If You Know The Way Broadly You Will See It In All Things

When you dedicate yourself to one thing, the lessons learned begin to help you with everything.

In this episode of the Reality Check Podcast, I discuss the quote by Miyamoto Musashi 'If you know the way broadly you will see it in all things' - applying the lessons I have learned in martial arts, poetry, meditation, chess, and life to one another, discussing the intersection between them all, as well as some of the implications and takeaways of 'knowing the way'.

I also discuss how there is a silver lining to be found in setbacks, injuries, and illness - if we know how to look for it.

Transcript

If you know the way broadly,

You'll see it in all things.

This is a quote from arguably the best swordsman of all time,

Myoto Musashi,

A man who won over 60 duels to the death.

This is someone who spent a lifetime studying and mastering a craft.

And the quote,

If you know the way broadly,

You'll see it in all things,

Is something that is often spouted in the martial arts community,

Given his heritage,

But it's also sort of talked about in a lot of different areas.

And it's something that I've started to discover myself.

I've been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for 8 to 10 years,

And martial arts in general for 20 years,

More than half my life.

And I'm starting to see just how the rules and the lessons and the principles within the martial arts that I practice are applied in other aspects of my life.

My brother and I,

We play chess,

And he's quite good.

He's played thousands and thousands and thousands of more games than I do,

But I'm no slouch.

But it's interesting listening to him talk and teach me.

And then looking at those lessons that he's finding and starting to apply those lessons to my life,

To my martial arts training,

To look and consider the interplay between them.

And the reason this is important is that if you know something deeply,

You can see it in all things,

It means that you can start to apply lessons across the board.

What works in one field,

What sort of helps you in one area can help you in another.

So,

For example,

With the chessboard,

It's not just about,

You know,

The ultimate game,

The ultimate way to win is getting a checkmate,

But you shouldn't forsake tactics and strategy and board position.

You need to be aggressive,

You need to be defensive,

You need to apply all of these different lessons that I see when I am doing Jiu-Jitsu.

You need to try,

You need to practice,

You need to drop the ego.

I realize with my martial arts training that if I can just allow myself to try without thought of success or failure,

Just try things,

Knowing that that will cost me victory in the training gym,

Then I will ultimately learn the art far better.

The same is true for chess.

I was fighting every battle like it's the last battle,

But I was afraid to sort of loosen up and give things a go.

That made me play in a way that was restricted,

And I've been playing that way for years.

Whereas with martial arts,

I've done it so much more that I can play,

I'm okay to lose,

I'm okay to go with the flow,

I'm okay to try things.

My ego isn't as strongly held.

Apply this across the board to my online work,

My books,

My poetry,

My creativity,

This podcast,

The talk,

All of these things that I'm doing online,

And what I'm realizing is that I'm going through the same approach.

Try something,

It fails.

Try something,

It fails.

Try something,

It succeeds.

Cool.

I've got to step up.

If I'm not afraid to lose,

I will win.

Yeah.

This is the sort of approach that has got me the small but significant amount of success that I've gotten so far is trying things.

But that lesson has been taught to me through martial arts,

But then I can see it broadly in chess,

In poetry,

In creativity,

In business,

In life,

Right?

So as you know,

If you've been following me at the moment,

I'm undergoing TMS treatment and this is 35 sessions and it's quite an intense sort of thing.

It's two to two and a half months of just three to four sessions a week and it's tiring.

It's mentally taxing.

They call it a marathon for the mind.

Now,

What's the life lesson here?

How can I apply this?

How is this impacting the idea of knowing,

Seeing the way broadly,

Know the way broadly,

You'll see it in all things?

Well,

In my training last night,

I realized,

Okay,

My body is fatigued.

I'm injured.

Not injured,

But just I'm compromised physically.

How can I do this sport,

This activity,

This thing that I love if I'm compromised?

Well,

I need to address that.

I need to realize that,

Okay,

I can't fight like I normally fight.

I have to be far more flowy.

I have to go with the flow more.

I can't fight people head on.

I have to come and be a bit sneaky about it.

So I realized that this injury is an opportunity to explore a different aspect because if I was to battle you head on,

I will lose because I don't have the mental,

Physical fortitude to persist in this direct battle.

From the moment I stepped onto the mat and started rolling,

I realized that I've been missing an entire piece of my martial arts journey.

I've always been cognizant of the idea of off-balancing the opponent,

Of using their weight against them and their strength against them and all of that sort of stuff,

But because I'm quite physical,

Because I exercise daily,

Because I'm quite fit,

I can use that innate physicality to win,

And thus my ability to manipulate the opponent has been a bit more direct.

