Motivational Drives

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What makes us do what we do, biologically and psychologically speaking from a point of view as a laymen, a very novice one at that. It is about our mind-states, self-states of mind, that are organized around some basic biological drives that originate from our subcortical circuits and shaped by the regulatory prefrontal cortex. Phew, that part is over now so on we go.

The basic drives I have mentioned are, partially listed for brevity, “Exploration, mastery, play, reproduction, resource allocation, executive control, sexuality, and affiliation.” 

The karate-ka and martial artists  when joining a dojo, a team so to speak, the training and practice tends to be multilayered: It satisfies  our base drive for affiliation, being a member of a group, and play, because play is how we learn best. Every time on the dojo floor, in practice and training, every adjustment and change engages our drives for executive control and master. The uncertainty of the process to learn the discipline and the openness of the practice and training meet our needs for exploration. When the training and practice session is over and we are discussing and practicing lightly for fun while socializing, our resource allocation circuits may remind me that I am thirsty, hungry and need rest. These “Motivational Drives” pull together all the input signals from our body, the brainstem and our limbic areas as well as the cortex that plays an important role in mind-states or self-states driving our motivation in doing karate and martial arts. This applies to other disciplines like playing football, baseball or performing in track or gymnastics, etc.

Exploration: Humans are a curious lot, we seek out information and knowledge especially when it concerns something we enjoy. We all who read this enjoy the discipline of karate and martial arts with some of us enjoying one or more of its sub-categories such as sport and self-defense. The way we survive is to witness the needs and then explore all the possibilities through research, knowledge, understanding, experience and application. 

Mastery: To survive you have to accomplish a great deal toward a type of mastery of things. In karate and martial arts it is about mastering the fundamentals in principled based multiple defense methodologies as well as types of force and power, etc. We therefore explore the skills and disciplines then we work diligently to encode them into our minds, our brains, so we master their benefits and applications. 

Play (Fun): Playing with things, having fun, is a solid way to teach, learn and apply skills like karate and martial arts. It has been demonstrated and shown that play works well as a means to learn and apply in life. Play tends to stimulate the neurons of our brains so when we repetitively and effectively and appropriately apply ourselves in the skills involved, both mental and physical and spiritually, we make the sub-routines a permanent part of the procedural memory zombie routines that the cortex pulls from the top level in our inner world and then applies them when the external reality starts to mix and trigger actions within the functions of the encoded sub-routines. 

Reproduction: In society and life this is that survival instinct we have to propagate the species. In karate and martial arts self-defense is it learning to consistently reproduce those methodologies in the defense mode. Reproduction can also be seen in the dojo as the connectedness that passes down to those who follow the knowledge and wisdom of the dojo so it also survives the passing of time. 

Resource Allocation: In K&MA it is about allocating appropriate resources toward a healthy, fit and capable body, mind and spirit while also properly allocating fuels, energy, force and power toward attaining our goals in self-defense. This is a simplistic definition and warrants study to find and understand all the resources we have not just for live and living but when necessary to reach the goals of self-defense through our karate and martial arts training, practice and applications. 

Executive Control: Control is about self-control, control of events and situations through mind-set and mind-state, control of our actions, control of our very thoughts, control in self-analysis of our minds, bodies and spirit when apply said control in conflicts and violences. 

Sexuality: In society and life that speaks to our survival instincts in group dynamics and survival of self, family and tribe. It is our very sexuality that transmits through body language, scent and other unspoken signals to one another as the best to carry on the human species and the tribe. 

Affiliation: Group, tribal, and clan associations, connections, integrations and affiliations that speak the core of human survival of our species that tends to bleed over into our daily life decisions and actions. In the Dojo it is our affiliation and connections to one another in a dual dynamic way to achieve goals and to survive. Humans alone are a weak and vulnerable species and when we collect together into a socially driven group our strength of numbers lessons that weakness and vulnerability. 

Herein lies our base drives, the drives that propel us forward in time and space to keep the species and ourselves alive and strong for the tribe and the tribal members as a collective. 

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