Focus and Self Control

People often think the martial arts is about winning a fight. But truly it's about winning the fight inside yourself.

Learning Self-Control and Focus through martial arts has far reaching effects on our lives.

Self-control put simply is learning to control your thoughts and actions. As a father something I would routinely tell my boys was to not let their emotions control their actions. This translates to how we think and feel about a situation or experience and letting those thoughts and feelings manifest into outward actions that others can see, hear, and be impacted by. These actions can be helpful or hurtful.

Our actions also impact us mentally and emotionally. The more we repeat specific actions the more they becomes automatic in our behaviors. They become ingrained and hard-wired into how we think, feel, and act.

True self-control means to have mastery over our emotions and our actions, especially in difficult situations. It is easy for a person to say their character is honorable, but the true test of character is how one acts when times are hard. How you react under stress is a taught pattern that became hard-wired. Are you calm and collected? Are you a voice of reasoning within the storm? Or is your language, and outward display of emotion less than ideal? It’s easy to chalk it up to having a bad day. But, is that really true self-control?

How does Focus tie in?

Focus is being present in the moment of what we are currently doing. Concentrating on the task at hand. Not allowing distractions, anxious feelings, or meaningless thoughts to slow down our purpose. Learning to focus help us comprehend information faster, improves our memory, and allows us to find enjoyment in our daily activities.

Why are self-control and focus two things we should improve on?

When we learn to focus on what's important in the moment, we can then free ourselves of future anxiety and fear of what could or might happen. We can be present in our life and learn to enjoy the experiences we're having with our family and friends. We can find meaning and purpose in things we must do and things we want to do. It also allows us to build patterns of behavior that keep us calm under pressure, and honorable in our actions to ourselves and others.

Learning martial arts requires focus. It's a step-by-step process. Excitable students often get worried about what's coming next, or where what they're learning will take them. As a Sifu (teacher) it's important to help pull back on those thoughts and feelings and help them learn to enjoy the journey of where they are at in the moment. This allows the student to learn more, and truly see what they're doing and who they're with. The focus they learn in martial arts is transferrable to other areas in their life. It helps them build their focus and the patience to master their thoughts, feelings, and actions. It starts first with self-control, and continues with maintaining focus.

Great thing for both kids and adults to learn. Wouldn't you agree?

I’ll add that life is not always easy. Sometimes life is just plain hard. Sometimes learning new things are hard too. Your brain says one thing, but your body does another. You think something is supposed to happen a certain way, and it doesn't, and that's frustrating. Learning to focus on the moment, and center our thoughts to think rationally and control our emotions with a calm tranquility allows us to respond to new situations and information in a positive way that leads to positive outcomes.

Focus takes practice and self-control takes consistency.

Through martial arts we aim to learn to master our emotions, think rationally, and maintain a calm joyful spirit.