By: Maurice Johnson
“When you reach that upper level,
Your mind, body and soul become one.
It’s a sacrifice.
It takes hard work.
It’s a way of life.”
Willie Hutch, “The Glow” https://youtu.be/C5mtgZTyD2c
I’ve learned many things in my martial arts journey that I’ve been applying to life. I’ve come to realize that techniques, such as a punch, kick, throw, lock or break, deflection or block, and the pursuit of learning those techniques, are metaphoric tools to use in life. And each technique my martial arts brothers and I learned, actually became a mini-journey in and of themselves.
The journey began with learning the basics. From there, we were sent off to practice the basic techniques, and later put them to the test. For me, some things came with ease, while others were a struggle and required a lot more effort, practice, and patience. As a student, I would watch my teacher execute those techniques with ease, speed, and accuracy, while I struggled to execute even a small percentage of what he could do.
But I practiced. I stayed with it. And it wasn’t until many years later that I was hanging out with my teacher and some old friends when we started doing our techniques with each other that I realized my own skills were sharp, smooth, and effortless - reflective of my teacher’s all those years before.
And what stood out in my mind was something my teacher used to say, which was: “‘The glow’ that Leroy in [the movie] The Last Dragon was searching for was confidence. You have to be confident that your tools will work. If you have been practicing them correctly, of course.”
That came to light to me that day. I felt my confidence aka “the glow”. That feeling of confidence transcended into other areas of my life. As I faced challenges, I approached them with the same mindset that I approached my martial arts training. I applied effort, consistency, and patience.
Through that experience, I learned that resistance presents a unique opportunity for personal growth and evolution. And when resistance arises, you have two choices: 1) face it, lean into it, and work through it; or 2) back away. I believe that in facing resistance and pushing through it, you become better and stronger over time. That is exactly what happened to me when I faced resistance in my martial arts training. Because I continued to stay with it, to practice, to push through my mind telling me to stop, that I am no good, that I will never be like my teacher, I eventually transcended that place and felt “the glow”. Had I not done that, had I retreated, I would have digressed and the resistance would have won, not me.
I believe resistance shows up not just in training, but in many areas of life. I see daily choices all as opportunities to either lean into resistance, or back away from it. I view my daily choices in this way, as basic as a binary code, and I constantly choose the path of resistance. I do this because I believe that doing so helps me grow, evolve, gain confidence, and develop a perspective that if I succeeded at that one thing, then I can win over and over again. I see each win as an achievement of a goal, as acquisition of knowledge, as increased functionality (including physical fitness), and increased overall well-being. Most importantly, I see each win as playing a pivotal role in the journey of self-love and one step further in the evolution of self.
I’ve learned that when you do this, when you embrace resistance as a tool in life, your life changes. The energy and air around you shifts, and other people even notice something different. People from your past may only recognize the face but not the soul that once occupied the vessel that they identified as “you.”
I believe if you choose to succumb to resistance and let it win, you are giving into immediate gratification or comfort despite knowing deep inside that it isn’t good for you in the long run. You may make excuses that you truly don’t believe, and live in a lie that eventually manifests in your life and attitude. You may accept it as law and live out an existence of complacency while being totally uncomfortable yet acclimated to the lower standards that surround you. You may pass judgement on others who are using the resistance to get stronger and widen the gap of the status quo, aka “hating”. Perhaps you go to bed wrestling with something that you don’t recognize is there as a sign to get you to move forward and fight, but alas you drown it out with sleep aids and other methods of self-medication. And if you consistently get crushed by resistance, you may come upon someone you once knew, only to find they barely recognize you because the weeds and overgrowth of life has covered your soul so much so that it seeps out of the surface of your actual body. And the only identification you can offer is a distant memory of “the old you.”
I believe if instead you choose a path of growth, you also choose confidence and fulfillment. When you do the hard a$$ work required and work on your staying power in the right way, life begins to shift. Yes, it requires sacrifice, hard work, consistency, patience and transparency to know where you are and what is required to move forward. It also requires trust in the process, and when these things are put together in the right way, a brand new version of yourself will emerge. When confidence is yours, you walk not with a simple desire, but rather with a purpose in mind. There isn’t just a simple motion but yet there’s a mission within you. An air of full ownership and conviction that you won’t be stopped, despite what is coming at you.
You see, when you have this disposition the universe knows you’re ready, and even if you fall along the way, you fall forward. You inch forward until you can stand again and walk. You walk until you can run. And when that run comes back because the confidence you have based on your past wins and choices, you run harder, faster and longer after what you are seeking. Then you do it again. And best of all, you glow.