the power of martial arts: patience...

Patience is a powerful tool. In the book, "Seven Steps to Inner Power", Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim uses the caterpillar as a metaphor. For a caterpillar to transform to a butterfly, it has to go through a process, going through specific stages at specific times. As we strive to achieve our goals there are stages we go though that take time to complete. Our impatience can spoil the desired results or even push us further from our intended goal. Recognizing that there is a right time, a right place, and a right situation gives us the power to act accordingly, transforming the caterpillar into the butterfly.

Another example is giving birth. It does not matter what the mother wants, the child has to go through a process from fertilized egg to a fully developed baby. In recognizing this process, the mother maintains patience to allow the process to complete.

I go through many processes in order to get to the goal I am after. In engineering, the is a development process that I go through in developing a product. In spite of my desire and pressure from marketing and management to get a product out as quickly as possible, whenever I take a shortcut to try to speed up the process, I invariably run into issues that and in most case result in the product release being delayed. Another example is when I go shopping. I find that my impatience usually results in spending more money than I intended.

When training in Jung SuWon, your skills are built on techniques you learn in a particular order. The reason for this is to establish on foundation of good techniques, both mental and physical, which others are built on. I have seen many students try to "jump ahead", impatient with their progress and understanding of the process. This results in ineffective moves and techniques, and potential injury.

Patience is the essential ingredient in transformation. Whether the transformation is improving one's self or applying one's self to a goal.