Meditations on God

Create Value for Proft
If we focus on creating value, instead of making profit, the profit will take care of itself.

We all need to feel like we are making progress, that we are moving forward and not backwards in life. In financial terms, progress means profit. This means that we are taking away from any business exchange more than we put into it, that for the time, effort, and financial investment we put in on the front end, we are receiving more than that on the back end.

This exchange is perceived differently by different people and profit is not always measured in financial terms. If we receive something we value more, whether it is money, time, a product, a service, or even something intangible like respect or attention, in exchange for that which we value less, we are profitable. It is the perception of value that determines profit.

In order to be profitable, we must first create something that others perceive as being more valuable than that which they are willing to give us for it. Furthermore, we must also value that which they are willing to give us more than we value the time, energy, and resources that we put into creating the thing they want. Without creation, there is no value, and without value, there is no profit.

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, Severna Park’s Holistic Chamber of Commerce, and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

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October 7, 2019

business, create, creativity, exchange, profit, value
Practice Caring to Practice Courage
Not caring about what other people think is not the same as putting ourselves out there and being courageous.

Courage requires risk. It requires that, should we fail, there will be consequences. If we do not care about what other people think, no matter how personal and meaningful the work we do is, there is no courage in it because there is no risk of consequence.

The best, most meaningful, and personal work, the truly creative work, demands that we take risk. It demands that we put ourselves on the line, that we put our hearts on the line. It demands that we open ourselves up to be seen and that we care what others see. It demands that we are willing and able to be hurt.

Anything worth doing puts us in this position of vulnerability. It puts us in a position where, if it is not seen, if it is not accepted, and if it is not appreciated, that we feel something about that. We must feel something because the best creative work is not separate from us. It comes from the deepest, most personal part of us. It is us.

That we put our work out in the world anyway, that we put ourselves out in the world anyway, that is where the courage lies. If we are truly doing work that is personal and unique to us, that is creative in the truest sense of the word, we will fail and we will be hurt. That we do it again, in spite of failing and in spite of being hurt by that failure, is where courage is repeated and becomes a practice in itself.

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, Severna Park’s Holistic Chamber of Commerce, and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

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October 6, 2019

bravery, caring, courage, creative work, creativity, personal work, risk, vulnerabilty
Can You Live With The Worst I Have To Offer?
In any relationship, it is not the things that we like about another person, but the things that we don’t like, that we are committing to.

If we spend enough time with a person, it is inevitable that we will find things that we do not like about them. When deciding if we want to spend even more time with that person, especially if we are considering a committed, longterm relationship with them, whether it is platonic, romantic, or business, we have to consider how much the things that bother us really bother us.

The good qualities of a person work themselves out. The things we like about a person make no demands of us in terms of patience, tolerance, or understanding. They do not require our compassion. The things that annoy us, make us wince or cringe, and get under our skin, those are the things that test the limits of who we are and how much we really want to be with this other person.

We must decide if the things that bother us are enough to make us quit the relationship or if we can live with them because we are most likely not going to change the other person. Do their idiosyncrasies, weaknesses, and flaws fall on the side of generosity, warmth, and kindness? Or do they fall on the side of selfishness, coldness, and cruelty?

A relationship, if it is to be meaningful in any way, requires us to put our hopes and our dreams in the hands of another. At some point, they will let us down. They will fail us. We will be hurt and disappointed. We must ask ourselves whether or not we can live with the way in which they will do this. Good intentions, in spite of what is said about them, go a long 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, Severna Park’s Holistic Chamber of Commerce, and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

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October 5, 2019

compassion, empathy, good intentions, patience, tolerance, understanding
Right or Righteous (A Focus On Service)
If, instead of trying to be right, we try to be of service, we will find that we are much more successful over time and quite a bit happier in general.

Being right feels good because it feels safe and protected. We imagine that simply by the fact that we are right, that we are beyond reproach and that we are excused from behaving civilly. We hide behind the fact that we are right and forget to also be good.

Sometimes we can be so right that we are wrong. We can be so right that we forget about the humanity of the person or persons we are dealing with and we behave wrongly in our rightness. Being right is not an excuse to be arrogant, cruel, or unforgiving.

Without graciousness, humility, and a generous, forgiving spirit, we may be right, but we have hindered our ability to be useful. Being right as a primary goal is a dead end. It leaves us alone, clinging to our position like a life raft in a stormy ocean. It is much better to focus on being of service instead.

Being of service requires us to be flexible. It doesn’t mean that we must hold false opinions or take incorrect positions on things, but it does mean that we must be willing to set aside our rightness for a little while in order to do what is right instead. By sacrificing our need to be right in order to be of service, to be helpful, and to be useful, we find that, over time, that which was once right is replaced that which is now righteous. .

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, Severna Park’s Holistic Chamber of Commerce, and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

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October 4, 2019

be of service, be yourself, generosity, graciousness, humility, right, service, value, wrong
But First Be Useful
It is often better to be useful than to be yourself.

Very few people are born with such extraordinary talent and charisma that their path to being heard, seen, and respected is easy or free of obstacles. Contrary to what we are often told, most of us cannot simply be ourselves and expect to get anywhere in life. Instead, we have to prove ourselves. We have to prove that we have good ideas, that we can do good work, that we can work well with and for others, and that our ideas and our work have real, practical value to those we work with or for.

There is no promise in this world of being liked or accepted by others. Even if we live in a country where we are free to express ourselves and pursue our interests, nothing guarantees that others will actually accept those views or that we can earn a living pursuing the things that interest us. If, however, we begin by being useful in some way, it is much more likely that the people we are useful to will consider or even seek out our perspective and possibly even support our interests.

Even being useful does not guarantee that our opinions or interests will be valued, but if we are not useful, it is all but certain that they won’t be. This should not require us to pretend to be someone else, to sell out, or to do work that violates our morality or integrity, but a useful version of ourselves will get much farther in life than a useless one.

Think of usefulness like practice. The more we practice being useful, the more we understand what people need and how the world works. In this way, usefulness is the practical manifestation of empathy. Usefulness gives us space in our relationships to develop our ideas, skills, and interests in such a way that, when we have something unique to say or to offer the world, we will be more likely to be seen, heard, and accepted because we have already proven 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, Severna Park’s Holistic Chamber of Commerce, and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

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October 3, 2019

efficacy, effort, skill, talent, useful, usefulness, value

Create Value for Proft

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Practice Caring to Practice Courage

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Can You Live With The Worst I Have To Offer?

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Right or Righteous (A Focus On Service)

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But First Be Useful

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