Choose your fight!

I am sure all of us get into situations when fighting seems to be the only option. Believe it, fighting is barely an option. It is simply the ego which doesn’t let us think and leads us into a brawl. Doesn’t make sense? Lets say you get into a fight, being a martial artist you beat hell out of the guy. You got a nice ego massage, but what actually did you get out of that? Lets very objectively look at that-

Do you think you taught the guy a lesson? No way!! Next day he will get a bigger gang and make sure that you get even “bigger lesson”, if not, he will be on constant lookout for opportunities to harm you.

Or probably it makes you happy? Again, a big NO WAY!! Ego massage is alright, but this will keep you disturbed for few days, and here I am talking about so called “hardies”, for soft hearted people it can be more than a week. So you loose your 2-3 productive days, not to mention your valuable (J ) sleep. Do you want Nobel Prize for guessing who is looser?

Even if you are sure of “winning”, you can never be sure of not being hit. One random blow at pressure points can make you limp for weeks, and a black eye makes you look horrible! For all the modeling aspirants, it could be your bread and butter at stake

So, be a dead duck even though you are a martial artist? No, point is to fight for the right reason, the right cause. You are walking in a crowd, a guy brushed shoulder and gave a stare, or in pub a guy pushed you accidentally and you geared up to teach him a lesson? Beware, your ego is controlling you! These are the situations when a simple smile will do the trick. And here I am not talking about being a austere monk, just asking one to be selfish, asking to do a favor to yourself! Fighting for such petty issues is like setting your own house on fire to punish a bug hiding inside!

Choose the right reason. Someone intending to harm (verbal or physical) to your family or friends? A calm and firm warning will be enough, and if not, go ahead and freely use what you have learnt in class. Eve teasing? Again feel free to “teach”! See a weak person being harassed? Vent out all your desperation for “teaching”. These are still small fights but worth fighting.

If the person is not careful enough, ego rises exponentially with power (any kind). And it reaches to a point where ego enslaves the person. Funny part being, person still assumes to be the controlling authority. So, if you have a quest for bigger fight, fight with your (other) self! If you believe it to be too simple and that your ego doesn’t control you, try giving a hearty smile to a person who is using abusive language against you!

Pain, considered to be a great teacher by many different philosophies, is second biggest hurdle in a martial artist’s way (ego being the first). While all of our survival instincts are based on pain, and we cannot stop mind from acknowledging it, we can always choose the reaction. So, next time you get hit while fighting or conditioning, choose to smile back! Believe me, it is a big fight really worth fighting!

Complacency! A big roadblock for anyone, be it a student, a martial artist or a businessman or any other professional. After a bit of success, complacency accompanied by ego, start setting in into our minds, and person starts thinking he/she has learned enough. So once you start feeling that you have learnt enough, its time again for a big fight, within!

Which fight you are into?