Meditations on God

To Be Joyful Is To Be Contrarian
We should seek out that which genuinely excites us, not that which simply gets us by.

There is more to life than calculated practicality. In fact, it could be argued that a life lived based on practicality alone is a life not lived at all. Sometimes it is necessary to run away from that which is practical and toward that which, beyond all reason and rationality, brings us joy and excitement.

There is a danger in seeking out the things that joyfully excite us. Others may not understand and they may actually criticize and even condemn us for our choices, especially if our choices do not seem practical. Conformity may bring us external acceptance from our peers, our families, and our culture, but this external acceptance comes at the cost of an incremental internal death each day we deny the truths of our hearts and minds.

True joy, true love, and true passion are always nonconforming. They are always contrarian and revolutionary. They expose us, make us stand out from the crowd, and bring attention to ourselves in the way that makes the ordinary, the fearful, and the passive uncomfortable, but the alternative is to shrink down into the shadows and deny the essence of our very existence.

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.

Street art photo taken by Robert Van Valkenburgh, artist unknown unless otherwise noted.

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February 15, 2020

be yourself, contrarian, essence, express yourself, joy, love, nonconformist, nonconformity, passion, revolutionary
Courage Points Toward Resistance (Not Away From It)
The barriers between us and our freedom and fulfillment often look and feel a lot like the exact things inside us that we do not want to face.

We each have within us a compass of sorts, but it works backwards. Instead of pointing us toward our true north, it actually points us away from the things we need, desire, and will benefit from the most. This compass uses fear, resistance, insecurity, justification, rationalization, and a hundred other forms of procrastination and avoidance in order to drive us away from who we are destined to be.

There is a quiet voice inside each of us, our true north, telling us what and who we are truly capable of becoming and how to move toward that. Much louder, however, is the voice that tells us all of the reasons we can not or should not move in that direction. This latter voice, this negative compass, if we learn to recognize it for what it is, is an invaluable tool for finding our way and this is done by simply moving toward that which it points us away from.

By stepping back and listening to, identifying, and acknowledging the things we fear and most want to avoid, we shine a light on the obstacles in our way to becoming our best selves and living our best lives. If we decide that we do not want to know what is on the other side of these obstacles, we can turn away from them and walk back into the shadows. If, on the other hand, we choose bravery, courage, and curiosity, we now know which way to find these in ourselves, and that way is through.

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.

Street art photo taken by Robert Van Valkenburgh, artist unknown unless otherwise noted.

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February 14, 2020

avoidance, barriers, bravery, courage, fear, obstacles, procrastination, resistance, the path, the way
Finite Goals Bring Fleeting Joy
When our goals are specific, we are more likely to achieve them, but we are also more likely to find disappointment and dissatisfaction when we do.

By having specific, measurable goals, we set ourselves up for success. It is easier to achieve goals that we can name and that we can define. The problem is that once we reach these goals, once we achieve what we set out to achieve, we often find that it was not enough to satisfy us and that now we must set a new, higher mark to reach for.

Accomplishment is a double-edged sword, in that it is necessary, but also inherently disappointing. We all need to feel like our lives have meaning and purpose, but putting the weight of this on extrinsic, finite achievements will always leave us with a fleeting sense of joy. We then chase that joy by setting new goals and achieving more, but, if we are not careful, this can become a never-ending cycle of anticipation, excitement, and letdown.

Once our basic needs are met, once we are living above base-level survival, if we truly want to find joy and contentment in our lives, we must look beyond the finite, beyond the specific, and beyond the measurable. We must look deeper, farther, but also closer to home. If we want to live lives of meaning and purpose, where every step forward brings us lasting peace, we must start by being present.

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.

Street art photo taken by Robert Van Valkenburgh, artist unknown unless otherwise noted.

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February 11, 2020

achievement, be present, contentment, goals, in the moment, joy, personal goals, presence, success
Support Requires Sharing
Even with the best ideas and the passion to back them up, we will make very little progress without support from others.

None of us gets very far alone. We need others in order to do our best work. We do not necessarily need them for the work itself, but we need them to witness our work, to hear it, to see it, to experience it, and to decide whether or not it holds any meaning, truth, or value to them.

If our work is to have an affect on the world, it must be experienced by others. It must touch them and create change in their lives. If this change is to take, however, if it is to stick, it must do so with their consent, permission, and support.

This means that if we want to do good work that affects the change we want, we must make ourselves vulnerable. We must share our ideas and we must prepare ourselves for criticism, rejection, and disapproval because, without the risk of these, there is very little likelihood that our idea was worth having in the first place. Support succeeds, it does not precede, sharing.

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.

Street art photo taken by Robert Van Valkenburgh, artist unknown unless otherwise noted.

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February 10, 2020

community, consent, failure, family, fear, giving, permission, rejection, risk, sharing, support
Anchors of Self Deception
That which we believe has propelled us forward may, in fact, be exactly that which has held us back.

We do not and can not know everything about ourselves or the world we live in. We all hold onto false beliefs as a matter of self-protection because too much truth, regarding our flaws, our fragility, and our failings, revealed too fast, would paralyze us in shock and hopelessness. Out of necessity, we are masters of self deception.

When we make progress in our lives, we tell ourselves all sorts of stories about how we did it, why our methods were effective, and who was responsible for our growth and success. We tell ourselves that we understand the formula and, because both progress and affirmation feel good, we stick with that formula to try to replicate and expand our results. The problem is that, lacking omniscience and objectivity, we often misinterpret the causes of our own success.

There are variables leading up to and driving our success (or failure) that were, and are, totally outside of our control and scope of influence. The circumstances, traits, and behaviors that we believe brought us to this point may actually be exactly the things that are holding us back from progressing forward with exponential results. The more confident and self-assured we feel, the more we should step back to consider the fact that we may be missing something crucial and that the truths we cling to may actually be anchors pulling us down and 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, as well as a founding member of the Severna Park and Baltimore Holistic Chamber of Commerce.

Street art photo taken by Robert Van Valkenburgh, artist unknown unless otherwise noted.

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February 9, 2020

belief, open mindedness, openness, progress, self deception, truth, understanding

To Be Joyful Is To Be Contrarian

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Courage Points Toward Resistance (Not Away From It)

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Finite Goals Bring Fleeting Joy

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Support Requires Sharing

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Anchors of Self Deception

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