subject: What Are You Trying To Protect? A Question For The Serious Student Of Self Defense! [print this page] Are you serious about learning real-world self defense? Do you think that it's important to learn the lessons needed to be able to protect yourself? If so...
I have a question I'd like to ask you.
The answer to this simple, yet profound question could make the difference between whether or not you are capable of succeeding in achieving this, or any other goal you set out to accomplish.
The question is..."How much are you worth?"
Now, you might be asking yourself, "what the heck does that have to do with self-defense, warriorship, or the martial arts?"
I know, because I remember asking that very same thing when that question was asked of me by one of my own mentors, so many years ago.
The question, and your answer to it, is quiet likely one of the most profound ones you'll ever have to consider, let alone answer. So much so, that I'm going to ask it again...
"How much are you worth?"
This question has nothing to do with how much money you have. But rather, what your value is to...
* Yourself
* Other people in your life like friends and family, and...
* The world around you.
What does this have to do with self-defense or attaining to the same confidence, power, skills, and control of a modern-day warrior? Quite simply...everything!
Let me ask you another question...when you think of the concept of protecting or guarding things, what do you think of?
What I mean is...as individuals - as a society, what do we tend to spend our time, effort, and money protecting?
The answer is..."things of value."
We generally don't put armed guards at dumps, in slums, or the like.
No.
We see, and expect to see, police, security, military personnel and things like alarm systems protecting things of value - things like jewels and money, important people, and significant places like museums, universities, and banks.
What I'm talking about here is the idea that we want to, and have reason to, protect that which has value. So, again I ask you...
..."How much are YOU worth?" Or, let's phrase it a different way...
"What Value do you have, to yourself, to others, or to the world?"
(Before you answer with something like, "little" or "no value," I suggest you look around at all those who value your friendship, care, guidance, or safety. And, if you still can't find any, you need to do a different kind of exploration)
As for me and most of my clients, who are just everyday, ordinary people, we have no problem thinking of things like...
* ...how we help others with our knowledge, skills, time, and effort
* ...the faces of friends, family, spouses and children who would be saddened, or have very different lives, if we weren't in the world. And...
* ...things we plan to do, goals we want to accomplish, that will add more depth and value to our own lives while we're here.
Just some food for thought.
The point here is that, those who are serious about self defense training are not looking for childrens classes, games, or contests. They are looking for real-world answers to a VERY real-world problem.
