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Thanks.
Thanks.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Friday, December 18, 2015
The Unique, The Average and The Outcast.
‘Be a voice, not an echo’ - Albert Einstein.
In this world, we all play our parts, we all have our purpose, even those that think they don’t have one, do have a purpose, it’s just a matter of time. There are different people with different mindsets and different goals. There are those who stand alone, then there are those who follow, but there exist a few who lead.
I prefer to categorize these three types of individuals as;
-Outcast.
-Average.
-Unique.
The ‘Outcasts’ are usually the ones who don’t follow social norms, the law breakers, the ones who don’t fit in anywhere in groups, either ostracized due to their thinking or are isolated by their own choice. These are the ones who are removed from the society, even though not all of the ‘Outcasts‘ are criminals, they are still viewed by the society as “odd” and “weird“. They have the potential to be great, to be ‘Unique’, but they squander that potential by not acting on it, acting upon their ideas, some willingly don‘t and some just don‘t have the means to bring their ideas to fruition, and ideas without action are just dreams and fantasies.
The ‘Average’ are the ones who just follow one another, they lack the capability to create their own paths, so they follow a path that’s made by others, they follow each other or someone they see as superior to them, they follow the set rules about things, like get an education that everyone is getting, get a job that everyone gets, get married like everyone does, have kids like everyone has, so on and so on. Average individuals are content in their lives where they don’t want to or have to achieve something more than they have. They need security in their lives and taking risks is never on their agenda.
Then finally, there are the few rare individuals, The ‘Unique’ ones, these are the ones that change the world with their actions, these are the ones who always aim for something high and make an impact on everyone, an impact that leaves their mark on the society, no matter how big or small, their actions influence people, their actions inspire people, it doesn‘t matter how many people they inspire, the impact can be as huge as global or it can be as small as just in their own society, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that the impact is positive, which enables others to achieve their goals and possibly be unique themselves. The ‘Unique’ individuals also have the similar traits to the ‘Outcasts’, they don’t follow social norms, they don’t blindly follow others, no, the ‘Unique’ individuals are leaders, they lead, they create, they inspire. They don’t just dream, they don‘t just have ideas, they act on them too, which makes those ideas into a reality. Unique individuals not only take risks, but they make smart choices while taking those risks. The risks they take brings them face-to-face with failure often more than once, but through their persistence, they move forward and lead.
But like I said in the beginning of this article, we all play our parts in life and the types of individuals above need to exist for our society to function. If everyone was an Outcast, no one would be, if everyone was Unique, no one would be and if everyone was average, then there would be no inspiration in our society to do something to take us to another level, all of the individuals who were and are Unique, who make a difference, without their existence, without their innovative thinking, we might still be in the dark ages of our history. Even the Outcasts teach us what not to do in life, we can learn so much from their mistakes, so even their existence is crucial for others to understand their own purpose in life and their own place in the society.
Whatever you’ll be, will be due to the choices you make and the thoughts you think.
I’m doing my best and then some to be Unique, to make a positive impact on this world, what about you? Ask yourself, which one are you? Do you lead, follow or just stay put?
That’s it. Thank you for reading.
In this world, we all play our parts, we all have our purpose, even those that think they don’t have one, do have a purpose, it’s just a matter of time. There are different people with different mindsets and different goals. There are those who stand alone, then there are those who follow, but there exist a few who lead.
I prefer to categorize these three types of individuals as;
-Outcast.
-Average.
-Unique.
The ‘Outcasts’ are usually the ones who don’t follow social norms, the law breakers, the ones who don’t fit in anywhere in groups, either ostracized due to their thinking or are isolated by their own choice. These are the ones who are removed from the society, even though not all of the ‘Outcasts‘ are criminals, they are still viewed by the society as “odd” and “weird“. They have the potential to be great, to be ‘Unique’, but they squander that potential by not acting on it, acting upon their ideas, some willingly don‘t and some just don‘t have the means to bring their ideas to fruition, and ideas without action are just dreams and fantasies.
The ‘Average’ are the ones who just follow one another, they lack the capability to create their own paths, so they follow a path that’s made by others, they follow each other or someone they see as superior to them, they follow the set rules about things, like get an education that everyone is getting, get a job that everyone gets, get married like everyone does, have kids like everyone has, so on and so on. Average individuals are content in their lives where they don’t want to or have to achieve something more than they have. They need security in their lives and taking risks is never on their agenda.
Then finally, there are the few rare individuals, The ‘Unique’ ones, these are the ones that change the world with their actions, these are the ones who always aim for something high and make an impact on everyone, an impact that leaves their mark on the society, no matter how big or small, their actions influence people, their actions inspire people, it doesn‘t matter how many people they inspire, the impact can be as huge as global or it can be as small as just in their own society, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that the impact is positive, which enables others to achieve their goals and possibly be unique themselves. The ‘Unique’ individuals also have the similar traits to the ‘Outcasts’, they don’t follow social norms, they don’t blindly follow others, no, the ‘Unique’ individuals are leaders, they lead, they create, they inspire. They don’t just dream, they don‘t just have ideas, they act on them too, which makes those ideas into a reality. Unique individuals not only take risks, but they make smart choices while taking those risks. The risks they take brings them face-to-face with failure often more than once, but through their persistence, they move forward and lead.
But like I said in the beginning of this article, we all play our parts in life and the types of individuals above need to exist for our society to function. If everyone was an Outcast, no one would be, if everyone was Unique, no one would be and if everyone was average, then there would be no inspiration in our society to do something to take us to another level, all of the individuals who were and are Unique, who make a difference, without their existence, without their innovative thinking, we might still be in the dark ages of our history. Even the Outcasts teach us what not to do in life, we can learn so much from their mistakes, so even their existence is crucial for others to understand their own purpose in life and their own place in the society.
Whatever you’ll be, will be due to the choices you make and the thoughts you think.
I’m doing my best and then some to be Unique, to make a positive impact on this world, what about you? Ask yourself, which one are you? Do you lead, follow or just stay put?
That’s it. Thank you for reading.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Being a successful student.
This is a kind of part two of my post “Are you teaching or running a business?”.
As I mentioned before, a good instructor is always a student first, so does that mean that every student can just become a teacher and start teaching? Well, no. Not every student has what it takes to become a teacher, and most of all, not every student wants to be a teacher.
People start their training and learning for different reasons, personal development, learning and gaining new skills, increase their physical capabilities or simply to test their limits and push them further.
But not everyone who starts out on their journey of learning, successfully finish it and by finish i mean transition from learning to also teaching while learning, learning is a never ending journey, always keep that in mind. Only a handful out of many do continue on the path they set out on since the first day they made the decision.
So, let’s start with, What makes someone a successful student? Let’s explore the different aspects of an individual’s character that would make them a successful student, shall we?
1- The main thing needed in anyone who wants to learn new things is their Willingness to learn, without them actually igniting the idea of wanting to know and learn something new, they‘ll never take the first step towards a new source of knowledge that‘s waiting to be explored.
2- This comes after the idea has been ignited and the individual proceeds to take their first step in learning. The next thing is to Have a goal in mind and the surety of that goal. What does the student want to learn? Why does he/she want to learn that? What do they aim to achieve? How much hard work are they willing to put in? These are the kinds of questions that would give a student the direction they want to move forward in.
3- Lack of ego. The enemy of education is ego. The more you think you know about things, the lesser you actually do. Remember, there’s always someone better out there, always someone who knows more about things than you do. Learning from them, especially when they’re offering to teach, will just add to your existing acquired knowledge and experience. That’s how you become better at doing things. If you think you know everything, you’ll never learn anything, especially nothing new.
4- Respect for not only your teacher but your peers and the teachings that you receive. This statement shouldn’t even need an explanation. The most essential thing in learning is respecting your teacher, if you don’t have any respect for your teacher, you won’t respect their teachings either, you will always criticize their teachings without having any depth of knowledge yourself, resulting in not learning anything at all. Remember, we can learn from just about anything and anyone, even the “bad/wrong” things, they teach us what not to do. Finally, respecting your peers is equally important, as they have traveled a different path than us, but they have reached a similar destination as us, and they got here by putting in hard work which deserves respect, not to mention that there might be something they learned along the way that you couldn’t or didn’t, which they could share with you, and something you learned that they didn’t which you could share with them, it would be mutually beneficial to both, increasing yours and their knowledge base in the process.
5- Open-mindedness. Continuation from having no ego, Open-mindedness is essential in learning new things. Too many non-essential thoughts cloud our thinking and judgments, so just think about the saying “Empty your cup”, along with “Take what‘s useful, discard what‘s not and add what‘s uniquely your own” ~ Bruce Lee. It’s only after you’ve discarded the non-essential thoughts and data, you can take what is useful and effective for you, over time with enough good quality data acquired by you, you can then start to add from your own experiences, what’s uniquely your own. For all that, you need to open your mind to new things, to everything, being a skeptic isn’t always helpful, being cautious is. You should be cautious of the knowledge you aren‘t sure is for you, but still be open to it, for you might find something useful in it. As I said in my previous point, you can learn from just about anything and anyone.
6- Dedication and persistence. Nothing worth having comes easy. It takes hard work and perseverance to achieve success in life. You have to wake up with the same amount of enthusiasm that you had on your first day of learning. Only then will you be able to walk the talk and continue your journey towards gaining more and new kinds knowledge and experiences everyday of your life. Which would then be counted as your overall life experience that would help and guide you in your life's journey towards your goals.
