Gambatte (Keep Going!)
“Forget your sadness, anger, grudges and hatred. Let them pass like smoke caught in a breeze. You should not deviate from the path of righteousness; you should lead a life worthy of a man. Don’t be possessed by greed, luxury, or your ego. You should accept sorrows, sadness and hatred as they are, and consider them a chance for trial given to you by the powers…a blessing given by nature. Have both your mind and your time fully engaged in budo, and have your mind deeply set on bujutsu.”
Soke Hatsumi
What does it take to “keep going” for you? Is it a friend to push you to go and train? Is it that need and drive to continue on in the face of adversity?
Just what does it mean to you to “Keep going.” In the martial arts and in life? Have you actually spent some time thinking about this very simple yet complex few words?
The journey in the martial arts can be short or it can continue until the day you pass on. The student’s who remain student for life, keep going, because they are learning new things each day. They challenge themselves to overcome adversity, injury, sickness, their ego, greed etc, in their pursuit of an everlasting training and learning. Often I have to reflect back upon my days and years in training, whether the training was hard or soft, the dojo was hot or cold, I have always kept training, day after day, year after year. Why I have to ask myself and you should as well, do I continue to learn and train? I push myself each day to learn something new, whether it is in the martial arts or my many other interests, I am continuously trying to move forward and grow. Many of you who are reading or listening to this short piece would do well to reflect on your past training, review you r notes, films and photos of days past, but remember that tomorrow is a new day and new learning should occur.
My final words for you to reflect upon:
Do not become trapped in the conventions of someone else’s purpose for your training. Strive to be better in little steps each day and keep going, move forward, don’t look back and hold regrets that you should of, or could of done something differently, instead take the leap and as Nike says “ just do it.”
Bufu Ikkan
Sensei Steve Lefebvre