VISION OF KI INSPIRING THOUGHTS

Many of you have been receiving my newsletter for over a year now. Have you every wondered why I started this project and what I am trying to accomplish? This week I would like to share with you my vision for Ki Inspiring Thoughts.

I have been blessed to be trained by Dr. Michael Foley, a sixth degree black belt in Tang Soo Do at The Center for Humane Living, which is a non-profit organization that utilizes innovative techniques to teach the martial arts in our community free of charge. It is through his inspiration and teachings that I have compiled a collection of lessons utilized in our school to which I have added the wisdom and philosophy of many ancient and contemporary martial artists and philosophers including Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Kensho Furuya, Sun Tzu, Gichin Funakoshi, Miyamoto Musashi, and Thich Nhat Hanh.

My vision for Ki Inspiring Thoughts is to inspire all people to live more peaceful and compassionate lives by utilizing Zen stories, object lessons, martial arts philosophy and ancient wisdom to explore universal truths and values. My goal is to inspire readers to embark on a journey of personal transformation through mindful self-introspection in order to maximize their full potential. I am confident that this process will enhance relationships, improve self-esteem and mental toughness, promote leadership and result in healthy character development. I created Ki Inspiring Thoughts to take the philosophical teachings within the practice of the martial arts and share these messages with anyone who is interested in living a more peaceful life and maximizing their full human potential.

In my opinion, society is consistently becoming more complicated and challenging to live according to a moral and ethical code. Our society is filled with increasing violence and bullying, erosion of the family unit, increasing financial pressures, increasing apathy towards organized religion and a growing undercurrent of entitlement within our youth due to over indulgent parenting. When I was growing up, youth sports were a great way for children to learn many important life lessons. In the current environment, due to over parenting and over coaching in attempts to fulfill feelings of equality, our youth are not given the opportunity to learn both how to win and how to lose. Our society has created the expectation that everyone should play equally, everyone should be treated as a winner and we should not allow any conflict to occur. As a result, today's youth miss out on many of these important life lessons.

As you probably already know, traditional martial arts training is not centered on teaching the physical art. Instead, it is based upon a belief that students should be taught to live according to a strict moral and ethical code deeply rooted in the physical, spiritual, and philosophic practice of the martial arts, which results in a more peaceful existence. Our modern day society is in desperate need of these ideals, insights and wisdom.

The teaching of the martial arts in the United States has evolved into a business and many organizations have streamlined the instructional process. This change in focus has shifted the emphasis away from the true intent of the martial arts into one of making money and teaching on solely the physical skills of the art. Most dojos no longer teach their students to live according to the way of the peaceful, honorable warrior. Our organization is one of the exceptions to this trend as we place our focus on creating an environment where we produce martial artists with superior physical skills, but more importantly we provide our students with the opportunity to embark on a journey of personal transformation. This inevitably results in tremendous character development, improvements in communication and relationships and the development of leadership skills.

I sincerely believe in teaching the universal truths, inspiration and insights that are contained within these pages. It will make a difference in the lives of the readers in the same manner that we see transformations within the students of our martial arts school. It is my firm belief that our society is in dire need of this information. This is why I am passionate about sharing my inspiring thoughts. We have started a new website (www.KiInspiringThoughts.com) in order to reach more people and in the near future my Ki Inspiring Thoughts book will be published. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. The only way I can achieve my goal of reaching more people is for all of us to be willing to share these thoughts. I challenge you today to teach or share one or more of these messages with the people in your life that you want to inspire.
KAIZEN!!!!

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life...we can never help another without helping ourselves."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."
Goethe

"Before the beginning of great brilliance there must be chaos. Before a brilliant person begins something great, he or she must look foolish to the crowd."
Yunn Pann

"The ultimate aim of the art of Karate-do lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the characters of its participants."
Gichin Funakoshi

Respectfully,

Steven M. Erickson
Sensei.Erickson@KiInspiringThoughts.com

© Copyright 2010 Steven M. Erickson.
All rights reserved. Ki Inspiring Thoughts.
The Center for Humane Living.