7- Finally, You need Patience. Not many have this particular ability. Everyone is in too much of a hurry to get everything really fast. Here's the thing though, Rome wasn’t built in a day and you’re not gonna become a Rhode scholar in a day either. As mentioned in the previous point, it takes dedication and persistence to gain knowledge. It’s a life-long journey and a difficult path. But worth it for all the things you find out and all kinds of people you get to know along the way. Accumulating all sorts of knowledge along the way. Over the years, the only thing that should decrease, is the fog of illiteracy in you, everything else, (as mentioned in my previous point) should be as fresh and as plenty as it was on day one.
These are the things that make a difference between a successful student who could also become a teacher and a leader(which a teacher is in many ways, but that's for another post)if they wish to, who is as enthusiastic about learning as a five year old going to an amusement park with two lollipops in their hand, and an average student who just does it because the society or someone or something else forces them to learn and then gives up at the first opportunity and/or at the first sign of difficulty, going nowhere.
Decide which one you are.
That’s it. Hope you liked my post. Comments are always welcome. Thank you for reading.
As I mentioned before, a good instructor is always a student first, so does that mean that every student can just become a teacher and start teaching? Well, no. Not every student has what it takes to become a teacher, and most of all, not every student wants to be a teacher.
People start their training and learning for different reasons, personal development, learning and gaining new skills, increase their physical capabilities or simply to test their limits and push them further.
But not everyone who starts out on their journey of learning, successfully finish it and by finish i mean transition from learning to also teaching while learning, learning is a never ending journey, always keep that in mind. Only a handful out of many do continue on the path they set out on since the first day they made the decision.
So, let’s start with, What makes someone a successful student? Let’s explore the different aspects of an individual’s character that would make them a successful student, shall we?
1- The main thing needed in anyone who wants to learn new things is their Willingness to learn, without them actually igniting the idea of wanting to know and learn something new, they‘ll never take the first step towards a new source of knowledge that‘s waiting to be explored.
2- This comes after the idea has been ignited and the individual proceeds to take their first step in learning. The next thing is to Have a goal in mind and the surety of that goal. What does the student want to learn? Why does he/she want to learn that? What do they aim to achieve? How much hard work are they willing to put in? These are the kinds of questions that would give a student the direction they want to move forward in.
3- Lack of ego. The enemy of education is ego. The more you think you know about things, the lesser you actually do. Remember, there’s always someone better out there, always someone who knows more about things than you do. Learning from them, especially when they’re offering to teach, will just add to your existing acquired knowledge and experience. That’s how you become better at doing things. If you think you know everything, you’ll never learn anything, especially nothing new.
4- Respect for not only your teacher but your peers and the teachings that you receive. This statement shouldn’t even need an explanation. The most essential thing in learning is respecting your teacher, if you don’t have any respect for your teacher, you won’t respect their teachings either, you will always criticize their teachings without having any depth of knowledge yourself, resulting in not learning anything at all. Remember, we can learn from just about anything and anyone, even the “bad/wrong” things, they teach us what not to do. Finally, respecting your peers is equally important, as they have traveled a different path than us, but they have reached a similar destination as us, and they got here by putting in hard work which deserves respect, not to mention that there might be something they learned along the way that you couldn’t or didn’t, which they could share with you, and something you learned that they didn’t which you could share with them, it would be mutually beneficial to both, increasing yours and their knowledge base in the process.
5- Open-mindedness. Continuation from having no ego, Open-mindedness is essential in learning new things. Too many non-essential thoughts cloud our thinking and judgments, so just think about the saying “Empty your cup”, along with “Take what‘s useful, discard what‘s not and add what‘s uniquely your own” ~ Bruce Lee. It’s only after you’ve discarded the non-essential thoughts and data, you can take what is useful and effective for you, over time with enough good quality data acquired by you, you can then start to add from your own experiences, what’s uniquely your own. For all that, you need to open your mind to new things, to everything, being a skeptic isn’t always helpful, being cautious is. You should be cautious of the knowledge you aren‘t sure is for you, but still be open to it, for you might find something useful in it. As I said in my previous point, you can learn from just about anything and anyone.
6- Dedication and persistence. Nothing worth having comes easy. It takes hard work and perseverance to achieve success in life. You have to wake up with the same amount of enthusiasm that you had on your first day of learning. Only then will you be able to walk the talk and continue your journey towards gaining more and new kinds knowledge and experiences everyday of your life. Which would then be counted as your overall life experience that would help and guide you in your life's journey towards your goals.
7- Finally, You need Patience. Not many have this particular ability. Everyone is in too much of a hurry to get everything really fast. Here's the thing though, Rome wasn’t built in a day and you’re not gonna become a Rhode scholar in a day either. As mentioned in the previous point, it takes dedication and persistence to gain knowledge. It’s a life-long journey and a difficult path. But worth it for all the things you find out and all kinds of people you get to know along the way. Accumulating all sorts of knowledge along the way. Over the years, the only thing that should decrease, is the fog of illiteracy in you, everything else, (as mentioned in my previous point) should be as fresh and as plenty as it was on day one.
These are the things that make a difference between a successful student who could also become a teacher and a leader(which a teacher is in many ways, but that's for another post)if they wish to, who is as enthusiastic about learning as a five year old going to an amusement park with two lollipops in their hand, and an average student who just does it because the society or someone or something else forces them to learn and then gives up at the first opportunity and/or at the first sign of difficulty, going nowhere.
Decide which one you are.
That’s it. Hope you liked my post. Comments are always welcome. Thank you for reading.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Are you teaching? Or Running a business?
When we first start our Martial Arts training or when we attend our first self-defense session, those who are dedicated to the training, start with a particular goal in mind, whether it’s self-improvement or to learn more about the art or the subject they’re training in, or to achieve a certain set of physical and psychological skills, not many start out with the idea of wanting to become a teacher or an instructor in what they train in, but overtime as their dedication to their training grows stronger and the deeper they understand what they’re taught, some develop a desire to share what they learned over the course of their training.
So begins the journey of a student, as a teacher. The instructor now start to guide those who are new and are looking for someone to help them achieve their goals. When a student chooses to train under someone, they put their trust in the instructor to help them train in the most effective way to accomplish what they aim to.
A new instructor starts out with a desire to share what they learned over the years, to spread the knowledge and make a positive difference in the lives of people they teach. They offer the best quality of knowledge and they make sure that the student grasps what they’ve been taught not just in width, but in depth. In short, they care about getting results they promise.
Now, while there are many instructors who maintain that kind of great and effective quality of training, some lose the sight of what it means to be a teacher. They forget what they set out to do, their principles are corrupted and are clouded by greed for money and fame.
Many define their success by how many students they have and how much money they make in an hour, but the true success of a teacher isn’t measured by those things, it’s measured by their teachings, it’s measured by how positive of a difference they make in their student’s lives.
You can have one student and guide them in the proper direction and put all your heart and soul into their training and see the visible results in them or you can have thousands of clients all over the world who pay you millions for ineffective low quality material packaged in an attractive box, without any positive difference.
The more successful teacher out of the two, for me would be the former. The latter is just a more successful businessman. You can teach a handful of people in a public park and still help them achieve their goals, as long as you’re honest towards yourself, your students and in your training. That, for me, is true success.
On a side note, an important thing to remember for anyone who wants to teach. An instructor should always be a student first. Without always evolving and learning new things yourself, you won’t be able to help anyone else either.
That’s it. Thank you for reading.
So begins the journey of a student, as a teacher. The instructor now start to guide those who are new and are looking for someone to help them achieve their goals. When a student chooses to train under someone, they put their trust in the instructor to help them train in the most effective way to accomplish what they aim to.
A new instructor starts out with a desire to share what they learned over the years, to spread the knowledge and make a positive difference in the lives of people they teach. They offer the best quality of knowledge and they make sure that the student grasps what they’ve been taught not just in width, but in depth. In short, they care about getting results they promise.
Now, while there are many instructors who maintain that kind of great and effective quality of training, some lose the sight of what it means to be a teacher. They forget what they set out to do, their principles are corrupted and are clouded by greed for money and fame.
Many define their success by how many students they have and how much money they make in an hour, but the true success of a teacher isn’t measured by those things, it’s measured by their teachings, it’s measured by how positive of a difference they make in their student’s lives.
You can have one student and guide them in the proper direction and put all your heart and soul into their training and see the visible results in them or you can have thousands of clients all over the world who pay you millions for ineffective low quality material packaged in an attractive box, without any positive difference.
The more successful teacher out of the two, for me would be the former. The latter is just a more successful businessman. You can teach a handful of people in a public park and still help them achieve their goals, as long as you’re honest towards yourself, your students and in your training. That, for me, is true success.
On a side note, an important thing to remember for anyone who wants to teach. An instructor should always be a student first. Without always evolving and learning new things yourself, you won’t be able to help anyone else either.
That’s it. Thank you for reading.
Friday, September 4, 2015
Be-lie-f - The ultimate flaw within ourselves.
What I'm about to write will offend a lot of people, so if you're one of those, please do not read any further.
I have never written a post that goes off-topic from self-protection and fitness, but today, something just sparked inside me after reading some books and researching some events and incidents. I started typing my analysis and thoughts in wordpad and this is what came out.
The things in this article are exceptionally harsh. Please, do not read further if you don't prefer reading harsh realities of human nature.
You see, I've noticed that the fundamental flaw in mankind is our inability to accept the differences between others and oneself. The lack of open judgement and the problem of being egocentric. We force and demand, we indoctrinate and invade, just to practice what we believe is right. Somewhere along the lines, we've deformed ourselves into something much sinister: A self-worshiping species who thinks what we are doing what is right. When we force someone to change, they might submit or they might not. They'll hate us for trying to change them and we'll hate them for trying to change us.
That is the fundamental flaw, that is the root of all conflicts between mankind. The human ability that is called "belief" has been around for thousands of years. It allows us to practice what we believe is correct and for us to have our boundaries to what is right and what is wrong. We pursue what we desire and what we feel is right. But through it all, overtime, we've misused our beliefs.
