Last Thursday during Karate, Shimoji Sensei taught us about Kime. Kime is focus or power in Karate. It is focusing not only mentally, but each and every muscle in your body for one singular release of energy thru one body part. If you can visualize a punch being thrown, kime is concentrating the hamstring and calf muscles of your lower body, the muscles of the shoulder blade and arms of your upper body; the abdomen and core muscles all into your fist so that there is maximized energy that is released thru the fist upon impact. This is how kicks and punches and other movements in karate should be executed.
Imagine if we applied kime in our lives. Imagine if you focused every area in your life to create a maximized energetic output. Instead of segmenting your time and energy, you channeled it all in one direction for one output at a time. You are writing a book and every source of energy you have goes into writing that book for whatever period of time you are at your computer, typewriter or on your pad. How powerful would that book then be?
As you start your week, think about where Kime can be applied in your life this week. Where can you focus and maximize your energy to create the best possible outcome?
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
This quote from Mark Twain was so evidently seen last week within the interactions of my classmates. Among the 36 of us, we have
American, Dutch, Indian, Saudi and Canadian members. We have mid-westerners, southerners, New Yorkers, Californians, Pacific Northwesterners, Texans and Mid-Atlantic dwellers. There are Christians, Muslims, Catholics, New Agers and Jews. And that’s not to mention Latinos, African-Americans, Native Americans and Italians. As you can see, to say it’s a diverse group of people would be an understatement. But what is truly remarkable is that each person is confident and comfortable with themselves and yet fully appreciates the uniqueness that each of our classmates bring to the group.
For instance, one of my classmates was eating cardamom seeds. Now, I never had even heard of cardamom seeds. Well to make a long story short, they are a spice similar to cinnamon or nutmeg and they are great for helping with digestive problems and also serve as a natural breath freshener. By the end of our residency, at least 10 of us were eating cardamom seeds. In fact, I bought some when I got home the other day.
I truly enjoy the time I have with this amazing group of people. Yet, what intrigues me the most is how much we learn about one another and expand our horizons of other cultures. How much better would our world be if each of us made it a priority to learn about others, instead making assumptions, or worse depending on second hand information about groups of people that has been skewed and biased by others.
Tags: bigotry, cultural differences, culture, diversity, narrow-mindedness, prejudice, travel
“A well-kept slave, is still a slave.”
During Residency 2 last week, one of my classmates gave this quote. The context was that when he checked with his HR manager about our Master’s program, the response he received was
“Great program. Not for you. Let me tell you what you should enroll in.”
The HR manager proceeded to direct him to a Master’s program that was in line with his current responsibilities, but had nothing to do with where he wanted his life to go.
“Joe” (names are changed to protect the innocent) printed the email and wrote the aforementioned quote at the bottom of it to remind himself that people can be enslaved to the job and unfortunately this can color their perspective on life and other pursuits.
I thought this story was profound. It illustrated the fact that some individuals don’t understand the power of pursuing your purpose or calling in life, even when others may not understand it.
While the manager in this story was enslaved to his job and employer, my question to you today is what are you enslaved to? What is it that seems so good to you, and has you so captive that you are not moving beyond it so that you can embrace your destiny? Confront that captor and break the chains of slavery over your life so that you may move toward the fulfillment of your purpose.
Tags: calling, captive, captor, destiny, enslavement, Purpose, slavery