On Discovery

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

~ Albert von Szent

Always Live in the Now

You can never be who you want to be, if you constantly look over your shoulder at what could have been.

~ Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) – Smallville

Consequences of Anger

When anger rises, think of the consequences.

~ Confucius

If at first you don’t succeed…

Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.

~ Plutarch

Giving Up Perfectionism

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

- Anna Quindlen

Striving For Perfection

Perfection is a road, not a destination. Every time I live, I get an education.

- Burk Hudson

Don’t Strive for That Which is Out of Reach

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.

- Salvador Dali

Perfectionism Closes the Mind

The idea of perfect closes your mind to new standards.. When you drive hard toward one ideal, you miss opportunities and paths, not to mention hurting your confidence. Believe in your potential and then go out and explore it; don’t limit it.

- John Eliot

Why Being the Best is Overrated

It’s one of those questions that raises a little flag in any teacher’s mind but I’d dare say even more so in Aikido.

“How long until I’m a black belt?”

It manifests itself off the mats as well:

“How do I make money from blogging?”
“I need to go on a Kara run”*

Then there are all those Internet debates of which Martial Art is the best. I’m not talking about the constructive kinds but rather the “Aikido sucks” variety.

These questions and discussions – if they can be called discussions – are signs of people scrambling to get to the top, to be the best of the best and not stopping to realise that once they reach “their” top there’s only one way to go, down.

Which is why this week’s theme of daily meditations is going to be related to perfectionism starting with this one:

[Martial] Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.

- Eugene Delacroix

*A reference to World of Warcraft

How to Make Friends and Influence Peace

If you want to have friends, you must be friendly. If you want to make peace, you must be peaceful.

- Peace Pilgrim

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