We started to strive to force what we insist is correct on others by indoctrination, war, murder, and other perverse methods in the name of our beliefs. But humans will be humans as we are all obdurate creatures who want to change others, but refuse to change ourselves.
We refuse to accept that 1+1=2 is correct, and that 10-8=2 is also correct just because your mum or dad or friend or teacher said so, and that they each have adopted the very same belief they are propagating from somewhere else. We refuse to believe that anything that is out of the ordinary is wrong, and that everyone else is non-deserving except ourselves while indulging in hypocrisy. This flaw is global in mankind, it applies to all religions, all races, all cultures even and not just one in particular. This flaw may manifest as a positive intention, but in reality, we are all unaware that we are just wolves in sheep's clothing.
We are just all self-conceited, narcissistic creatures who believe we are the most deserving, holy, proper beings without realizing the sad truth that is we are the exact opposite of that.
We all grew up being taught that to be a good person, you have to practice a certain set of things. We were taught that our belief is the one true belief that follows the one true law and order, and then we try to make another person practice our beliefs to "save" them, and they will think that their belief is the one true belief and ours is a false belief and at the same time they will try to "save" us. We will hate them when they deny our beliefs, and they will hate us when we deny theirs.
We like to find excuses to force our doctrine on others using religion, politics, moral beliefs, culture and even love. We like to segregate ourselves from others because we feel uncomfortable around them, in that our beliefs are supreme and everything and anything else is inferior and incorrect, not knowing and/or acknowledging that they feel the exact same thing when they're around us.
You can try to "save" others from taking a step towards what is "wrong" by force, but don't forget, that for every step you make someone take into your world of right and wrong, you are moving a step forward towards theirs. They will hate you for it, and you will hate them for it. There is no right or wrong. No proper or improper way of living. No one true law that we all must follow because we each have our own beliefs.
You can say that all we have to do is be open-minded and be accepting to fix this problem in our world, but you cannot deny the fact that what you consider as open-minded and accepting may not be shared as a common thought with another person.
Beliefs are not based in logic or facts or rational thoughts or deductive reasoning, they're based in idealistic thinking, emotions and personal bias. The only truth that you find in one's beliefs, is the believer's own or what was ingrained into them from childhood.
It's universal, there is no solution to this. I am invading your beliefs if you disagree with my opinion because you have your own beliefs of what is right and wrong. And you are invading mine when you say this is "blasphemy" and abuse, because I have my own beliefs of what is right and wrong.
The world we call home, is in conflict because we have created impasses by ourselves with ourselves. Without this "belief", we will not be humans. And this-- Is the ultimate flaw of mankind. We are the flaw within ourselves.
Mind you, this article is mainly focused on those majority who try and force their beliefs on others, despite their unwillingness to accept them and not on the few who live and let live.
That is it.
I do Thank you for reading my rant. If you didn't, that's fine too.
I have never written a post that goes off-topic from self-protection and fitness, but today, something just sparked inside me after reading some books and researching some events and incidents. I started typing my analysis and thoughts in wordpad and this is what came out.
The things in this article are exceptionally harsh. Please, do not read further if you don't prefer reading harsh realities of human nature.
You see, I've noticed that the fundamental flaw in mankind is our inability to accept the differences between others and oneself. The lack of open judgement and the problem of being egocentric. We force and demand, we indoctrinate and invade, just to practice what we believe is right. Somewhere along the lines, we've deformed ourselves into something much sinister: A self-worshiping species who thinks what we are doing what is right. When we force someone to change, they might submit or they might not. They'll hate us for trying to change them and we'll hate them for trying to change us.
That is the fundamental flaw, that is the root of all conflicts between mankind. The human ability that is called "belief" has been around for thousands of years. It allows us to practice what we believe is correct and for us to have our boundaries to what is right and what is wrong. We pursue what we desire and what we feel is right. But through it all, overtime, we've misused our beliefs.
We started to strive to force what we insist is correct on others by indoctrination, war, murder, and other perverse methods in the name of our beliefs. But humans will be humans as we are all obdurate creatures who want to change others, but refuse to change ourselves.
We refuse to accept that 1+1=2 is correct, and that 10-8=2 is also correct just because your mum or dad or friend or teacher said so, and that they each have adopted the very same belief they are propagating from somewhere else. We refuse to believe that anything that is out of the ordinary is wrong, and that everyone else is non-deserving except ourselves while indulging in hypocrisy. This flaw is global in mankind, it applies to all religions, all races, all cultures even and not just one in particular. This flaw may manifest as a positive intention, but in reality, we are all unaware that we are just wolves in sheep's clothing.
We are just all self-conceited, narcissistic creatures who believe we are the most deserving, holy, proper beings without realizing the sad truth that is we are the exact opposite of that.
We all grew up being taught that to be a good person, you have to practice a certain set of things. We were taught that our belief is the one true belief that follows the one true law and order, and then we try to make another person practice our beliefs to "save" them, and they will think that their belief is the one true belief and ours is a false belief and at the same time they will try to "save" us. We will hate them when they deny our beliefs, and they will hate us when we deny theirs.
We like to find excuses to force our doctrine on others using religion, politics, moral beliefs, culture and even love. We like to segregate ourselves from others because we feel uncomfortable around them, in that our beliefs are supreme and everything and anything else is inferior and incorrect, not knowing and/or acknowledging that they feel the exact same thing when they're around us.
You can try to "save" others from taking a step towards what is "wrong" by force, but don't forget, that for every step you make someone take into your world of right and wrong, you are moving a step forward towards theirs. They will hate you for it, and you will hate them for it. There is no right or wrong. No proper or improper way of living. No one true law that we all must follow because we each have our own beliefs.
You can say that all we have to do is be open-minded and be accepting to fix this problem in our world, but you cannot deny the fact that what you consider as open-minded and accepting may not be shared as a common thought with another person.
Beliefs are not based in logic or facts or rational thoughts or deductive reasoning, they're based in idealistic thinking, emotions and personal bias. The only truth that you find in one's beliefs, is the believer's own or what was ingrained into them from childhood.
It's universal, there is no solution to this. I am invading your beliefs if you disagree with my opinion because you have your own beliefs of what is right and wrong. And you are invading mine when you say this is "blasphemy" and abuse, because I have my own beliefs of what is right and wrong.
The world we call home, is in conflict because we have created impasses by ourselves with ourselves. Without this "belief", we will not be humans. And this-- Is the ultimate flaw of mankind. We are the flaw within ourselves.
Mind you, this article is mainly focused on those majority who try and force their beliefs on others, despite their unwillingness to accept them and not on the few who live and let live.
That is it.
I do Thank you for reading my rant. If you didn't, that's fine too.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Denial
In today's society most of us are living in fear, we are forced to live in fear, whether it's fear of a natural disaster or of terrorism or domestic crimes or even our own government.
But some of us don't like living in fear of those things, so rather than create helpful solutions and prevention measures for our protection, we make up our own little ideas of what society is like and idealistic thoughts of how we would like it to be. That little condition is called; Denial.
It is common for an average individual to live in denial, it helps them cope with the difficulties of life by not facing or acknowledging them at all. What most don't realize though is that fear is what helps you survive, fear is what helps you adapt, fear is what helps you evolve and protect yourself from the dangers around you. Fear is healthy (Read Gavin DeBecker's Gift of Fear).
The more you deny yourself to acknowledge the reality of things, the less your chances of creating solutions to prevent the problems from happening in the first place. Many individuals look for a cure after the damage has been done. This leads to nothing, no new solutions, no new ways to stop the damage from happening, it only leads to more fear, which leads to paranoia which leads to more failures in keeping our society safe, which leads to certain individuals capitalizing on the fear of the people and exploit that fear for their own profit, they claim to provide solutions, but in actuality they will just instill more fear into the people who buy what they sell.
The most important thing to do for us is to stop looking for ways to hide the reality of violence, stop trying to find ways to "fix" the damage, stop creating paranoia in people's minds, stop creating "solutions" to the problems that don't exist and start forming effective methods to prevent the damage from happening altogether, turn that fear into a true self-protective weapon, not into paranoia. Stop living in denial, step into the reality, look at the signs and prevent the violence from occurring.
But some of us don't like living in fear of those things, so rather than create helpful solutions and prevention measures for our protection, we make up our own little ideas of what society is like and idealistic thoughts of how we would like it to be. That little condition is called; Denial.
It is common for an average individual to live in denial, it helps them cope with the difficulties of life by not facing or acknowledging them at all. What most don't realize though is that fear is what helps you survive, fear is what helps you adapt, fear is what helps you evolve and protect yourself from the dangers around you. Fear is healthy (Read Gavin DeBecker's Gift of Fear).
The more you deny yourself to acknowledge the reality of things, the less your chances of creating solutions to prevent the problems from happening in the first place. Many individuals look for a cure after the damage has been done. This leads to nothing, no new solutions, no new ways to stop the damage from happening, it only leads to more fear, which leads to paranoia which leads to more failures in keeping our society safe, which leads to certain individuals capitalizing on the fear of the people and exploit that fear for their own profit, they claim to provide solutions, but in actuality they will just instill more fear into the people who buy what they sell.
The most important thing to do for us is to stop looking for ways to hide the reality of violence, stop trying to find ways to "fix" the damage, stop creating paranoia in people's minds, stop creating "solutions" to the problems that don't exist and start forming effective methods to prevent the damage from happening altogether, turn that fear into a true self-protective weapon, not into paranoia. Stop living in denial, step into the reality, look at the signs and prevent the violence from occurring.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
So you think criminals lack social skills?
Well, you might wanna think twice about that.
