Please take a look at Articles on self-defense/conflict/violence for introductions to the references found in the bibliography page.

Please take a look at my bibliography if you do not see a proper reference to a post.

Please take a look at my Notable Quotes

Hey, Attention on Deck!

Hey, NOTHING here is PERSONAL, get over it - Teach Me and I will Learn!


When you begin to feel like you are a tough guy, a warrior, a master of the martial arts or that you have lived a tough life, just take a moment and get some perspective with the following:


I've stopped knives that were coming to disembowel me

I've clawed for my gun while bullets ripped past me

I've dodged as someone tried to put an ax in my skull

I've fought screaming steel and left rubber on the road to avoid death

I've clawed broken glass out of my body after their opening attack failed

I've spit blood and body parts and broke strangle holds before gouging eyes

I've charged into fires, fought through blizzards and run from tornados

I've survived being hunted by gangs, killers and contract killers

The streets were my home, I hunted in the night and was hunted in turn


Please don't brag to me that you're a survivor because someone hit you. And don't tell me how 'tough' you are because of your training. As much as I've been through I know people who have survived much, much worse. - Marc MacYoung

WARNING, CAVEAT AND NOTE

The postings on this blog are my interpretation of readings, studies and experiences therefore errors and omissions are mine and mine alone. The content surrounding the extracts of books, see bibliography on this blog site, are also mine and mine alone therefore errors and omissions are also mine and mine alone and therefore why I highly recommended one read, study, research and fact find the material for clarity. My effort here is self-clarity toward a fuller understanding of the subject matter. See the bibliography for information on the books. Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.


Note: I will endevor to provide a bibliography and italicize any direct quotes from the materials I use for this blog. If there are mistakes, errors, and/or omissions, I take full responsibility for them as they are mine and mine alone. If you find any mistakes, errors, and/or omissions please comment and let me know along with the correct information and/or sources.



“What you are reading right now is a blog. It’s written and posted by me, because I want to. I get no financial remuneration for writing it. I don’t have to meet anyone’s criteria in order to post it. Not only I don’t have an employer or publisher, but I’m not even constrained by having to please an audience. If people won’t like it, they won’t read it, but I won’t lose anything by it. Provided I don’t break any laws (libel, incitement to violence, etc.), I can post whatever I want. This means that I can write openly and honestly, however controversial my opinions may be. It also means that I could write total bullshit; there is no quality control. I could be biased. I could be insane. I could be trolling. … not all sources are equivalent, and all sources have their pros and cons. These needs to be taken into account when evaluating information, and all information should be evaluated. - God’s Bastard, Sourcing Sources (this applies to this and other blogs by me as well; if you follow the idea's, advice or information you are on your own, don't come crying to me, it is all on you do do the work to make sure it works for you!)



“You should prepare yourself to dedicate at least five or six years to your training and practice to understand the philosophy and physiokinetics of martial arts and karate so that you can understand the true spirit of everything and dedicate your mind, body and spirit to the discipline of the art.” - cejames (note: you are on your own, make sure you get expert hands-on guidance in all things martial and self-defense)



“All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.” - Montaigne


I am not a leading authority on any one discipline that I write about and teach, it is my hope and wish that with all the subjects I have studied it provides me an advantage point that I offer in as clear and cohesive writings as possible in introducing the matters in my materials. I hope to serve as one who inspires direction in the practitioner so they can go on to discover greater teachers and professionals that will build on this fundamental foundation. Find the authorities and synthesize a wholehearted and holistic concept, perception and belief that will not drive your practices but rather inspire them to evolve, grow and prosper. My efforts are born of those who are more experienced and knowledgable than I. I hope you find that path! See the bibliography I provide for an initial list of experts, professionals and masters of the subjects.

Self-Mastery

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

“It requires self-awareness plus self-regulation, key components of emotional intelligence. One value of self-mastery is being in the right brain state for the job. When it comes to personal effectiveness, we need to be in the best internal state for the task at hand, and every internal state has its advantages and downsides. Example, a positive mind-state and mind-set provides for more creativity, better problem solving, mental flexibility, and we are more efficient in decision making in so many ways.” - Daniel Coleman, the Brain and Emotional Intelligence 

This speaks to a way of training, practice and application in karate, martial arts and the Way as in the way it is applied to defense as well as life itself. 

“When negatives are involved we have a tendency to be less discriminating in distinguishing weak from strong arguments, or making decisions too quickly, or paying too little attention to detail on a task that demands it.” - Daniel Coleman, the Brain and Emotional Intelligence

Take for instance, a direct counterintuitive to negativity is the somber mood, i.e., being somber includes a greater capacity to pay attention to detail, even in boring tasks - which suggests it is best to get serious before taking to the dojo. Negativity also leads to skepticism and that means we have the ability in the right mind-set and mind-state to question what appears to be factual, relevant, correct and applicable. 

Being somber, a negative emotion, means we tend to question even the experts, we ask those in-depth searching questions, and we tend to come to our own conclusions all being hallmarks of self-master and thus enlightenment. 

Then we find that other emotions contribute to our ability to act in certain ways therefore making our training toward the use of anger important, i.e., “Anger mobilized energy and focuses our attention on removing obstacles that thwart our goals - which can fuel a drive to beat an adversary.” 

A bad mood results, a negative state, in subtle costs to us: At the cognitive level, we become more pessimistic, and are more likely to give up quickly when things go awry that if we maintained a positive and optimistic view especially in training, practice and application of karate and martial arts in self-defense or even life itself giving more credence to its discipline as a way of living through a philosophical endeavor. 

As we begin to perceive in this article, the study of our brains and how they work has a huge effect on what we do, when we do it and how we get it done. This is how we accomplish proper mastery in karate, in martial arts and in self-defense. It comes down to what brain-state we achieve that results in proper mind-set and mind-state to get-r-done. 

How to achieve such lofty goals, i.e., “First, become a voracious data-mining fiend that involve the discipline involved. Cast a wide net and capture as much as you can consume. Second, test it out, vet it and thoroughly examine and prove it either works or not. Third, test all your data, theories and ideas through a rational decision process between what you learn and know with your gut feeling - if it doesn’t feel right then let it go, even if it looks good on paper or on the dojo floor.” Question yourself, stress yourself through your self-awareness emotional intelligence, i.e., “Is what I am about to do in keeping with my sense of purpose, my goals, as to its meaning, effectiveness and applicability as well as moral, ethical and legal state?” This type of effective validation comes from our gut as we practice, train and apply our disciplines over trying to put it into words with our logical human brain. This speaks to effective programming of the zombie sub-routines then storing them in our procedural memories for later retrieval by the lizard brain. 

Bibliography (Click the link)


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