We should remain flexible in our attitudes, but not in our standards.
Compromise is a necessary facet of human existence.
No matter how strongly we believe something, if we want to get along with others, we will have to make concessions for the sake of our relationships.
An attitude of rigidity rarely serves the greater good as much as it serves our egos.
Inflexibility keeps us stuck in place, incapable of growing, changing, and evolving, while the world moves on around us.
For this reason, we must remain pliable.
We must remain open to new attitudes, ideas, and beliefs.
And, we must be willing to change our minds, our perspective, and our direction as need requires.
Our standards, however, the moral foundation upon which we stand and move, should never be compromised in the process.
Without standards, we risk being so flexible, so pliable, and so porous that we become something else altogether.
Without standards, we risk losing ourselves and becoming someone else entirely.
Relationships demand that we change, but we must also demand of ourselves that our integrity remains constant and uncompromised.
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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Positive change begins by asking newer, better questions. Inquisitiveness, then, can be seen as a positive trait. This is generally true, but there are times when asking questions hinders progress, rather than aiding it.
Sometimes we do not need to know everything in order to accomplish the mission, task, or goal at hand. In some cases, the need to know more is actually just a means of procrastination or resistance to the process, a way of injecting our ego, opinions, or prejudices where they are not needed or wanted.
Other times, having too much information too soon will actually slow us down, either when time is of the essence or when the ‘why’ will become evident as the result of the action, not before it. Knowledge without understanding can cause unnecessary friction, especially when we face something new or frightening wherein understanding is the result of hindsight not forethought.
Action has a greater potential to change our thinking than our thinking does to change our action. Too many questions prior to action can lead to conflict, both internal and external, inaction, or both. Our instincts are more reliable and powerful than our intellects anyway, so we are better served by quieting the latter to listen to the former if we truly value growth and progress.
Meditations on God 