But today,

Last night rather,

I decided to let go of all of that.

If someone wanted to get or do something,

I sort of let them,

With a bit of resistance so they could push back upon it,

But they pushed too far and then all of a sudden I would apply a little bit of force and help them just topple over in that direction.

Then something unlocked,

Something clicked,

I became aware of this idea of force,

Forcing people so much,

But now because I can't force it,

Because of an injury,

Because of an illness,

Because of a treatment,

It's unlocked a concept that I thought I was aware of but in such a deeper way,

This concept of going with the flow,

And once again there's life lessons here.

I am doing more work on Insight Tama,

Because Insight Tama is doing well for me,

I'm going with the flow.

Audio and physical books are going well for me,

So I'm making more,

Right?

I've tried a variety of different projects that haven't gone well,

And rather than just fighting against fate,

I've just accepted those losses and moved on.

So what are we getting here?

We're getting cross-discipline lessons,

And the same thing is true for chess.

You put yourself into a position,

You try a certain attack,

It doesn't work,

But you see something else open,

And you take it.

You see someone trying something,

And you dangle a piece out there,

And you're like,

Hey,

You want to take this piece?

Cool.

And while they're taking that piece,

You're busy over on the other side of the board winning.

Once again,

My knowledge of chess isn't as deep as it could be,

So my analogy runs a bit short,

But therein lies the interesting thing that if I learn something in one aspect of life,

I can apply it across the board,

And if something applies to both martial arts,

Online work,

Creativity,

Poetry,

That sort of stuff,

I'm sure that those will be life lessons across the board,

Right?

Same thing with my kids.

You know,

There's parenting lessons here within jiu-jitsu,

Within artistry.

Rather than forcing them to do something directly,

It's like,

Let's go around the back door and sort of see if we can get them to do what needs to be done with them feeling like they want to.

Let's make a game of cleaning,

Right?

The point is,

Is there are life lessons to be found down multiple different paths,

And it's worthwhile exploring those different paths.

The other life lesson here that I'm discovering is that an injury or a disability or an illness or a setback isn't as crippling as it may first sound.

Yeah,

My cardio is 20% of what it was for the duration of this sort of treatment,

Perhaps,

But that doesn't mean I can't learn something.

I can use that opportunity to learn something different,

To try something different,

And it's really working.

It's really growing.

It's really happening,

Which I really find amazing.

So I guess why I'm saying all of this is that,

You know,

If you find yourself compromised in some capacity,

Don't look at it as a death sentence,

But look at it as an opportunity to learn something different,

Something new,

Something more.

And you know,

This is,

Once again,

This lesson has come about through martial arts as well.

There was a time where I broke my thumb on one hand,

Then I broke a finger on another,

Then I broke a bone in my wrist on another.

So I wasn't able to use my hands for a good six to nine months properly,

But in that time I was playing off my back and sort of using my legs as a shield,

As a guard,

And now when I've got my hands back,

Those lessons that I've learnt,

Just being forced to just use my legs or just my legs in one hand,

Really helped me to develop a very strong guard game that when I add my hands back into the mix,

It's formidable.

And my coach at the time said,

He was like,

Hey,

You know,

This is going to help you in the long run.

And I was like,

Oh yeah,

Whatever,

But it really has.

If you know the way broadly,

You'll see it in all things.

So I was like,

Okay,

This time in my life,

I can and can't do certain things,

You know,

Creatively,

Work-based-wise,

All of these things,

But what can I do?

I can think,

I can consider,

I can make short little talks like this one,

And you know,

We can grow from there.

Either way,

That's the lesson,

That's the sort of,

The message that I want to project here is that you go deep enough in something,

You'll see it everywhere,

And that if something seems like a setback,

You might find benefit of it.

And I suppose the meta lesson,

The lesson that I'm learning right now with my martial arts is that forcing things can work if you're strong enough,

But if you don't have the overarching power structure,

You need to do something different.

And ultimately,

You know,

We all fatigue,

We all,

Our bodies get old,

We all have to fight people,

Martial arts at least,

That are stronger,

Younger,

Fitter,

How can you beat that person?

Beat that person with superior knowledge of flow,

Of technique,

Of allowing them to make the mistake and just nudging them in that direction.

And there's life lessons down these different paths that we can apply to every aspect of our lives,

And more importantly,

Applying it internally,

Rather than forcing yourself down certain things.

You know,

Okay,

What is the reality of my situation,

What is the reality of my personality,

What is the reality of my life?

How can I apply those lessons?

How can I work that,

And how can I sort of get the best opportunity now?

Either way,

Thanks for listening,

Stay tuned for another episode,

And yeah,

Catch ya.