Rivals...
So who is your rival?
What? There should be no rivalry when practicing budo!? That is stand offish and not friendly and helpful to the community! That is why we shouldn't have tournaments! blah blah blah.
This was a conversation that I had with someone. It was very interesting to say the least. Many iai practitioners say that their biggest enemy is themselves. Well what if you're not much of a threat? How are you supposed to challenge yourself or raise the bar when you're not that much of a threat in the first place? People say rivalry is bad for budo because it can make your technique very selfish. That is something I can understand as well, but some rivalry is healthy for growth.
It's like the same reason why some people need trainers, or coaches. Same reason why people need to set goals that others have accomplished. I believe it's healthy to have some rivalry in your life. No one likes to lose. Nobody. There are people who can lose with grace, but I doubt they are happy that they lost. The fact that someone has improved more than you, the idea of that person being better at you than something. You should use that to drive you to try harder yourself and try to "beat" that person with that kind of ethic.
In iai, being usually a solo art, it is difficult to really beat yourself because most of us are not hard enough on ourselves. However there are also those that beat themselves up too much. Find the middle. Use a "rival" to help set goals to achieve for yourself and maybe you'll make yourself more of a threat after all.
What? There should be no rivalry when practicing budo!? That is stand offish and not friendly and helpful to the community! That is why we shouldn't have tournaments! blah blah blah.
This was a conversation that I had with someone. It was very interesting to say the least. Many iai practitioners say that their biggest enemy is themselves. Well what if you're not much of a threat? How are you supposed to challenge yourself or raise the bar when you're not that much of a threat in the first place? People say rivalry is bad for budo because it can make your technique very selfish. That is something I can understand as well, but some rivalry is healthy for growth.
It's like the same reason why some people need trainers, or coaches. Same reason why people need to set goals that others have accomplished. I believe it's healthy to have some rivalry in your life. No one likes to lose. Nobody. There are people who can lose with grace, but I doubt they are happy that they lost. The fact that someone has improved more than you, the idea of that person being better at you than something. You should use that to drive you to try harder yourself and try to "beat" that person with that kind of ethic.
In iai, being usually a solo art, it is difficult to really beat yourself because most of us are not hard enough on ourselves. However there are also those that beat themselves up too much. Find the middle. Use a "rival" to help set goals to achieve for yourself and maybe you'll make yourself more of a threat after all.
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