Ever wonder why most victims of con men are so easily coerced into giving them all their money or why the victims of serial killers let themselves be lured to a secluded house to be murdered? Do the victims like it? or are the criminals just that good? (A hint: It's the second one ;)
If you asked this question earlier, you'd have known more about their MO's than you do now.
You see, these skills, no matter how much they fake it, these criminals do have them, even though they're not really your friends, they will make you think that they are and will not care how much they'll hurt you later on, individuals like that are just that good at having social skills. The terms for these kinds of individuals are Sociopaths or Psychopaths. (They're similar but still quite different and the terms are used as synonyms by many).
Individuals like them never base their actions on emotions, but rather they base them on logic and calculations. They analyze their marks to ensure that their goals will be achieved. They're cold, but they seem warm and welcoming to others, that ofcourse includes their possible victims.
Some are so good at faking emotions, because they actually can experience them at a very high level and they utilize that to their advantage.
Now when i say criminals, i don't mean a common thug or a mugger who will just threaten you and intimidate you to get your money, then probably stab you and run away, no, I'm talking about actual 'high profile' criminals, that includes rapists too, btw. They're really good at deceiving and isolating their victims.
Of course experienced muggers do know how to hide their emotions and body language quite well, that's how they ambush their victims, but most of the times, they can be caught, if you're trained, alert and aware enough to spot them.
Sociopaths have one of the best social skills you'll see, they'll manipulate you into giving away everything you have without a hint of remorse and by the time you realize what happened, they'll be long gone or you'd be long "gone", if you know what i mean.
This doesn't just apply to criminals, but everyday people too. There are sociopaths living among the society, you might see them everyday and even like them without knowing that you're being manipulated.
Never underestimate a sociopath's social skills, it's not the quiet guy you have to worry about, it's usually the overly charming ones that you gotta look-out for.
It takes a psychopath to know one, it takes a sociopath to know one.
But you can start by understanding their MO without being either, research a little on this subject, then see if you can identify the signs in others or even yourself, it save can save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
I know it will sound odd, but not all individuals appearing to be sociopaths, are sociopaths, some just lack the social skills to behave the way they're supposed to or some are actually really nice, but can be misunderstood for a sociopath due to their unusual amount of kindness by someone who's a bit of a cynic and a skeptic. That's why it's is a complicated subject and usually quite difficult to spot one, until it's too late.
Once again, Thanks for reading.
You see, these skills, no matter how much they fake it, these criminals do have them, even though they're not really your friends, they will make you think that they are and will not care how much they'll hurt you later on, individuals like that are just that good at having social skills. The terms for these kinds of individuals are Sociopaths or Psychopaths. (They're similar but still quite different and the terms are used as synonyms by many).
Individuals like them never base their actions on emotions, but rather they base them on logic and calculations. They analyze their marks to ensure that their goals will be achieved. They're cold, but they seem warm and welcoming to others, that ofcourse includes their possible victims.
Some are so good at faking emotions, because they actually can experience them at a very high level and they utilize that to their advantage.
Now when i say criminals, i don't mean a common thug or a mugger who will just threaten you and intimidate you to get your money, then probably stab you and run away, no, I'm talking about actual 'high profile' criminals, that includes rapists too, btw. They're really good at deceiving and isolating their victims.
Of course experienced muggers do know how to hide their emotions and body language quite well, that's how they ambush their victims, but most of the times, they can be caught, if you're trained, alert and aware enough to spot them.
Sociopaths have one of the best social skills you'll see, they'll manipulate you into giving away everything you have without a hint of remorse and by the time you realize what happened, they'll be long gone or you'd be long "gone", if you know what i mean.
This doesn't just apply to criminals, but everyday people too. There are sociopaths living among the society, you might see them everyday and even like them without knowing that you're being manipulated.
Never underestimate a sociopath's social skills, it's not the quiet guy you have to worry about, it's usually the overly charming ones that you gotta look-out for.
It takes a psychopath to know one, it takes a sociopath to know one.
But you can start by understanding their MO without being either, research a little on this subject, then see if you can identify the signs in others or even yourself, it save can save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
I know it will sound odd, but not all individuals appearing to be sociopaths, are sociopaths, some just lack the social skills to behave the way they're supposed to or some are actually really nice, but can be misunderstood for a sociopath due to their unusual amount of kindness by someone who's a bit of a cynic and a skeptic. That's why it's is a complicated subject and usually quite difficult to spot one, until it's too late.
Once again, Thanks for reading.
Logic and Emotions
Okay, so I'll start with a conversation, just read it and I'll explain what's going on here.
1- I hate that instructors are forcing people to learn self-defense and making them think that it's necessary to do so in order to be safe.
2- No one's forcing them to do anything, recommending a solution is not forcing them.
1- Yeah? Well, what about all those people who come on t.v. and news channels and promote sd as something that's compulsory then?
2- What? What are you talking about? No one's promoting it to be compulsory.
1- Yeah right!
2- Look, I don't know where you've been getting your "info", but no one's scaring anyone or forcing anyone or making it compulsory to learn sd.
1- Come on man! Wherever I see, there's all sorts of promotion for sd training, these greedy bastards are making money off of people's gullibility.
2- Alright, just slow down here, first of all, there are good instructors out there, who don't force anyone to train. second, only the ones who are more interested in business and taking people's money are the ones doing the b.s. promotions, they're the ones who don't know jack about sd but still promote their "styles" or "systems" to be "street-effective". third, a good legit instructor doesn't scare his/her students, a legit instructor is there to help students to not be scared.
One other thing, people aren't gullible, they're straight up stupid. As if they don't know when they see b.s. They're just too brainwashed or too much in denial, to actually smell it.
1- Whatever. I just don't think people should learn sd, just so they can feel safe to walk on the street.
2- Here's the thing, they don't learn sd to 'feel' safe, they do it to 'be' safe by being prepared. Who ever does it to "feel" safe, is doing it for the wrong reason and is probably doing it with the wrong instructor.
1- So you think, it's okay for people to be paranoid and scared that they might be attacked anytime and so they have to learn sd and that's the only way to remain safe?
2- I don't think you understood what i wrote in my earlier messages. Criminals, look for a weak target and if you are, chances of you getting victimized increases, it's not that training will make you an immortal and invincible superhero, it will decrease your chances of being a victim by identifying the threat or if caught, survive it.
1- Oh i understood everything perfectly, you're one of those who thinks that being attacked is the victim's fault because they weren't "trained" for the attack.
2- Alright, you're really not making any sense right now. I never once said that it was the victim's fault. I'm just saying that it's every individual's right and responsibility to ensure their safety, those who don't, are the ones who usually end up victims. I wrote a similar reply on the thread too. No one is "victim blaming" here, all I'm saying is that it's better to be safe than sorry. It's like evolution, you have to adapt and evolve to survive the ever changing conditions of your environment, those who don't go extinct. Do you understand now?
1- So what you're saying is, it's my way of self defense or you get victimized.
2- No, what I'm saying and what i always say is this, "If you want to learn something or grow yourself or become a better version of yourself or evolve or all of the above, then you train, if you don't, and are satisfied with what you are right now, you don't have to do anything".
In other (more blunt) words, I live by one principle; If the world wants to burn, I'm not gonna burn myself trying to save something that doesn't want to be saved, who am i to save it? No one, that's who. Instead, I'm just gonna take a step back, sit down, relax and enjoy the fireworks and some barbecue, but those who need fire-extinguishers from me will get one, the rest are free to do as they please. But, you know what? I'm done, I don't think you're gonna understand what I'm saying here.
1- Wow. Whatever dude, you're a psycho. I don't even know why i wasted my time with you!
2- I'm just being logical here. But... okay...
1- What you are is a heartless psycho who just wants people to kill each other with your self defense. I hope you don't have any kids, i feel sorry for them, having to grow up scared and grow up with a psycho like you, they're sure to be serial killers. Learn some compassion and empathy or you are never going to be like a normal sane person and make any friends and die alone!
2- I'd rather be heartless than headless. I don't have any kids, but in case i do and they do turn out to be criminals, I'll know sd and will be able to protect myself from them, can't say the same about you though.
Now stop messaging me idiot. I said I'm done already, didn't I...
1- F- you! A-hole!!
Well, so that "little convo" was between me and an individual with some "different" world views. I had to remove many of the profanities, that person cursed a lot. But that's how the conversation basically went.
It was over the internet, and it was about the topic on a thread that individual and i both had read and started discussing, it turned ugly real quick.
That individual is no. 1, and I'm no. 2 in this conversation.
That individual gave me such a headache, I almost cried tears of blood from the sheer stupidity of the replies.
But it gave me an idea to write this little post.
See, even though emotions and logic always contradict each other and are in conflict with each other, they're still mixed up by many. People have always confused a logical individual with a sociopath or a psychopath.
What they don't understand that logic is not logic if it has emotions in it. Logic is an antagonist to emotions and vice-versa and cannot co-exist when rational thinking is required.
Sure, logic will seem heartless and cold to many, but logic is what gets to the truth in the end, while emotions just cloud our judgement, our rational thinking and stops us from finding an effective solution and reaching a proper conclusion for a matter that requires difficult choices to be made.
Not to say that emotions are bad, they're helpful in many way for many things, but as far as personal safety and training for it goes, I just prefer using logic more than emotions. It will seem "cold" and "psychopathic" to some, but all it does is just removes all the filters and biases that we have due to our conditioning, our tribal mindset and our emotions and reveal the world to us as it really is and not as we want to see it. That doesn't make someone a cold heartless psychopath, it just makes them rational. Now, try and think about this topic without your personal bias, 'k?
That's it and Thanks for reading.
Friday, April 17, 2015
Misconceptions about Martial Arts and Self Defense
First, let me start off with this; What does the term 'Martial Arts' mean?
