Archive for July, 2016

Independence Day

Monday, July 4th, 2016

independence-day-sharon-mick

Happy fourth of July Ninja fans!

First, to all of our veterans, thank you for your service to our country. Now, let’s get into some discussion here. Our ancient ninjutsu forebears, were independent minded, hard working individuals, who out of necessity learned to protect themselves with specialized skill sets to prepare them for direct or indirect conflict. They had developed skills to gather intelligence to stay one step ahead of their opponent’s as well as unconventional warfare skills that allowed them to strike in the middle of the night to instill fear and confusion to their enemies.

Now today, most of us practice the martial side of our traditions but have not cultivated the more esoteric sides of our ancient arts. When was the last time you gathered intelligence regarding the political scene in your area? I am not just asking you to go along with your party line but to actually in detail research a particular political candidate or party line? Here is an example of this process:

  • Read 4 pro and con articles or news feeds on a topic. The feeds need to be both left and right of the subject being reviewed.
  • Hit the internet and review a particular topic. Use the various search functions like Bing, yahoo, google, duckduckgo, etc. Compare and contrast the various opinions.
  • Compile your notes and set up various contrasting maps of the subject

Alright so you have a few tips on remote intelligence gathering, now how about your food independence setup? Are you even remotely trained in how to forage in urban and suburban areas? What can you eat if you had to hit the road quickly with little supplies on you? Well here is a good resource for you to start your education www.eattheweeds.com , now what about any food storage you may have? Do you actually know what you have on hand? So how about you start an inventory list and once you review that learn to have a minimum of 1 month of on hand supplies in your pantry. Why you might ask? Don’t be stupid, shit happens and being prepared with food storage is just a smart thing to do. Think about if you lost your job tomorrow wouldn’t it be nice to not have to worry about buying food for a few weeks? (This actually happened to me a few years ago!)

Last one for this short rant, how are your finances? Are you practicing the 52 week challenge right now to help build up a cash reserve? Why not…is it too difficult to give up a few dollars each week! Well suck it up and get on the plan, having a little rainy day fund put away will make you feel a lot more comfortable and able to handle those short term cash emergencies that happen in life.

Ok, so now you have a different view of Independence day. It is time for you to start being more independent and prepared in life, not so different than our arts history and development through the ages,

Bufu Ikkan