One Hundred and Forty-Seven

One question I’ll never ask regarding Aikido: “Is that all there is?” The Aikido onion is very large and the time required to explore each layer in depth precludes ever getting to the point where no layers are left to scrutinize.

Aikido is about growth and if I let myself become stuck at one point along the path my growth will cease and I’ll end up simply just “doing” Aikido. Having experienced the richness of the Aikido experience, becoming stranded along the way would be the death knell of my practice.

One Hundred and Forty-six

To train when the sun shines
To train when it doesn’t.

When it’s bitterly cold
and the mat feels like stone
or
hot and sticky,
the air almost too thick to breathe;
then too.

When I hurt
or
feel eighteen again;
simply get on the mat and train.

When others question
my method,
I train with a smile,
knowing as I do
that training is showing up,
suiting up
and moving.

Training
I progress slowly,
it’s cumulative
each little bit I learn adds to
what I know,
increasing the volume
of what I don’t
thereby,
affording me more opportunities to learn.

To train…
simple.