Great reminder, thank you! Coming back to Aikido last year after years away, was my perfect Aikido challenge… I was my own worst attacker, as my self-doubts were standing there trying to blend with the mat. My mind wavered between resisting (“Maybe I should just watch today…”) and overcommitting (“Whoohoo, I am back, folks!”)
And then the shame: why had I stayed away so long? Why did I think I could just walk back in and pick up where I left off?
🙈 But Aikido doesn’t care about my ego, or how long I was gone or how many years I trained before. It just meets me where I am and wants to know, whether I am willing to engage. Because that’s my real practice - not being perfect, just stepping in … and getting bruised 😅.
Thank you for your comment, it's great that you're back! I love your questions and dilemmas, you really worked your your way back and that's pretty brave.
So enjoy your time on tatami, Aikido surely has some more surprises prepared for you :)
The beautiful thing about life is: we'd never know how it would be if we made different decisions in the past. We only can live what we have and make new decisions, based on what we want to live in the future.
So if you want to have more of the surprises and lessons, you might decide to keep on practicing ;)
Great reminder, thank you! Coming back to Aikido last year after years away, was my perfect Aikido challenge… I was my own worst attacker, as my self-doubts were standing there trying to blend with the mat. My mind wavered between resisting (“Maybe I should just watch today…”) and overcommitting (“Whoohoo, I am back, folks!”)
And then the shame: why had I stayed away so long? Why did I think I could just walk back in and pick up where I left off?
🙈 But Aikido doesn’t care about my ego, or how long I was gone or how many years I trained before. It just meets me where I am and wants to know, whether I am willing to engage. Because that’s my real practice - not being perfect, just stepping in … and getting bruised 😅.
Thank you for your comment, it's great that you're back! I love your questions and dilemmas, you really worked your your way back and that's pretty brave.
So enjoy your time on tatami, Aikido surely has some more surprises prepared for you :)
Yes! 🙇♀️ Surprises and lessons… all the time. And I wonder whether those would have been as powerful, if I had never stepped away.
The beautiful thing about life is: we'd never know how it would be if we made different decisions in the past. We only can live what we have and make new decisions, based on what we want to live in the future.
So if you want to have more of the surprises and lessons, you might decide to keep on practicing ;)
You make some very good points. It all chimes with my own experiences.
Thank you, Tim! I read your Budo Journeyman publication and I find many things resonating. That's also why I recommend it on Aikido: Art for Life.
So let's stay in touch :)