"There is a way of bringing up the child of a samurai. From the time of infancy one should encourage bravery and avoid trivially frightening or teasing the child. If a person is affected by cowardice as a child, it remains a lifetime scar. It is a mistake for parents to thoughtlessly make their children dread lightning, or to have them not go into dark places, or to tell them frightening things in order to stop them from crying. Furthermore, a child will become timid if he is scolded severely". Yamamoto TsunetomoI have chosen to open today's blog with a quote from Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
because it so aptly describes what happens when we are young. Today I would ask that you look back at events that colored your perception of the world through the eyes of fear. When you find that one event that Changed Your Mind...look at how it is still with you today. Like I said yesterday, do not try to relive the moment, just look at it much like you would a movie. Your job, as it were, is to merely observe because if you cannot see then you cannot change yourself. Now when that is clear, you are going to observe yourself over the next week and see exactly how you behave once emotional-thought-habit takes over because, you see, at that moment you are out of mind. Emotional-thought-habits (and it takes over you in exactly that way) drive your actions before you have the chance to Be. So it is a chance to observe and see how you are re-acting. I purposefully chose the hyphen because, as I discovered during my re-formation, it shows how you are acting out all over again those times that were imprinted on you so strongly. You are not living right now, but in a past that no longer exists! So observe your self, and watch what is happening now because of the past and tomorrow we'll go over ways to re-form our selves! Until tomorrow, mind your Way
