I Wish I Could Do More

I've done a lot of amazing things in my life, and still, I wish I could do more.

• I'd like to learn a sword art.
  
  
• I'd like to be more at ease with my yoga and meditation practice.
  
  
• I'd like to be more conversant in another language.
  
  
• I'd like to read more books. (Shoot, I'd like to write more books!)
  
  
• There are UBBT events that I'd like to attend, but I can't get to them.
  
  
• There's a tournament coming up this fall in Sacramento. And as much as I'd like to be there to support the event, I won't be there.
  
  
• I wish I could cure my daughter's diabetes. I never went to medical school, so I'm depending on a lot of good people to get that one crossed off my list.
  
  
• I'd like to go on a month-long backpacking expedition in Peru or Nepal — or both. (And I want to afford college and a comfortable retirement)

I could go on and on. There's so much more I want to learn and experience, but I'm constrained by the realities of time, energy, finances, age, physical limitations, personal choices, and of course, my lovingly upheld obligations to family. Damn!

But then again, so is everyone else.

Every day, we all get the same 24 hours. So no, I'm not making excuses for all the things I've failed to do or accomplish. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, either. Rather, today I'm just facing — perhaps really for the first time — the stark reality that while I know for sure that I can accomplish ANYTHING that I want to do in my life, I can't possibly accomplish EVERYTHING that I want to do.

So some tough choices need to be made.

It's time for me to re-organize and re-prioritize my "big to-do list" based on what I REALLY want. I can do anything I want to do, but I won't get to it all. Because the clock is ticking on my life.

I'm in need of some serious focus. So today I ask myself this: When I'm lying on my death bed (hopefully many, many, many years from now, resting comfortably and content in the company of loved ones who adore me), what will I regret having not done?

Revisiting The Black Belt Traits

In our dojo, we frequently focus on a list of virtues that I have come to call the "Black Belt Traits." The list is designed to help answer the question, "What qualities and personality characteristics should students from our dojo exemplify in their lives and daily actions?"

A few years back, I assembled the list of Black Belt Traits (respect, compassion, gratitude, patience, integrity, discipline, responsibility) from my own experiences and introspection, plus a number of martial sources, including the samurai code of Bushido, the European feudal knight's code of chivalry, and the leadership principles and core values of the United States Marine Corps. It's not a bad list, but is it a complete one?

I recently participated in an interesting conversation about the classical and modern martial virtues, in which a number of other values and character traits were mentioned. "Honor," "courage," and "right action" were discussed. (There was even an interesting digression about the virtues of "revenge" and "ritual suicide," but the conversation eventually got back on track.)

Opinions were all over the board. But it all got me thinking: There's certainly lots of value in our classical and modern martial virtues, but as modern-day martial artists (i.e., individuals not engaged as professional warriors, living lives in which, generally, the likelihood of facing mortal combat or deadly physical assault is fairly low), might we also add some positive, but decidedly non-martial qualities to our list of the values that we seek to embody?

Today, I'm thinking about "Generosity" and "Kindness."