Shift your Perspective and Be Resilient
As we get off to a New Year and an exciting 2024, it is more important than ever to keep a great perspective with all the negative news surrounding us these days. One bad article can turn your attitude sour for the rest of the day so maybe it’s time to think about how that not only affect us but those in our surroundings.
The good news is we can control our mental focus. What we focus on most we will receive in one way or another, whether that be negative or positive. In karate class, we discuss this constantly and remind students to focus on the positive outcome no matter what their immediate circumstances may be.
Picture a student in the middle of a belt exam getting caught up in a moment of emotion only to lose their ability to focus on delivering the best form possible. When this happens, it is important to reset, refocus, and maybe take a moment to pause, breathe, and then try again. This is a much better solution than becoming disheartened and delivering only half the effort.
With that said maybe it is time to think a little more about the good and a lot less about the bad. It's all about perspective and the perspective that you have is going to affect your mental state and attitude toward it. Now picture a dinner host, hosting a party only to have guests arrive an hour late. The host may have a slew of emotions from anger, frustration, or even worry but the fact is the circumstances are the same for all three. It's what the host focuses on the most that will determine how they feel about that situation. This proves that we do have the ability to control how we think about things and when we think a little more positively it puts us in a better mood with a better outlook.
So, let's look forward to this new year and hit the ground running once again with unstoppable confidence and an attitude that will make you a Master in the dojo. When you come to class it's on you to be in the best possible mental state and ready to get the most out of each karate class so that you can move one step closer to your Black Belt. Positively impacting those around you is also part of a martial artists duty and it is on us to try our best each day.
Remember attitudes are contagious and the question you must ask yourself is yours worth catching?
Sensei Chris