Find Your Happy Place! 

Last Night was an interesting night.  I was excited to teach my little warrior group of  2-4 year olds. It is amazing at how well they listen, if they are given structure, and you don't look at them as 2/4 year olds.  Also of course it depends on if you have qualified people teaching.  I was teaching along side of one of my black belts and I looked at him and said, you know, I used to teach you when you were in this class at 4 years old. He laughed and said, "I think I was one of your most difficult little warriors" then we laughed. Now he is one of my student instructors helping me run my schools some 16 years later. 

I then had a series of meetings with parents and I made sure that no matter what was said, or who said it, I wouldn't allow myself to lose my INNER SMILE.   I refused to let negativity bring me down and I was on a mission to look at everyone with Love and Compassion.  I met with a mom in my dojo who I like and I shared with her from my heart how I was feeling. I hope that maybe we connected and understood each other.  Sadly, though, some of the other conversations really didn't go as nicely. 

I have to say though, that no matter, what is going on or being said, my dojo (school) is MY happy place and I refuse to allow it to be anything but that.  When I walk through the door, and teach, I only want to see smiling faces.  I realize, I can't keep everyone happy and can't make everyone love me and what I do, but I will work my hardest to surround my self with people who want to be on my team.  I don't want to be around people who are adversarial and negative.  We have  motto for 2017 - You + Me = We.  This basically means we are all on the same team.  After all, how can a relationship or student, family and teacher be anything but.  The sad reality though, is many people look at my relationship as adversarial.  In other words there view is Me + My kind = us and you help us to get what we want. If you do, you are awesome, if you don't then we will quit, leave, or be upset.  The funny situation is this is not how a martial art relationship works.   Sadly, though, the dynamic has one broken component. That component is the flawed mindset of separation.  When in fact, the best relationships are those that have trust.

Some times you have to purge and get rid of the things in your life, that just aren't helping you find that happy place. In my latest book "The Five Gateways to happiness."  I speak about what I call the "I Hate List."  This is where you write down all the things that bother you and the things in your life you don't want around any longer.  It gives you systems to strategically put together a plan to remove those things from your life, so you no longer have to experience them. It sounds quite simplistic however, it is not as easy as it may seem.  It can be accomplished with the proper methods and mindset.  

If you are interested in getting a free copy of my book. Simply go to this link and just pay shipping and handling. 

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Life is too short...... I remember a movie with Eddie Murphy called Holy Man.  It was a lighthearted movie with a very moving message.  Basically Eddie played a Holy Man, who just did good for those he came in contact with.  He eventually was hired as a man selling things on a QVC - type show because he was so genuine.  People gravitated to him.  One scene he was selling a lawn mower and he walked off set and out into the parking lot and on to the grass.  He looked into the camera and he said, If you live to 80 years old, you will only experience 80 summers, 80 winters, 80 Christmas', etc.  Life is to short to dwell on the negative when you only have such a limited time on this planet.  That very movie made me think about enjoying life to the fullest. This is why in my life, I refuse to let others dictate how I live my life and how they will affect my happy space.