True self-protection is a castle with layered battlements and buildings. The castle’s individual structures represent unique and essential subject matter areas, contributing individually while reinforcing the whole. A cornerstone is the first set stone around and upon which the rest of a building’s foundation forms and, for our purposes, Cornerstones are central concepts or themes upon which areas of self-protection rest.
Four central areas form the most important structures in our self-protection castle, each with its own cornerstone. These areas are Bad Guys 101, Becoming, Level Up, and Beyond Power.
This Cornerstone is central to the internal growth toward that produces our strongest selves: Becoming.
Preface
While physical training can certainly build up skill sets and even reinforce mental and emotional strength, overt focus of becoming more integral versions of ourselves will make us harder to kill. A possible side effect is having more awesome lives. What follow are thoughts and ideas about becoming our strongest selves internally because that's where the fight that life can be is routinely won and lost. Strong minds survive better.
Toxicity in Our City
Too much of self-defense and martial arts (SD/MA) instruction rests on toxic, rotting foundations. Anxiety should not dominate students lives nor should they spend thousands of dollars and hours in fear's service. Thus, a new proposal for driving us all toward strength I call "The Process": a series of realizations that prompt requisite actions, forming the core of any serious consideration of self-protection.
The Realities
1.
No one makes it out alive
Death is promised. The strong and skilled die like the rest.
Thus, self-protection is primarily a means to live, and ultimately die, on the
best terms possible. Living and dying well are worthwhile goals in and of
themselves.
2.
Life can be cool
Life, while filled with obstacles and dangers, can be pretty
awesome, especially when I embrace the gifts of challenge, growth, and purpose.
My niece’s laughter, my fiancée’s love, and my triumphant moment are all
evidence of how cool life can be.
3.
You are worth defending
My potentially awesome life, despite its inevitable end, is
worth defending for myself, others, and Justice. Completely independently, my
life can be worthwhile; even more so when I incorporate my positive influence on
the world around me. Beyond that, Justice is worth defending. Self-protection
rests on the foundational premise that someone should stand up for the decent. Those
“someones” are me, you, us.
The Actions
Several actions follow naturally from the aforementioned
realities.
1.
If you stay ready…
If my time is finite, I should live well and serve what’s most
important, focusing my limited resources on the True and Lasting and Good.
2.
Build the life
If life can be awesome, I should build one worth
defending. All human life is worthy, a fact easily overlooked when mine
*feels* miserable, making defending it from difficult and dangerous threats a
harder sell. Building an awesome existence filled with contributions to myself,
my loved ones, and the world is a healthy and effective motivation for
self-protection.
3.
Fortify the structure
Once I've built a life worth defending, I must protect it; developing
martial skills can be helpful in that effort. Other awesome lives may also benefit
from my skills and being able to intervene when needed is a cool bonus.
These truths and actions may seem obvious but they are
conspicuously absent in most SD/MA media. A student going through such a
process would obviously be more motivated to defend themselves and would become
(or continue to be) an extremely solid person which, while beyond the scope of
what most would consider “self-protection”, is an end unto itself.
Think about it.
-M
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