For those who aren't familiar, 'Martial' means 'War', the term 'Martial Art' means the 'Art of War'.
Martial Arts at one time, were meant to be used for violence, for combat, for wars, not for entertainment or enjoyment or hobbies. But with the invention of new weapons like firearms and other advanced weapons, Martial Arts have become obsolete as far as wars are concerned. Most of the soldiers in combat never even get into situations that require them to use H2H methods. But still many Martial Art schools promote their style/s as a "military method".
This particular subject is filled with so much confusion and twists, it's like a tangled up rubber-band ball stuck together with superglue.
With movies making people think that they can do impossible things and with mcdojo's and money hungry instructors capitalizing on the guilibility of the masses and selling "effective street programs", there is not much left that can be called Martial Arts. From "children's self defense" to "fitness for martial arts" and other recreational programs, there's not much of the "Martial" part left in Martial Arts today.
Now as far as self-defense is concerned, there's a whole mess of things that need to be addressed. One of them being that Street Fighting and Self Defense are not one and the same thing; Here's why.
Start questioning these things, research more on these subjects, then you'll see for yourself how you've been manipulated into believing the reality that doesn't exist.
For those who aren't familiar, 'Martial' means 'War', the term 'Martial Art' means the 'Art of War'.
Martial Arts at one time, were meant to be used for violence, for combat, for wars, not for entertainment or enjoyment or hobbies. But with the invention of new weapons like firearms and other advanced weapons, Martial Arts have become obsolete as far as wars are concerned. Most of the soldiers in combat never even get into situations that require them to use H2H methods. But still many Martial Art schools promote their style/s as a "military method".
This particular subject is filled with so much confusion and twists, it's like a tangled up rubber-band ball stuck together with superglue.
With movies making people think that they can do impossible things and with mcdojo's and money hungry instructors capitalizing on the guilibility of the masses and selling "effective street programs", there is not much left that can be called Martial Arts. From "children's self defense" to "fitness for martial arts" and other recreational programs, there's not much of the "Martial" part left in Martial Arts today.
Now as far as self-defense is concerned, there's a whole mess of things that need to be addressed. One of them being that Street Fighting and Self Defense are not one and the same thing; Here's why.
Start questioning these things, research more on these subjects, then you'll see for yourself how you've been manipulated into believing the reality that doesn't exist.
Terms
In my past posts, I've used many terms to describe violence, and I've used them in a not so correct manner, but as time goes and i educate myself more, i tend to improve myself and my mistakes.
So, here's an article that clears up some things on proper 'terms'.
First, Violence is violence no matter what you call it.
It's the various situations that the violence is used in that differs from each other.
Usually, i don't like to have a big fuss over terms, but in this case (training for violence), terms can help determine how you will train and what you will train for, rather than just blindly training to punch and kick, you would learn and understand the dynamics of violence and be able to apply the principles as required.
Alright, here's a list of terms that clear up somethings as far as training for different types of violent situations is concerned;
Street Fighting and Fights; Street fighting is nothing more than what you see in those youtube videos, two people going at it, dancing around and punching each other while their friends cheer on. I'm sure many of you are familiar with 'worldstar'. That's what fighting is. It's not an attack on someone, all involved in a 'fight' are equally willing to hurt each other for fun or their status among peers.
Self Defense; It's a legal term used if you're able to prove that the force used by you on another person was the result of an unavoidable assault or attack on you by that person. Self-Defense is not something you "do", it's what you did when your life was in danger and were you justified in doing so, that's self-defense. It is also a part of a much larger area of study of violence called Conflict Management.
Self Protection or Personal Protection and Safety ; These terms are used as a synonym for self-defense by many, but actually they're just used to describe the measures taken by an individual or a group to protect themselves from threats before they occur. Avoidance, having situational and environmental awareness, being alert of suspicious individuals around you, trusting your intuition and instincts are all a part of self-protection measures. It is a bigger part of Conflict Management than self-defense.
Attack and Assault; An attack is the the use of aggression and violence (physical and/or verbal) on another individual, usually to get something from them or for self-gratification.
An assault is a legal term that has different meanings in different countries, so you would have to look up as to what constitutes as an assault in your own country. In common law, it's defined as; "The act of creating apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact with a person".
Violence; This is an 'umbrella term' for the many different violent situations that take place. From asocial violence such as; muggings, home invasions, rapes, mob attacks, assaults, etc. to anti-social and social violence such as; ambush attacks by groups for their fun, street fights, bar fights, etc. There are various sub-categories of violence. (I'll also post on that subject soon).
Violence is used in self-defense situations, and it's used in sport fighting, it's used at home, it's used in the offices and even in nature, it exists everywhere in some form or the other and there are many different ways to describe violence, but that doesn't mean it changes what violence is, and that's; Violence; The act of using physical force - lethal or non-lethal - intended to bring bodily harm on it's victim. It has many forms, but the goal is always the same, to put it simply; Put your target down.
That's it. Thanks for reading.
So, here's an article that clears up some things on proper 'terms'.
First, Violence is violence no matter what you call it.
It's the various situations that the violence is used in that differs from each other.
Usually, i don't like to have a big fuss over terms, but in this case (training for violence), terms can help determine how you will train and what you will train for, rather than just blindly training to punch and kick, you would learn and understand the dynamics of violence and be able to apply the principles as required.
Alright, here's a list of terms that clear up somethings as far as training for different types of violent situations is concerned;
Street Fighting and Fights; Street fighting is nothing more than what you see in those youtube videos, two people going at it, dancing around and punching each other while their friends cheer on. I'm sure many of you are familiar with 'worldstar'. That's what fighting is. It's not an attack on someone, all involved in a 'fight' are equally willing to hurt each other for fun or their status among peers.
Self Defense; It's a legal term used if you're able to prove that the force used by you on another person was the result of an unavoidable assault or attack on you by that person. Self-Defense is not something you "do", it's what you did when your life was in danger and were you justified in doing so, that's self-defense. It is also a part of a much larger area of study of violence called Conflict Management.
Self Protection or Personal Protection and Safety ; These terms are used as a synonym for self-defense by many, but actually they're just used to describe the measures taken by an individual or a group to protect themselves from threats before they occur. Avoidance, having situational and environmental awareness, being alert of suspicious individuals around you, trusting your intuition and instincts are all a part of self-protection measures. It is a bigger part of Conflict Management than self-defense.
Attack and Assault; An attack is the the use of aggression and violence (physical and/or verbal) on another individual, usually to get something from them or for self-gratification.
An assault is a legal term that has different meanings in different countries, so you would have to look up as to what constitutes as an assault in your own country. In common law, it's defined as; "The act of creating apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact with a person".
Violence; This is an 'umbrella term' for the many different violent situations that take place. From asocial violence such as; muggings, home invasions, rapes, mob attacks, assaults, etc. to anti-social and social violence such as; ambush attacks by groups for their fun, street fights, bar fights, etc. There are various sub-categories of violence. (I'll also post on that subject soon).
Violence is used in self-defense situations, and it's used in sport fighting, it's used at home, it's used in the offices and even in nature, it exists everywhere in some form or the other and there are many different ways to describe violence, but that doesn't mean it changes what violence is, and that's; Violence; The act of using physical force - lethal or non-lethal - intended to bring bodily harm on it's victim. It has many forms, but the goal is always the same, to put it simply; Put your target down.
That's it. Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Why Verbal Violence can be more scarring than physical
I will start with a simple quote;
"Wounds heal, but scars remain - Pain is temporary, but memories are permanent."
I don't know who said it, but this simple quote says more than many books written on this subject might.
In a violent confrontation, the fear you feel, the intimidation, the hopelessness, it's not because of the physical trauma you suffer, it's because of the psychological trauma.
Even if there is no physical attack, the behavior of the individual who is aggressive enough will cause your mind to be affected in a certain way, your emotions will flood in all at once, hormones are released that cloud your clear thinking, which in turn could lead you to freeze, or do something that might make things worse.
You see, we are conditioned by the society today to be pacifists. We are raised to suppress our emotions, especially our anger. Since we are little kids, we are taught to be polite to others, taught to never insult them, respect authority, respect our elders, etc.
Due to that conditioning, we will always behave in a docile manner, and until we are pushed beyond our limits, we will never go "savage". Of course, this too has quite a few exceptions. There are individuals who aren't like that, they don't think like the rest, they don't act like the rest. They don't mind breaking the norms of the society and crossing the limits that create victims from innocent bystanders.
When the rule followers meet rule breakers, chaos ensues and the rule followers end up the victim. Now, I'm not implying that being a rule follower is a bad thing, all i'm saying is that majority of the rule followers won't know what to do, when they get into it, everything will feel surreal to them, they will be confused and won't know the appropriate response to such a threat.
See my point is, when you are faced with an asocial criminal, both your mindsets will exactly be the polar opposite of each other. You will be the one who would want to reason, but the other one will be aggressive and will only want to hurt you to get what that individual wants from you, that's all there is on their minds, you are not a human to them, you are just a target, a dehumanized target.
Now to get what they want, those criminals will always use intimidation of some kind, whether it's a weapon, or extremely aggressive "in your face" type approach with a really angry and loud voice and curse words, etc. or physical assault and life threats.
Most muggers don't actually physically hurt their targets, it's too risky for them to do so, all they want are your valuables, and so, the sudden ambush attack and the aggressive behavior, and just their overall method to scare the living daylights out of their target is enough for majority of people to lose their minds and just comply with them.
During and surely after those situations, even though the victim isn't physically damaged, the psychological after-effects will leave them in a stressful state of mind a.k.a. Post-traumatic stress.
