Some training thoughts

Some training thoughts - Darrin

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

I thought I'd share some thoughts I have following last night's training...

Sensei commented on my showing good spirit. My comment on this is that I actually find this not so hard; my skill level is still in the very beginner stages but I figure that I can still take the attitude that I am going to put everything on the line for this one cut.

I got this message on the first day of the national camp when our Japanese Sensei said that with everything that we do in our training we should have the attitude that we are putting our lives on the line.

I think that as we get older we become more and more faced with our mortality and I am recently coming to realise, I mean actually know for sure, that my life could be over at any moment; therefore, my life is on the line every living minute of the day. So, when I come to kendo training and try to take this attitude of putting my life on the line, it is maybe the one moment when I am actually saying I might die right at this moment but I don't care, I am just going to go for it anyway. I find this feeling quite empowering and invigorating.

I imagine that this might be quite hard for younger people to feel in this way; I clearly remember (still!) of being in my teenage years and knowing that we will all die sometime but not really being able to feel that this is actually true! I guess that ths is the real bonus of getting older, because I think I appreciate my life a lot more than when I was younger.

The other part of this is that sometimes I miss training because I get sick or have to work late or have some family thing on, so when I come to training I try to get the most out of it because I can't be sure when I will get to train again.

My message then is.... let's give it all we've got guys because you don't know what tomorrow will bring!

I hope this makes some sense to my kendo brothers and sisters; if not maybe I am just starting to lose my mind as I get older!

Cheers
Darrin

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