Four Lessons I Have Learned From Karate

Here are some bits of wisdom I've gained from karate:

1. Always Get Up-  You will get knocked down.  Or you'll fall down.  No matter what, get up.  It's always difficult to get back up, but if you are ready to accept that fact, it's actually easier.  Nowhere is this more important than when you must fight an opponent. You cannot defend yourself or even change positions if you are defeated.  Always get up, however you must.  DO NOT GIVE UP!  In real life, when crap knocks you over, you have to keep going.  This can be painful, but it's a reality that you will never get past whatever it is that is trying to beat the snot out of you.  I've seen this reality played out over and over in the dojo and in real life.   Although friends and loved ones can give you a helping hand, they can't do it for you.  You have to stand up.
2. Never Turn Your Back-  Just today, I was reminded of this lesson.  I was practicing weapons with another woman at a Shorin-Ryu dojo.  This particular exercise actually involved hitting and blocking with a bo staff.  She saw that I was having a problem and, in the context of helping me, she asked me to physically switch sides with her, as there would then be a mirror facing me and I could see what I was doing incorrectly.  So, okay, I walked straight over to the other side, giving her my back, thus exposing myself to a possible attack.  Her point was never to show my back to my enemy. (She was kind enough not to actually attack me!)  While this is a survival truth, I also took to heart the fact that I should never show my back to my friends either.  I should never turn on them or turn away.  Facing my friends (and my enemies) gives me an awareness.  If I "turn away" by ignoring what my friends are going through, how can I possibly help them when they need me.  Fortunately, I do not have any true enemies (thank goodness!), but I am aware there are individuals who are not my biggest fans.  By facing them, I show them my true self and, who knows, perhaps they will change their minds about their negative feelings toward me.  If not, I can only be who I am and nothing more.
3. There Will Always Be Mysteries- In karate, as in most martial arts, there are many, many scores of things I do not know and I may never know.  In learning kata, it is important to study the applications of the movements.  As a colored belt, I would often be frustrated by the fact that I just couldn't figure out what my movements meant.  As a black belt, I STILL don't know some of the interpretations, but I know way more than I did.  There will always be things I don't know; some things won't be revealed until I attain a higher rank; some things I may never know.  This does not mean that once you reach black belt, that a "veil" is lifted and you just know stuff.  You learn things gradually just as you do when you are progressing through the colored belt ranks.  Plus, the less you know, the more things you have yet to learn and that's exciting!  Secondly, there should always be mysteries.  One of the coolest things in the world is that there are things that even with all of our advanced technology, we still don't know!  When I was young, I would sometimes look in the sky and see little smudged-looking rainbows during the day.  I thought that was so awesome!  I had no idea what they were, but they were my "rainbow thingies" and they always made me feel good when I saw them.  When I got older, I found out that my "rainbow thingies" were actually something called sun dogs that occur when sunlight is reflected off of ice crystals formed in high cirrus clouds.  And while that is really nifty, I believe I would have been a bit disappointed when I was younger to have had that explanation for what I believe were my own special "rainbow thingies" (and yes, that is what I called them!)  So enjoy the mysteries of life...if there is a mystery that is solved then it is usually solved for you when you need it and not beforehand.  It's just part of the magic!
4. Things Are Always Hard, Then Easy- When you learn new techniques in karate or a new kata, it's almost always difficult, then easier.  Once something is mastered, it may get changed slightly ("now do it this way") to reflect your growing understanding.  What you are taught as a white belt may look a little different as a brown belt.  Then it gets hard again...and then easy.  Well, real life is like that too.  Sometimes life is just freaking hard...and then it eases up.  But yes, it will get hard again and then easy.  I would just say that when things are easy, enjoy it and be happy.  Just because things get hard does not mean that it will be sad or devastating (though we must realize that sometimes life does get that way), but it does mean that things will eventually get better and easier.  It's all part of a cycle. Embrace it!