My students and clients have constantly heard me stress that our Martial Art is more than just a physical discipline; that it is a discipline that develops both
mind and body. This is so important that Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, grand master of our lineages, has made it primary thrust of just about every one of his books about Ninpo and Martial Arts in general.The presence of mind that your training demands helps you make wise and thoughtful decisions. Often, these decisions involve choosing others as friends - and all of us would like to choose good friends - people we can consider real "team players."
It's sometimes very mysterious why we choose who we do as team players. Often we like a person right away based on some intuitive thought or feeling. When asked, we say that it just "felt" right. Other times we may observe someone for a while with admiration, and build up to a formal introduction.
Friendship is a wonderful thing and is vitally important for personal growth and success. It can be found on Ninja's Kongokai mandala used in Japanese Mikkyo esoteric mind-science training. Found in 'wind' realm which represents surrendering oneself to a greater good where total result produced is equal to much more than just sum of parts added together.
Friendship itself is sometimes sparked by what we call "vibes," or a strange and electric power of attraction. This is what gives it such a terrific and seemingly magical power to tie people together so closely. All same, our first impressions can often be mistaken. We've all made mistakes before in friends we've chosen. Often, we'd like to ignore, forget, or believe that we had anything to do with selection, but we shouldn't. It's these lessons that remind us that we are human and make mistakes, as-well-as fact that not everyone we meet will enter into a relationship (whether business, personal, etc.), for same reasons that we do. It's not right or wrong - good or bad. It's just life. There's really no way to be 100% certain that everyone, or anyone, you choose as a friend will turn out to be a good team player. But, Martial Arts Academy 'is' a terrific place to meet new people, especially those with many of same interests, and often with same focus and desire for purpose, power, and interdependence (as opposed to dependence or co-dependence) in their affiliations. Many lifelong friendships have begun in dojo ("martial arts training hall"). Here are some tips on how to choose friends that might be right for you.
