The Path to Mastery starts with The Right Understanding. The next step on the Path to Mastery is having The Right Thoughts. The right thoughts helps improve your overall view and your overall attitude. It keeps you moving in the right direction. It also helps to clarify things. Using the right thought helps you to focus on want you want and not what you don’t want. The goal of every peak performer is to magnify the positives and shrink the negatives. Your ultimate challenge is do this naturally though constant repetition and conditioning. The way to ensure success is to train your brain to only accept the right thoughts.
When you find yourself having a negative thought, you might say, “thank you…CANCEL…CANCEL”. At first, this might seem a bit strange but remember that you have conditioned yourself to be either positive or negative. It has happened over a long time. It will take awhile to recondition your thinking to stay positive even when times are tough. The goal is to stay focused on the positive. When a negative thought enters, acknowledge it, cancel it, and move forward by asking, “What could be good about this?” or “How can I learn from this?” Be aware of how hard this is and how many times you must start over again. One of your goals should be to lengthen the amount of time between negative thoughts. This is sometimes referred to as knowing your “gap”. Simply put, the “gap” is the amount of time between positive and negative thoughts.
It is important that you realize that thoughts are things. They are in fact energy. They attract similar energy. This is sometimes referred to as the Law of Attraction or Sympathetic Resonance. If you understand harmonics, you already know that if you pluck an A string on one piano, the same A string will reverberate and or resonate on a piano close by. Similarly in life, the reason that you are attracted to people who think like you is they resonate with the way you see the world. We have all heard of the saying, “birds of a feather flock together.” Truer words have never been spoken. Be aware of people who have been infected by negative thoughts. Their energy is real and it can be infectious if you allow it to be. Try to avoid negative people whenever possible. If it is not possible, use positive energy to shield you from negativity. Positive thoughts, words, and affirmations will help to keep you on the right track. Remember, whenever two people come together, one positive and one negative, the person with the most conviction will influence the other.
Live with Positive Energy, Passion, and Purpose!!!
The goal of every martial artist should be to become one with nature. The goal is to tune into the natural world. The natural world is governed by the Universal Laws. The Right Understanding includes the Universal Laws. The Laws of Attraction, Belief, Control, Contrast, Correspondence, Cause and Effect, Expectation, and Sympathetic Resonance all govern the natural world. For example, the Law of Cause and Effect states that our thoughts are causes and our life is the effect. This is why it is so important to guard against negative thoughts.
In ancient times, only a few people knew of or understood these universal laws. There were elite schools dedicated to the universal laws and how these laws effected the arts, human relations, and military combat. Our Moo Do or Martial Way is a complete system for living one’s life in a virtuous and honorable manner. It was and is focused on dignified living and mindfulness. Being deliberate in one’s every action. It is the essence of the “Do” in Tang Soo Do.
The Right Understanding is often called “Wisdom”. It is often translated as “discernment” as it provides a sense of direction and at a higher level, when the mind has been refined by training in moral discipline and concentration, it leads to the right view and right intention. This is the right way of looking at life, nature and the world. The Right Understanding helps the practitioner to better understand where they are now and where they need to go. Having the “right view” of where you are now and where you want to go is the hallmark of all peak performers. Your vantage point is elevated and you see things more clearly with the Right Understanding. To see more clearly, you must focus your intentions on what you want rather than what you don’t want. It is about clarity, a sense of purpose, and zooming in.
Cambridge Tang Soo Do would like to thank Master Molitano for attending our Winter 2009 Gup testing. The students who have successfully completed the test are:
| Mike Vemula | 5th Gup |
| Eric Tollefson | 5th Gup |
| Jim Kim | 6th Gup |
| Leonard James | 9th Gup |
| Trevor Boylston | 9th Gup |
| Navilla Bagga | 9th Gup |
| Anas Chalah | 9th Gup |
A warm welcome to the following students who have decided to start their journey in the Martial Arts at Cambridge Tang Soo Do:
| Derek Simpson |
| Leonard James |
| Trevor Boylston |
| Navilla Bagga |
| Anas Chalah |
| Isabel De Luis |
| Maya De Luis |
| Alex South |
| Priya Shaw |
We would like to congratulate the following students for becoming our latest champions during the New England Tang Soo Do Championships which took place on Saturday February 28, 2009 in Old Saybrook, CT:
| Richard Heppner | 3rd place in Weapons, 1st place in Forms, 3rd place in Breaking |
| Eric Tollefson | 1st place in Sparring |
| James Kim | 3rd place in Weapons, 3rd place in Breaking |
Congratulations to all of you!
Tang Soo!