Challenges, difficulties, and troubles are part of the deal.
We do not get to control how they come at us, when, or in what quantity.
Their timing is never convenient.
When it is our time to struggle, it is simply our time.
We do get to control how we respond to our struggles, however.
We get to choose how we will behave once their inevitability manifests as actuality.
When faced with adversity, we must decide who we want to be because of it or in spite of it.
We must decide how we want it to affect us.
We can either allow it to overcome us, to defeat us, and to change us for the worse, or we can rise to meet the challenge, adapt to our new circumstances, and become better people because of it.
Every obstacle is an opportunity for improvement if we allow it to be.
We risk being overwhelmed by life’s challenges whether we try too hard or not hard enough, but only one of these options can lead us beyond our difficulties to success.
Life will not always be easy.
We will struggle.
At times, we will be overwhelmed by decisions, challenges, and setbacks.
This is true whether we are trying to get ahead or not.
Effort, trying our hardest, doing our best, does not guarantee us success.
It certainly does not guarantee that things will be easy, that we will not be overwhelmed, or that we will not fail.
The only thing that effort promises us is that we can be successful, not that we will.
Lack of effort, on the other hand, does not offer us any promises of success either.
Lack of effort does, however, guarantee that we will not be successful.
The choice we must make, therefore, is whether we want to take a chance on the possibility of success or if we want to guarantee our failure.
Through effort, at least we have a chance.
At least we have hope.
Life will still be difficult.
We will still struggle and get overwhelmed at times.
As long as we do not give up, as long as we continue to push forward, we give ourselves the opportunity to make our suffering temporary.
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 & Bodyand Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
While we should not turn away from difficulty purely for the sake of comfort, we also should not seek out difficulty unnecessarily for the sake of itself.
Sometimes, things are difficult for no reason other than that they are difficult.
Not all difficulty is meant to be faced head on, moved through, or overcome.
Some obstacles, challenges, and hardships exist specifically to be avoided, bypassed, or circumvented.
That is their lesson.
Sometimes, the only thing to be learned from some circumstance, environment, or relationship is that we should find an better way, a more efficient path, and more effective means.
Intentionally seeking out difficulty, pain, and suffering for their own sake is not only counterproductive, but it is actually self destructive.
Difficulty for the sake of difficulty wears down our minds.
Pain for the sake of pain wears down our bodies.
Suffering for the sake fo suffering wears down our spirits.
Injuries do not make us stronger.
Sometimes, the path of less resistance is actually the better path.
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 & Bodyand Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
The ability to appreciate and rejoice in the tiniest details of our lives can be extrapolated out to an immense sense of gratitude for the bigger picture if we allow it to.
Sometimes life, with all of the complexity and challenges it presents to us from day to day, can become overwhelming.
There are times when it can be difficult to imagine how to overcome some of the trials and tribulations that come our way.
Unexpected tragedy may strike, we might experience troubles at home, problems with our health, or financial struggles that seem, from our present perspective, to be insurmountable.
Our burdens may feel like too much to bear.
Obstacles may appear to be blocking our every path forward.
At times like these, it may help to look closer, to hone in on one single detail, moment, or experience that brings or has brought us joy, to hyper-focus on this and to consider the beauty of it.
If even one thing can make us smile, can give us a sense of awe and gratitude, even if just for a moment, there is hope.
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 & Bodyand Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
Meditations on God 