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.

Making Mistakes

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

People have come to some conclusion that to make a mistake is ... a mistake, often with dire consequences. This is true because so much of today's world takes any mistake, slight, or emotionally driven perception and make it into something catastrophic. This is bad; very, very, very bad. 

Mistakes are those tools, if you survive, that teach us how to do better so we can - survive! The end game here regardless is survival and the only way we can achieve those goals is by what our elders teach us because they survived. The stuff that our elders cannot teach us deals with what happened then vs. what happens now as evolutionary progression dictate, i.e., back then it was lions and tigers and bears but today it is our fellow humans who may take you down at work, a relative taking you down at a family function or a predator taking you down in a quiet, secluded and safe second location. 

Today, we have more opportunity to learn from the mistakes we make yet today, especially this emotionally charged leftist type belief, we tend to take emotionally changed homage to what one person may have done, by mistake, and make it into a jail sentence, job loss, and economic catastrophe because they made this one mistake. 

No one, it appears, takes the full story into consideration such as what they did before and how they act and behave after. Everyone makes mistakes, often very small and seemingly insignificant ones, and sometimes larger mistakes. We try, convict and sentence simply because that mistake may have tripped our emotional monkey brain causing us to be angry and disgusted but that is not fair, we owe it to all concerned parties to get the full monty story, espoused to the appropriate authorities, and have faith that the mistake will be a learning tool to make things better. We DO NOT LIVE in a UTOPIA! Never happen and never will because ... wait for it ... WE ARE HUMANS!

In the martial arts and karate for self-protection/defense we all will make mistakes and we all hope those mistakes are made in the training and practice we do but if we make some mistake in actually protecting and defending what matters are two things. First, is do we freeze at the junction of that mistake? If we do then that is a mistake that needs to be rectified immediately. Second, when the mistake occurs do we actually move on without hesitation? If we do, that is a good thing because our objective to stop the damage and escape/evade continues unabated regardless, we move immediately and without hesitation to the next principled methodology to get-r-done. 

You cannot achieve those objectives unless you make mistakes and learn from them. In the protection and defense of self, for instance, something failed catastrophically but you survived. The most dangerous of mistakes to make is self-blame. Instead, use the mistake to learn because, after all, you survived and those who survive continue to do so because they learned, studied and created something better for the next time from that mistake. 

In karate, one mistake often not recognized is thinking that the traditional standard technique-based defenses taught actually work. Granted, they may but then again they may not. In this my efforts are to point out possible "glitches" so that those who are relying on their training for self-protection can achieve a "knowing" and "understanding" and "belief" that they are correcting that mistake. 

Make mistakes, sure, embrace them as teaching tools, you betcha! Making even a single mistake is merely a means of learning, creating and evolving all the while successfully "surviving!"

Note: this is my article based on what I read in the material below, always - ALWAYS - fact check me by utilizing the bibliography/references I provide before deciding on its validity - good or bad.

Bibliography (Click the link)

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