When that happens, the victim's behavior in their everyday life will change dramatically. If they were outgoing, they will prefer to stay indoors after a certain time of day, they could also develop trust issues and might not be able to make friends as easily as they used to. Behavioral changes like that can affect an individual's day-to-day life on a very high level. Certain psychological damage can last longer than almost any physiological damage.
Now unless you are prepared to face something like that, your chances of coming out of something like that without psychological scarring, are basically none. Even with training, you will be shaken up for sure, maybe not as badly, but still.
Now without any training, it will be a nightmare you live out everyday for a very long time, and you might have go see a psychologist or a therapist to deal with and get over those issues and it's not an easy task, far from it actually.
Look, I'm not writing these things here to scare you, these are just the cold hard facts, people have gone through these things, they still do, and the sooner you face these facts, the sooner you can take steps to make sure that you won't go through something like that yourself.
That's the main reason why i focus about 60% of my self-protection training on psychological conditioning, 30% on the technical and physical part and the rest 10% on the unpredictable external factors that contribute to the outcome of a violent altercation.
Training for these situations by making your mind used to these things is the only way to prepare yourself for them. There are no short-cuts to these things.
Alright. That's it. Thanks for reading and please think about what you read here.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
"Do 's and Don'ts" of Combat
Sometimes, it's the things you do that help you and sometimes it's the things that you didn't do that helps you survive and get out of a situation that is "F.U.B.A.R".
Let's just see what those things might be, yes?
1- Never underestimate yourself, if you do, you start to think that your attacker will be more powerful than you and you start to give up and losing a battle psychologically will guarantee your demise physically too. No matter how obviously bigger, stronger and even skilled he/she might be than you, your mind should focus on one thing and one thing only, "Getting out of there at any cost, no matter what".
Let's just see what those things might be, yes?
1- Never underestimate yourself, if you do, you start to think that your attacker will be more powerful than you and you start to give up and losing a battle psychologically will guarantee your demise physically too. No matter how obviously bigger, stronger and even skilled he/she might be than you, your mind should focus on one thing and one thing only, "Getting out of there at any cost, no matter what".
2- Never overestimate yourself, if you do, you'd think you're superior than others and that includes your attacker/s and can "take them out", which will lead to you getting beat up and down the concrete and to the hospital and/or morgue. You can push your limits during training, but never in a real violent situation. "Know your limits".
"Then what?" you ask?
3- Well, You should never "estimate" anything, estimation is a guess, guessing is a risk in combat, especially if you're guessing about what the attacker might do and what you'd do as a response. Guessing leads to you imagining things that don't exist and probably won't happen. Then you start looking for solutions of problems that never existed in the first place. Not a very productive way to train for 'reality of violence'.
There should never be any guesses or doubts and never let your imagination take over your ability of reason and logic.. "Be sure of your actions, no second guessing and be realistic".
There should never be any guesses or doubts and never let your imagination take over your ability of reason and logic.. "Be sure of your actions, no second guessing and be realistic".
4- Now, how will you be sure of your abilities? Well, you train and hone your abilities and develop new skills and brush up on the old ones (if you have any).
5- How do you hone your abilities and develop new skills? You train and after, test yourself in training.
What do i mean by "test"? By training with a partner that;
- Is Not a punching bag or pad.
What do i mean by "test"? By training with a partner that;
- Is Not a punching bag or pad.
- Is Not Compliant.
- Isn't afraid to hit back when you hit him.
- Is Bigger and/or Faster than you.
- Is more Skilled and Superior than you.
In short, you train in a realistic way that has all the elements of real violence. You don't have to go a 100%, but even at 50%, you will experience pretty high level of intensity and adrenal stress that real violent situations are comprised of.
In short, you train in a realistic way that has all the elements of real violence. You don't have to go a 100%, but even at 50%, you will experience pretty high level of intensity and adrenal stress that real violent situations are comprised of.
6- You train in a method that gets you ready in a day, even though mastering it would take years. What if you are faced with a threat on the first day of training? Would you be able to use what you trained in the class?
You know, in World War 2, soldiers were trained in about 7 days time and then deployed in combat, and that wasn't just unarmed hand-to-hand, it included more than h2h, it included weapons, explosives, urban and jungle survival skills and many more things too, so they only took about 1-2 day/s to complete the unarmed training, on the 2nd and 3rd days they were on knives and bayonets, by the time it was the 4th day, they were already training with and were good at using firearms, explosives, plus other "silent neutralizing" methods.
I'm not saying you have to train like WW2 soldiers, what i'm saying is, you have to train efficiently in methods that have practical applications and are simple enough to pick-up on the first day of your training. You have to train in a method with a set of principles that are simple and ready to apply, if/when the situation demands it.
Next,
8- Learning to think like a criminal and get into his mentality, to understand what makes them "tick", what to say, what not to say, what would help, what wouldn't, pre-contact ques like, body language (yours and the attacker's).
In some cases, body language helps, in others communication skills do. "Sometimes both help, sometimes neither".
Another advantage of thinking like a criminal is you can reverse engineer that mindset and can come up with practical solutions to not only combat, but prevent and avoid threats like that altogether.
9- "Know the situation, Know the environment". It's not just situational awareness, it's being Environmentally aware that increases your chances of survival. There are instructors who focus on this more than any other aspect because it's the most important one, it will determine your chances of survival.
10- Learn more about the crimes in your locality, know who committed those crimes and how they might affect you. Also, what other possible criminals might be lurking around? Coordinate with your local L.E Department (If possible and they are open to cooperating with you). Maybe form a small neighborhood watch, (If suitable for your locality).
"Know your neighbors and your neighborhood".
"Know your neighbors and your neighborhood".
11- Don't forget the law, study the local law about self protection and self defense. Also try and understand these things;
-What constitutes as self-defense?
-What can land you in jail?
-What can help you survive legal prosecution?
-What to say? What not to say? & How to say something to a L.E.O. during debriefing?
-How to describe the incident in a way that won't portray you as an aggressive individual who was looking for trouble and found it and attacked the other guy?
-What are the loopholes and how would you escape without being labeled the criminal despite being the victim?
"Know and Learn the law".
-What constitutes as self-defense?
-What can land you in jail?
-What can help you survive legal prosecution?
-What to say? What not to say? & How to say something to a L.E.O. during debriefing?
-How to describe the incident in a way that won't portray you as an aggressive individual who was looking for trouble and found it and attacked the other guy?
-What are the loopholes and how would you escape without being labeled the criminal despite being the victim?
"Know and Learn the law".
12- Learn to be violent and use violence for your survival, psychological skills can get you far enough, but enough's not always enough, learn to be physically violent and know when to stop, to "turn it off".
13- Finally, always be aware of the many consequences of violence (positive and negative, more so of the latter), your actions will get a reaction in the following 5 ways;
-Psychological - Trauma, PTSD, Depression, etc.
-Physical - Any injuries sustained during the physical altercation.
-Moral - Guilt and feeling of sorrow, (if fatalities occur, especially of someone who you are with during the incident).
-Societal - Public shame, individuals behave differently around you, loss of friends and probably status, isolation from peers, possible loss of profession/job/career (if it goes to the court and you are unable to prove that you're the victim, etc. Which brings me to the final one...
-Legal - Proving justified use of force is not always easy, especially if there are no witnesses to back you up, lawyer and other legal fees will drain you and your bank account dry resulting in financial debt, long court dates will take time away from your normal life, a very high possibility of jail time if you're unable to prove that you hospitalizing or killing someone was justified in order to save lives and maintain your or your family's safety, if the criminal is alive and injured, without eyewitnesses he can escape any charges and go free or they can even claim you as the attacker, without eyewitnesses, it might not be as easy as you think to prove otherwise, especially if the criminal has a better lawyer than you. It has happened, you never know what other legal factors you come across. In fact, legal consequences are the worst kind of them all.
Now you have an idea of the subjects that should be included in your training for real violence.
In the end, there are no specific do's and don'ts of combat. Just some basic, common sense principles and whatever else helps you survive, those are the "Do's", the rest are the "What to look out for's" and the "Don'ts".
As always, Thanks for reading.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
A little deviation from my usual topic
Today, we'll deviate from our usual topic and talk a little about stretching and fitness workouts you can do at home.
Okay so, here are some things you can do for stretching.
1- High leg swings- Here all you have to do is get good balance first, then you swing your leg as high as you can in four directions- Front, Side, Back and Diagonally to the left.
2- Next, sitting on the floor, legs folded, knees gently bent with the soles of your feet touching in front of you, now move your knees up and down, it's called the butterfly stretch.
3- Another one you can do is, first, hold on to something, like the back of a chair, then, practice side stretch kicks, as high as you can get them, these are not swings, keep that in mind while doing them, hold your leg out straight using the chair for balance.
4- Next, sit sideways to a wall and then spin your legs around so they are pointing up the wall and your butt is as close to the wall as possible. Open your legs and let gravity do the rest, it's kind of like the splits, but upside down.
5- Next, sit on the floor, spread your legs and lean forward, concentrate on breathing rather than stretching as you relax, then slide your palms under your leg and edge your legs further apart and repeat the breathing.
6- Last, stand feet flat on the floor as wide apart as you can go, hands, elbow or chest level of the floor based on your flexibility, hold for 20 or 30 Seconds, then turn your toes to the sky and hold for 20-30 seconds, without pulling your feet closer together, turn to the left or right, front toes up, foot flat hands placed on each side of your body for balance, hold for the count, then turn the back foot down so the ball of your foot is on the floor hold for a count, then turn and repeat on the other side. You can also do this as a standing stretch with a partner. Then you can add some downward pressure to strengthen as you stretch.
These will be more than enough for you to do to get some basic level of stretching ability.
