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It is as natural as the waves of the ocean for our motivation and energy in training to surge and retreat. As our life experience places different demands on us, our priorities naturally shift to deal with those demands in the same manner we would adapt our techniques to deal with an opponent. Those who understand and accept this natural phenomenon do not create unnecessary inner turmoil for themselves when a perceived setback in life or in training occurs.
Should you experience the natural ebb and flow of life's energy or feel that you have been blown off course for a bit, do not despair; you only need to pause take a deep breath or two, use your imagination to polish up the dream which motivated you in the first place, and chart a new course to begin... again, thats all.
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High atop a mountain in Arkansas, under a crystal blue sky, Sa Bom Nim Kris Poole, Sa Bom Nim Rick Bailey and I could see for miles in every direction as we practiced our hyungs. Later, we were discussing what had motivated each of us the most when we first began training as white belts. We unanimously agreed that our INSPIRATION had come from the front line of seniors in each of our dojangs. We each recalled peering eagerly through the ranks at them during basics and trying to move as quickly as them or kick as high as them; however, we were a bit surprised to discover that each of us had been MOTIVATED by the exact same personal dream. Each of us had imagined and dreamed of being "the best," like our seniors and we had looked to the front line of seniors to INSPIRE us and show us just how skilled we might someday become. Even though we counted on them to show us the possibilities and INSPIRE us with their examples, our personal MOTIVATION to take action and strive for those things sprang from our simple dream. It had only one focus: to be "the best" like them. Looking back, we all agreed that it was quite a lofty dream for white belts to be clinging to, yet here we stood 25 years later on top of this mountain... still pursuing that same dream.
"Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they may act upon their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."
-- Lawrence of Arabia
Life is only a dream we live while awake. The quality of the experiences which we label as "our life" is directly proportional to the scope of our imagination and the amount of courage we can muster to transform them into reality with our actions.
Our dreams drive us. They inspire us. They motivate us. They fulfill us. They move us. The power of your dreams can seize your heart and captivate your very soul if only you have the courage to look directly at them with wide open, awe inspired eyes and take every action they tell you will be necessary for their fulfillment. A life without dreams becomes a boring endurance contest of merely waiting for "nothing" to happen. Ahhhhhh, but dream a little dream -add a little Yong Gi (brave energy) - and WATCH OUT! Grand things may happen!
It does not matter whether our dream is of a love-ever-after or doing a higher kick; what does matter is the clarity with which we can see our dream. Only when our dream is sharply focused and clearly visible to us will it evoke the motivation and courage to pursue it with an intensity that makes it possible for us to "live" it, thus transforming it from imagination into reality. Missions, objectives, goals and rank advancement are not our dreams, they are merely the steps we take toward our dreams. Sometimes the dream which actually drives us may be buried so deeply in our "self" that we do not even consciously acknowledge its existence, but it is there. It is that which we almost refuse to believe as being possible for us, but we allow to tease and seduce us anyway. Dreams know that we are always much more motivated and compelled into action with unstoppable energy when we are invited, teased or seduced than when we are ordered, commanded or expected. (Even our nightmares tease us, but with dark disasters instead of fulfilling pleasures.)
Over time, should your dream get blurry or clouded by present reality, as dreams are prone to do, it is best to pause for a moment, a day, a week, a month, a season, or a year and close your eyes in introspective meditation. Seek to recall your dream's initial splendor and feel the eagerness and desire in yourself which originally inspired it. Imagine the dream as you first conceived it: simple, majestic, even grandiose and very well focused. Roll it around in your imagination as you might a jawbreaker in your mouth, until you taste its sweetness and feel the blush of excitement which it first evoked in you. Then, before you open your eyes, cherish it a bit longer until it regains the clarity it had when newly born in your imagination.
When your dream is clearly visible, be a dangerous person as Sir Lawrence suggests. Move unhesitantly into action to turn your dream into reality in the blink of an eye! (Even if you move a bit too quickly for some.) Realize the awesome power you possess to move into action and be "the best" you can possibly be.
A dream has not been dreamt, day or night, that was not already real and true for the dreamer when conceived, but only a few can find the courage to actually dare and live their dreams. Many pursue them; only a few live them. It is truly a miraculous and sensational experience to live the same dreams whether asleep or awake.
Whatever we believe becomes real for us and we have the ability and power to transform our dreams into reality. If you take time to reflect on the dream you had when you first began your training and if you will polish it to the sparkling clarity it had when it was newly born, it will pull you into action with a pleasing force you may have long forgotten. You can prove it to yourself if you only stop, close your eyes, and exercise your imagination as you did when training was brand new and exciting to you. Sa Bom Nim Hwang once described his feeling of motivation in training when he was a child as, "I can't wait!" This simple statement expressed his desire to be in class practicing and demonstrating the skill he had achieved.
Motivation does not come from what you "should" do or "need" to do, it springs from what you "desire" to do. When your dream is clearly focused in your mind, then your "desire" can move you into action when no other force may be able to make you budge. It may even make things possible which you have yet to imagine.
I urge you to dream the midnight blue dream of being "the best" you can possibly be, and twenty five years from now you may be standing on some mountain top practicing hyungs as you reflect on the dream that put you there.
Until we meet on that mountain top,
Phil Duncan
"Impossibility is only the figment of an insufficient imagination."
