the project was complete, the researchers removed the stranger who took the lead on the project from the room and gave the remaining nine participants another task to complete. Once again, after some back and forth discussion, one of the strangers took the lead, began strategizing with the others, brainstorming a course of action, and delegating tasks until the group completed the project together. This was done over and over again until only two people were left, always with the same or similar results.

The point of this anecdote, my grandfather explained to me, was that leadership is not a trait someone is born with, but a role that one willingly steps into out of necessity when others will not. There may be people who have more capacity and charisma for it than others, but, leadership can be taught and it can be learned or even improvised. And, within each of us is the potential to be a leader in our own unique way.

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.

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April 22, 2020

accountability, choice, extreme ownership, leaders, leadership, leading, ownership, volunteer, volunteering, volunteerism
Love Requires Choice
Quite often, our love is measured in sacrifice.

When we think about what love means, it is easy to conjure ideas about all of the things we give and receive in its name. We imagine the time, energy, and emotion that we put into our relationships and, in the same thought, we imagine how that investment is or will be reciprocated. Love, we imagine, is a two-way street, a limitless cycle of giving and receiving for mutual benefit.

We know that when we give of ourselves to those we love, we will feel good about having done so. Beyond that, we know that witnessing the joy of those we love when they receive what we have to offer will uplift us even further. And yet, within this giving, there is also the natural hope that it will not be one-sided and that we will benefit from such care, kindness, and generosity returned back to us in some form or another.

While both giving and even receiving are essential facets of any loving relationship, it is actually what we are willing to give up for others with no expectation of reciprocity that is the true measure, and also the true test, of our love. Love’s deepest and most raw, even painful, manifestation is self-sacrifice. In order for such sacrifices to truly come from a place of love, however, they can not be demanded of us, they can not be manipulated out of us, and they can not be negotiated for because love, in its purest form, is an informed, willful decision to give.

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.

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April 21, 2020

choice, compassion, empathy, free will, gifts, giving, kindness, love, receiving, sacrifice
Transforming Panic Into Victory
When the path is not clear, be still, but do something.

One of the things that Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) teaches us is that fear and anxiety in bad positions leads to flailing and hasty decisions which lead to mistakes that inevitably put us in worse positions from which we are likely to get submitted. When we find ourselves in bad positions, we are far better off slowing down and breathing than we are speeding up and panicking. We do not slow down and breathe so that we can do nothing, but so that we can do the right thing.

By slowing down and taking a breath, we are able to look at our situation from the perspective of what is possible instead of fighting against what is impossible. We take stock of our where we went wrong and what we need to do in order to stop our situation from getting worse. We begin to see our weaknesses so that we can shore them up and protect ourselves, but also the openings through which to escape and potentially reverse our bad fortune.

The first order of business when we find ourselves compromised and on the defensive is to protect ourselves from harm, from getting submitted, but we can not do this from a place of panic. We must remain calm and composed or at least regain our calm and our composure. We are already losing, but a deep breath and a clear head could be the difference between total defeat and transforming our predicament into victory.

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.

Photo of Relson Gracie at Kogen Dojo by Mike Oswald Photography

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April 20, 2020

bjj, brazilian jiu-jitsu, breathing, calm, composed, defeat, fear, haste, losing, panic, reversal, submission, victory, winning

Art Is The Result (Not The Goal)

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Live A Life In Opposition To Regret

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Lead In Your Own Way

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Love Requires Choice

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Transforming Panic Into Victory

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