Remember, the trick to stretching is not concentrating on the stretch, it's to concentrate on your breathing. Why? Because you subconsciously tense that area when you do that, and then, as you relax on the exhale, let yourself sink into the direction you are stretching. That's it, see? A simple little mind trick to improve your stretching :)
Now for some work-outs -
1- Crunches are always useful to develop upper abdomen.
2- Leg pulls are another exercise to develop your lower abdomen- All you have to do is sit on the edge of a bench or bed, put your hands as far back as possible without fully lying down, then extend your legs outward and pull them in, do at least 20-30 reps daily.
3- Plank is the best one to develop your core muscles.
4- Now, for chest muscles- push-ups are good, start with 20 or so reps, if you can't do them, make those 12. Remember your form in push-ups will determine the results you get from doing them.
5- Pull-ups, this one will be a bit difficult to do for the ones who haven't done them before, try working on your shoulder muscles and your 'Latissimus Dorsi' muscle or 'Lats' or "wings", as I've heard some call them.
6- Running- this is the best cardio you'll get. Not on a tread mill, get out and get some fresh air in your free time, if you live near a beach, that'll be the best place to do it, the fresh air will help you a great deal.
7- Jumping Jacks, another cardio workout.
Alright then, hope you enjoyed reading this little post of mine and found it useful. Now, stop reading and start working out you! ;)
Okay so, here are some things you can do for stretching.
1- High leg swings- Here all you have to do is get good balance first, then you swing your leg as high as you can in four directions- Front, Side, Back and Diagonally to the left.
2- Next, sitting on the floor, legs folded, knees gently bent with the soles of your feet touching in front of you, now move your knees up and down, it's called the butterfly stretch.
3- Another one you can do is, first, hold on to something, like the back of a chair, then, practice side stretch kicks, as high as you can get them, these are not swings, keep that in mind while doing them, hold your leg out straight using the chair for balance.
4- Next, sit sideways to a wall and then spin your legs around so they are pointing up the wall and your butt is as close to the wall as possible. Open your legs and let gravity do the rest, it's kind of like the splits, but upside down.
5- Next, sit on the floor, spread your legs and lean forward, concentrate on breathing rather than stretching as you relax, then slide your palms under your leg and edge your legs further apart and repeat the breathing.
6- Last, stand feet flat on the floor as wide apart as you can go, hands, elbow or chest level of the floor based on your flexibility, hold for 20 or 30 Seconds, then turn your toes to the sky and hold for 20-30 seconds, without pulling your feet closer together, turn to the left or right, front toes up, foot flat hands placed on each side of your body for balance, hold for the count, then turn the back foot down so the ball of your foot is on the floor hold for a count, then turn and repeat on the other side. You can also do this as a standing stretch with a partner. Then you can add some downward pressure to strengthen as you stretch.
These will be more than enough for you to do to get some basic level of stretching ability.
Remember, the trick to stretching is not concentrating on the stretch, it's to concentrate on your breathing. Why? Because you subconsciously tense that area when you do that, and then, as you relax on the exhale, let yourself sink into the direction you are stretching. That's it, see? A simple little mind trick to improve your stretching :)
Now for some work-outs -
1- Crunches are always useful to develop upper abdomen.
2- Leg pulls are another exercise to develop your lower abdomen- All you have to do is sit on the edge of a bench or bed, put your hands as far back as possible without fully lying down, then extend your legs outward and pull them in, do at least 20-30 reps daily.
3- Plank is the best one to develop your core muscles.
4- Now, for chest muscles- push-ups are good, start with 20 or so reps, if you can't do them, make those 12. Remember your form in push-ups will determine the results you get from doing them.
5- Pull-ups, this one will be a bit difficult to do for the ones who haven't done them before, try working on your shoulder muscles and your 'Latissimus Dorsi' muscle or 'Lats' or "wings", as I've heard some call them.
6- Running- this is the best cardio you'll get. Not on a tread mill, get out and get some fresh air in your free time, if you live near a beach, that'll be the best place to do it, the fresh air will help you a great deal.
7- Jumping Jacks, another cardio workout.
Alright then, hope you enjoyed reading this little post of mine and found it useful. Now, stop reading and start working out you! ;)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
How do you approach your training?
Today, i want to ask you a question.
How do you approach your training when it comes to dealing with violent criminals?
-Do you think defensively?
-Do you think neutrally?
-Do you think offensively?
You see, there are three types of mindsets.
1- The Defensive mindset; always thinks about what he/she will do, if someone attacks them in a certain manner, or what their defensive "move" will be? Will they do a 360 defend or a deflect? Or trap and counter? They will always think that an attacker is going to attack in a particular manner and nothing more, due to their type of training in class, they will always think, "When he does this, i'll do that".
2- The Neutral mindset; Always thinks one thing, "I live in one of the safest areas, That will never happen to me".
3- The Offensive mindset; Doesn't have just one thing on it's mind, it's has everything on it. What do i mean by "everything"? By everything i mean, Everything it needs to Survive and Live.
Here's where perspective in training comes in handy.
Many T.M.A's and Systems train with a defensive perspective, from a "civilian" P.O.V. that dictates, you not attacking your attacker no matter what, but instead "defending" yourself and then to just hit once and run. But what they don't teach you is, 'once' isn't always enough.
See, first of all, majority of the victims in past cases who didn't survive their attackers had defensive wounds on their hands, from edged and blunt weapons, it's because rather than attacking, they defended.
Defensive mindset can only get you so far, at max, it can help you in certain "Alpha Male" anti-social situations...maybe... and that's a BIG Maybe, but in asocial life and death ones? It's a dead end.
Now, the offensive perspective, puts you in the criminal's shoes.. so to speak. You begin to think like one, you see things from a P.O.V. that not all are able to, and once you start thinking like one, you know what to look out for.
If you think like a predator, you'll identify other predators from their body language and will steer clear of them and in some cases, they will be able to identify you from the way you talk, the way you walk and your overall body language, so they will steer clear of you too, since most attackers only choose victims they see as weak and know won't fight back. This is not true with all predators, but majority of them. Some don't care how tough your body language is, if they want to victimize you, they will victimize you and your family, but that's a topic for another post.
Besides all that, with a predator mindset, you'll know what true violence is capable of, which will help you regulate yourself in certain conflicts, and not escalate a minor situation to a full blown fist fight, helping you avoid, rather than having to fight your way out of the situation.
With an offensive mindset, you know what to do and that is to not just stop with one hit, but continue till the target is down and out, stay on your two feet and not stop fighting until you're the last one standing, then escape or not having to get into situations like that in the first place.
As for the neutral mindset, well, the people with this mindset are often the ones to say "I never thought this would ever happen to me". These are the ones, who are most often mugged or assaulted.
Anyway, that's it for today. Thanks for reading.
Btw, i read a really good and informative Blog Post today. I really think you should read it.
It goes more into detail about why you shouldn't think criminals are just dumb and weak animals who prey on the helpless and how they actually study and train to be the perfect killing machines and more about CQC, etc. This is not a promotion, i just thought it was really interesting and wanted to share with everyone.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Training For Real Violent Situations
Do you think reality based training is all strikes, fights, kills and weapons?
Well, you couldn't be more wrong. Real world violence is so much more than just fighting. The physical part is just a piece of the whole "violent pie", there are psychological elements and there are biological elements that many people don't realize (i'll explain in a moment).
But first, i want to deal with how you train vs the reality of when it actually happens.
How does an average "self defense student" train for a violent confrontation?
Let me take a guess here, yeah?
1-You train in some sort of big hall with wooden floors and mirrors?
2-You train in an a/c or a fan-filled windowed fresh and cool room?
3-You wear gloves and protection pads to protect your tender little hands?
4-You hit pads and bags of all kinds to feel tough?
5-You spar with someone your gender, size, height, weight, etc.
6-You have a very nice compliant partner who falls and tumbles when you throw him/her, no retaliation or resistance?
7-At the end of the day you feel confident and safe.
8-At the end of the course you get a certificate and a belt.
Awesome! right? I mean that sounds so damn lucrative!
Yeah... Now let me tell you what happens in a real violent confrontation based on the points above.
1-You'll be struggling for your life in a dark corner of an alley, with no one there to help you or hear your cries of help, even if people do, they may not come to your rescue, due to the fear of getting hurt themselves, police isn't always there to help you, it's just you and your attacker/s, yes, there is always a huge possibility of there being more than one attacker and they might be on drugs, drunk, etc.
2-It would be either extremely cold, or it might be rainy or really hot, noisy, sticky, smelly and nasty, as in disease ridden.
3-Your hands won't have any protection, unless of course you wear your gloves everywhere you go and if you instinctively punch and miss or hit the wrong(hard) place, you will break your fist and wrist.
4-Pads and bags don't hit back, your attacker on the other hand, won't stop hitting or stabbing you like a punching bag that you are for him, and he'll want to "puncture" you beyond repair.
5-There is also a possibility of the attacker being a female or she might be laying a trap for you so the others in the gang can ambush you later, you just can't assume anything in a real violent situation. Although mostly it's a male, and he will be stronger, bigger, more skilled and violent than you. That's why he picked you, he knew you are weaker than him/her, so forget weight class, etc. This isn't going to be a fair situation for you. there is no "fair" situation or fight here when it comes to these things.
6-Like i said, your attacker would most likely be stronger than you and possibly heavier than you, that's why he targeted you, you are an easy target for him, do you think you can throw a 6ft 1inch, 200lbs man who is constantly hitting you and stabbing and coming you at full speed with everything he's got and not holding back a bit? What about two of them? Would you use your "lighting fast reflexes" to strike them both simultaneously like you do in training and run? Why don't you give it a try? Ask two of the strongest people who are closest to you and tell them to charge at you full speed, now test if you'll be able to use the fine motor skills you "train" in for three times a week.. Maybe even less? On those walking bulldozers.
