Dear Students, Teachers and Parents,

As we all try to get back to day to day business after the attacks on
our country, I think it is more apparent than ever that we continue
in our training, just in case. Many people tend to become depressed,
at times like this – warriors tend to pick up the pace of their
training a bit.

Those attending the main school, please pick up a new schedule. We
have added some class times and have given Gu Ping some more times to
train us in Tai Chi. We have begun our sparring classes once again on
Friday nights for those that are interested. Kids run from 5 – 5:45
and Teens/Adults are from 5:45 –7. This is a great aerobic workout,
geared for beginners – advanced students.

Our black belt weekend is just around the corner – October 19th, 20th
and 21st. We had everything scheduled to be at the Air Force Academy,
but due to the new security level, look's like we may move it to
Coronado High School on Filmore. On Friday we will be having our
black belt test that will be open for the public. Saturday morning we
are going to have an in-house tournament and Saturday afternoon we
will have the black belt graduation. You will get to see awesome
demos and skits as the graduating black belts strut their stuff.
Saturday night is our awards dinner, semi-formal event. You won't
want to miss this one. Sunday morning is a seminar for our students
given by several of the master instructors that are coming in for the
weekend.

Black Belt Excellence Lesson of the Week

Begin With the End in Mind

Sun Tzu wrote, "If you know yourself and know your opponent you will
be victorious 100 battles out of 100 encounters.' The civilian comes
into a situation not understanding himself or his opponent, and is
assured defeat. Know Thyself. The true warrior knows his skills,
weaknesses, values and priorities. He knows in advance what is worth
fighting for and will never try and figure that out in the heat of a
conflict. This knowledge is not inherited but must be gained through
experience and participation. Knowing why you behave based on your
values and thoughts is the basic step to self-knowledge. The Chinese
have a saying; " It is better to know the dragons within, than to
suffer their affects unconsciously."

Before you can be successful, you must identify what it is you really
want. Many people set goals to be financial successful but once they
are there they realize that their family life is not a very good one.
In goal setting, first identify your true values, then do long range
planning and work backwards to quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily
goals. Know what you want, know what it is going to cost, and be
willing to pay the price.

One thing that all humans want is to be happy. The ideal of happiness
hasn't changed that much in the last few thousand years. The key to
happiness, is this:

" Dedicate yourself to the development of your natural talents and
abilities, by doing what you love to do, and doing it better and
better in the service of a cause that is greater than yourself."

This is a powerful statement and a commitment. Being happy requires
that you define your life in your own terms. Only you can do the
things that will make you happy. Happiness is an inside job.

When happiness becomes a key element in your goal setting and your
personal mission statement, life will become much easier. Earl
Nightingale once said, " Happiness is the progressive realization of
a worthy ideal." You will only feel happy when you are moving, step
by step, toward the accomplishment of a clearly defined goal. In
order to achieve goals, it is important to constantly evaluate your
own strengths and weaknesses. This was clearly understood by Sun Tzu
when he wrote to know yourself and your opponent.

You can never be happy until you know that what you are doing is
making a difference in the world. Here are 7 steps towards happiness:

1. Dream big dreams

If you could be, do or have anything in life and were guaranteed you
would not fail, what would you do. Go for it, don't hold back.
Visualize yourself 5 years in advance and everything worked out just
right, what would it look like. What would make you happy.


2. Identify your unique talents and abilities

What makes you special? What do you find easy to do, but others
think is hard? Sometimes, ask others what they think you should do.
Many times they will see unique talents that you have over looked.

3. Resolve to do, what you love to do, and commit to be excellent at
it.

It is only when you are growing in something that is important to you
that you feel alive and in touch with your world. Remember that
excellence is not a destination, but a life long journey.


4. Accept 100% responsibility for who and where you are in life.

You are where you are because that is what you have chosen. You are
what you are and where you are because of your past behaviors. If you
want to change the future, then you need to change the behaviors you
are doing today. True maturity begins when you realize that no one is
coming to the rescue, but that you are totally responsible.

5. Be honest with yourself

Refuse to engage in the idea that the laws of cause and effect will
ignore you. You know that every thing that you get will because of
something that you have put in. The biggest mistake is to expect
something for nothing. Success only comes from paying in full, in
advance.

6. Set clear specific goals

Less than 3% of people have written goals, and everyone else works
for them. Only serious goals are written down. The more you write
down your goals, the clearer they become in your mind and the more
you believe they are attainable. The more they become attainable in
your mind, the more you are willing to overcome the obstacles that
will come in the way.

7. To resolve to persist until you succeed

Your willingness to endure the problems that you are going to face.
Persistence is self-discipline in action. Your persistence is your
belief in yourself and your ability to succeed. The more you believe
in yourself, the higher your self-esteem. Soon you will develop an
unstoppable attitude or Tamashi (indomitable spirit).

Till next week,
Terry Bryan, Kyoshi