Whether in Martial Arts or Dance or Life, I’m finding that I should not seek a system or a code. These are inflexible.
Often there are simple ideas that started them, but they were supple as a result. The situations were able to be shaped as their situation demanded.
Once you adopt a code, it’s like covering yourself in clay or mud. In time, it may armor you a bit until it dries out or crystalizes.
Then it becomes brittle and will crack under strain, leaving you exposed.
A question from George Balanchine was shared with me on Facebook:
Fear and Laziness generally… Most of the time I find myself holding back, it’s either eventually found to be fear or laziness.
Overcoming the inertia of fear makes me feel powerful in a way nothing else can.
Overcoming the inertia of laziness makes you feel useful, like you’re doing something worthwhile.
Find your inner catalyst and go out there and be yourself. Bigger and badder and better than you ever have before. Let it fill you and radiate into your surroundings and you might even inspire others to do the same.
That’s where small victories turn into big ones. It’s where Life gets exciting!
One of my favorite current thinkers is former frontman for the band Black Flagg. He’s humble, he’s enlightened and he’s angry. He has a fury that drives him to get up on stage and be big and bombastic in front of crowds night after night.
He finds ways of saying things that make me question what I think I know, connects with the inner bullied-kid in me and hits my anti-authoritarian streak hard. In many ways, he’s like a less-bitter more down-to-earth George Carlin.
And I get it. I am able to channel anger through him that I can’t seem to access on my own.
That’s what I’m having a hard time with. My own lack of anger.