7-At the end of the training day, you might feel safe and confident, but tell me something, do you want to "feel" safe and confident or do you want to Be Safe and Confident? They're two different things, you know?
8-At the end of an attack all you get are emotional and physical scars and bruises, no certificate or belt can help you before, during or after an attack, they're just pieces of printed cloth and paper. Would you have them or would you rather have the skills necessary to save your life and possibly your loved ones? It's up to you, open your eyes and focus on the things that actually matter.
Back to where i was, see, if you think that to survive violence, just "learning some techniques" will help you a 100%, you're sorely mistaken. Like i mentioned before there are a lot of psychological and even biological elements that contribute to a situation.
So what do you do?
Well first, work on your communication skills, learn to diffuse a confrontation before it escalates, try not to antagonize the guy any further, he's looking for a reason, if you give it to him, you're f'd.
Try to keep a calm low voice, but don't show any fear, you don't want him to bully you either, maintain a strong body language, be intimidating without actually doing anything obvious that might say "I'm looking for a reason to hit you", it's the subtle things that'll catch his eye.
Next what you can do is be prepared, don't decide on anything fixed, but be prepared, physically and psychologically for various situations;
-If you're traveling to/from somewhere, keep a back up route in mind to your destination.
-If you're not sure about an area you're going to, then try and arm yourself, make an improvised knife, or at least keep some keys or a sturdy pen handy.
-If you're going home late at night, and you see suspicious characters lurking around you, trust your gut, try and create distance first and then change your direction from your true destination, you don't want them to follow you home and become a victim of an home invasion attack.
-Situational awareness is really important, your eyes should be in all of the 10 directions, yes, 10.
Front.
Back.
Left.
Right.
Front/left.
Front/right.
Back/left.
Back/right.
Up.
Down.
-Being environmentally aware is really the most helpful ability and the most necessary state of mind. Knowing what's where can help you devise tactic/s to escape the situation.
Someone might be hiding under a parked vehicle, a bus probably, and might try and trip you to get you to the ground and render you helpless. If you're environmentally aware, you just might catch a glimpse of that someone and be cautious of where you step and what you do.
-Be careful of needles(for disease, poison), blades(infection, high blood loss possibility), acids(i don't need to tell you how dangerous this one is), chilli powder(to blind you and disorient you with pain, so they can rob or even kidnap you possibly), etc.
-There's also the terrain in which you might be attacked, i.e. wet, slippery, rocky, etc.
Stuff like that. Basically you have to understand, violence is not all physical, it's psychological, biological and environmental too, and for that you have to train as such, remember, train like you fight, fight like you train.
Well, that's about it for today.
Thanks for reading.
But first, i want to deal with how you train vs the reality of when it actually happens.
How does an average "self defense student" train for a violent confrontation?
Let me take a guess here, yeah?
1-You train in some sort of big hall with wooden floors and mirrors?
2-You train in an a/c or a fan-filled windowed fresh and cool room?
3-You wear gloves and protection pads to protect your tender little hands?
4-You hit pads and bags of all kinds to feel tough?
5-You spar with someone your gender, size, height, weight, etc.
6-You have a very nice compliant partner who falls and tumbles when you throw him/her, no retaliation or resistance?
7-At the end of the day you feel confident and safe.
8-At the end of the course you get a certificate and a belt.
Awesome! right? I mean that sounds so damn lucrative!
Yeah... Now let me tell you what happens in a real violent confrontation based on the points above.
1-You'll be struggling for your life in a dark corner of an alley, with no one there to help you or hear your cries of help, even if people do, they may not come to your rescue, due to the fear of getting hurt themselves, police isn't always there to help you, it's just you and your attacker/s, yes, there is always a huge possibility of there being more than one attacker and they might be on drugs, drunk, etc.
2-It would be either extremely cold, or it might be rainy or really hot, noisy, sticky, smelly and nasty, as in disease ridden.
3-Your hands won't have any protection, unless of course you wear your gloves everywhere you go and if you instinctively punch and miss or hit the wrong(hard) place, you will break your fist and wrist.
4-Pads and bags don't hit back, your attacker on the other hand, won't stop hitting or stabbing you like a punching bag that you are for him, and he'll want to "puncture" you beyond repair.
5-There is also a possibility of the attacker being a female or she might be laying a trap for you so the others in the gang can ambush you later, you just can't assume anything in a real violent situation. Although mostly it's a male, and he will be stronger, bigger, more skilled and violent than you. That's why he picked you, he knew you are weaker than him/her, so forget weight class, etc. This isn't going to be a fair situation for you. there is no "fair" situation or fight here when it comes to these things.
6-Like i said, your attacker would most likely be stronger than you and possibly heavier than you, that's why he targeted you, you are an easy target for him, do you think you can throw a 6ft 1inch, 200lbs man who is constantly hitting you and stabbing and coming you at full speed with everything he's got and not holding back a bit? What about two of them? Would you use your "lighting fast reflexes" to strike them both simultaneously like you do in training and run? Why don't you give it a try? Ask two of the strongest people who are closest to you and tell them to charge at you full speed, now test if you'll be able to use the fine motor skills you "train" in for three times a week.. Maybe even less? On those walking bulldozers.
7-At the end of the training day, you might feel safe and confident, but tell me something, do you want to "feel" safe and confident or do you want to Be Safe and Confident? They're two different things, you know?
8-At the end of an attack all you get are emotional and physical scars and bruises, no certificate or belt can help you before, during or after an attack, they're just pieces of printed cloth and paper. Would you have them or would you rather have the skills necessary to save your life and possibly your loved ones? It's up to you, open your eyes and focus on the things that actually matter.
Back to where i was, see, if you think that to survive violence, just "learning some techniques" will help you a 100%, you're sorely mistaken. Like i mentioned before there are a lot of psychological and even biological elements that contribute to a situation.
So what do you do?
Well first, work on your communication skills, learn to diffuse a confrontation before it escalates, try not to antagonize the guy any further, he's looking for a reason, if you give it to him, you're f'd.
Try to keep a calm low voice, but don't show any fear, you don't want him to bully you either, maintain a strong body language, be intimidating without actually doing anything obvious that might say "I'm looking for a reason to hit you", it's the subtle things that'll catch his eye.
Next what you can do is be prepared, don't decide on anything fixed, but be prepared, physically and psychologically for various situations;
-If you're traveling to/from somewhere, keep a back up route in mind to your destination.
-If you're not sure about an area you're going to, then try and arm yourself, make an improvised knife, or at least keep some keys or a sturdy pen handy.
-If you're going home late at night, and you see suspicious characters lurking around you, trust your gut, try and create distance first and then change your direction from your true destination, you don't want them to follow you home and become a victim of an home invasion attack.
-Situational awareness is really important, your eyes should be in all of the 10 directions, yes, 10.
Front.
Back.
Left.
Right.
Front/left.
Front/right.
Back/left.
Back/right.
Up.
Down.
-Being environmentally aware is really the most helpful ability and the most necessary state of mind. Knowing what's where can help you devise tactic/s to escape the situation.
Someone might be hiding under a parked vehicle, a bus probably, and might try and trip you to get you to the ground and render you helpless. If you're environmentally aware, you just might catch a glimpse of that someone and be cautious of where you step and what you do.
-Be careful of needles(for disease, poison), blades(infection, high blood loss possibility), acids(i don't need to tell you how dangerous this one is), chilli powder(to blind you and disorient you with pain, so they can rob or even kidnap you possibly), etc.
-There's also the terrain in which you might be attacked, i.e. wet, slippery, rocky, etc.
Stuff like that. Basically you have to understand, violence is not all physical, it's psychological, biological and environmental too, and for that you have to train as such, remember, train like you fight, fight like you train.
Well, that's about it for today.
Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Do they matter?
Do you think, age, height, size, speed, strength matter? Or do you think it's just your overall skills and mostly your intent that really matters?
Well, i'll just let his actions speak louder than my words.
Did you see what happened there? Such a brave little man he is. i'm sure his parents are proud of him.
The thing is, in majority of cases like the above, who you are matters more than how physically trained and what rank/belt you are.
Many would say, what this kid did was risky, dangerous, etc. etc. but what if he hadn't done what he did? Don't you think the outcome could've been much worse? Maybe the robber would've shot both of them. You can clearly see the robber isn't an experienced one, his mind must be in a state of panic, and the combination of gun in panicked hands just doesn't set well with each other.
There are different types of violence, and there are different types of suitable actions and reactions for them, here's the thing though, no one can possibly train in each and every one of them, why? Because there are virtually infinite possibilities.
The most common thing between all those situations is the intent, the one who has the perfect intent, increases their chances of survival. The psychological aspect of the situation determines the survivor. The best thing to do is choose a few handful of effective physical methods that apply to the maximum number of situations, so you don't waste time thinking and focus more on having a perfect intent, so you can put those methods to good use.
Now in the above video, you see, he didn't apply any "technique", no, what he did was use common sense, he got the weapon away from him and just started striking, it wasn't on any specific target, why? Because there wasn't enough time to stand there to think and choose his target. He hit what was in front of him, which disoriented that already panicked idiot, he was surprised, and that gave the other guy enough time to come around and help the little man. The robber ran like the coward and a failure that he is, all because of that boy's on the spot instinctive actions, not reactions or thoughts, but actions.
Back to the topic.
As you saw the attacker was... lets say... umm.. superior? to the boy... or was he? No, he wasn't, he was taller, maybe stronger, but definitely not superior, why? Because he lacked the necessary things, three of them being, courage, will and a perfect intent, not to mention the presence of mind, which the boy has here, wouldn't you say?
That's it for today.
Thanks for reading.
That's it for today.
Thanks for reading.
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