King of the Mountain Martial Arts

09/05/2022

Trust is earned, respect is given, and loyalty is demonstrated. Betrayal of any of those is to lose all three.

Trust must be earned, especially in today's world where it seems that the majority of people will lie, cheat, or steal to get what they want in life. I cannot even tell you how many times I have put my trust in someone only to later find out that they were not trustworthy or an honorable person. Now, it almost takes an act of God for me to trust someone.

Respect is given; it is not someone that you are automatically entitled to in life. Don't get me wrong, everyone is entitled to be treated with respect, at least until they give you a reason to treat them otherwise. But treating someone with respect and actually respecting someone are two completely different things. True respect comes by earning the respect of others in such a way that it is freely given to you.

Loyalty, on the other hand, must be demonstrated and proved. You prove your loyalty to someone through you words and actions. When someone is badmouthing your friend, do you sit silently by the side or do you stand up for your friend? When you friend is under attack from his enemies, haters, or internet trolls, do you hide in the shadows or do you take his side and help him fight for what is right? Loyalty requires action; sitting on the sidelines waiting for the storm to blow over is simply a betrayal of loyalty.

And speaking of betrayal, betrayal of any of these is to lose all three. If you show that you can't be trusted, why would anyone respect you or remain loyal to you? If you don't give respect when respect has been earned and is due, why would that person trust you, remain loyal to you, or give you respect in return? If you prove that you are disloyal to your friend, why would you expect your friend to be loyal to you, or to trust or respect you?

Many people have lost the reality that our words and actions have consequences, and that you are not entitled to anything in this world. If you want trust, you must earn it. If you want to be respected, you be prove that you deserve to be given respect. If you want others to be loyal to you when you really need them, you must show that you are loyal to them when they need you.

Remember, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
What you think, say, and do matters. Your character matters. If you want to be regarded as a man or woman of honor, then you must conduct yourself with honor - be trustworthy, be deserving of respect, give respect when respect is due, and be loyal to your friends and family. In short, WARRIOR UP! Bohdi Sanders ~ author of BUSHIDO: The Way of the Warrior, available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884201 or from The Wisdom Warrior website at: https://thewisdomwarrior.com.

09/05/2022

The best defense against evil men is good men who are skilled at violence.

Evil predators do not think like the average person. Most people can't even grasp the way their minds work or how they could possibly do the horrible things that these predators do.

Pacifists state that you must simply love these people because they are simply doing the best that they can do. To them, there is never any acceptable reason for violence. Well, I have news for people who think this way - predators are not doing the best that they can do, and they don't care. Predators only respect strength, not philosophy.

The best defense, and many times the only defense, is good, brave men, who are skilled at violence. These are the men, and women, who will step up and do what must be done to stop these kind of people. They are the warriors. They are those who have the courage to do what most others do not have the intestinal fortitude to stomach. Bohdi Sanders ~ excerpt from the #1 Bestseller, MODERN BUSHIDO: Living a Life of Excellence, available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S26INK or from The Wisdom Warrior website at: https://thewisdomwarrior.com.

09/04/2020

It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Miyamoto Musashi

True warriors should study both the way of martial arts and the way of wisdom. One without the other is incomplete knowledge and results in an unbalanced man. Someone who has martial arts training, but does not have wisdom to go with that training, is both dangerous to others and himself.

It takes wisdom and knowledge to de-escalate a dangerous situation or to walk away from an unnecessary fight. It takes more than physical training to understand when you have to fight and when you can walk away with your honor in tact. It takes more than physical training to live a successful life.

The true warrior gains knowledge and wisdom from wherever it may come. He knows that the wisdom and knowledge he gains from the pen will be used much more often than his physical martial arts skills.

Think about this, how often have you had to fight for your life this week? How about this month? Or this year? Have you ever had to fight for your life? Now think about how often you have used the knowledge and wisdom you have gained during those time periods. Which do you use more?

This is not to say that your physical training is not important, it is. But the sad truth is that most martial artists solely focus on their physical training and neglect the way of the pen. This is shortsighted and shows a lack of wisdom and discipline. As Musashi stated all those years ago, the true warrior must discipline himself to study the way of the sword and the way of the pen.

In the movie, Animal House, the Dean of the college stated that, "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son." I say that, in the same fashion, someone trained to fight, but void of any wisdom or knowledge is also no way to go through life. Balance your life with both the "sword" and the pen. Warrior up! Bohdi Sanders ~ excerpt from, BUSHIDO: The Way of the Warrior, available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884201 or from The Wisdom Warrior website at: https://thewisdomwarrior.com.

09/03/2020

Shun any action that will diminish honor. Tiruvalluvar

When you have a decision to make and you are back forth about what to do, the first thing that you must look at in order to make the right choice is whether or not the action is honorable. If the action in question is dishonorable or will in any way go against your code of honor, don’t even consider it. It is as simple as that. Any action that will diminish your honor is not the right path for you to take, even if it seems that it might be, for whatever reason. Never be deceived; a dishonorable path will never turn out good for you.

If your honor is compromised, you have chosen the wrong action. In order for your code of honor to be meaningful, it must be unbending. Don’t compromise where your principles are involved. Don’t be willing to put your honor on the shelf for a period of time in order to perform an action that you know full well goes against your code of honor. Doing this reveals that your commitment to honor is weak and that you don’t really take it that seriously, but it is simply a convenience rather than an integral part of your life.

Your honor must be more important to you than the many other things that tempt you to act in ways which might cause you to violate your code. Men of true honor will place their honor above personal gain or profit. There will be things which they will refuse to do, even if they find them enjoyable or profitable, simply because their honor forbids them to be done. The warrior puts his code of honor first in his life, and by doing so he finds that everything else falls into place. Live with honor. Bohdi Sanders ~ excerpt from, BUSHIDO: The Way of the Warrior, available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884201 or from The Wisdom Warrior website at: https://thewisdomwarrior.com.

08/31/2020

~Moose~

08/30/2020

I will no longer compromise who I am for those who have issues or problems with how I live and expect me to live MY LIFE according to THEIR standards or expectations. Bohdi Sanders

The old adage, “You can’t please everyone,” certainly holds true. Trying to please everyone is simply an act in futility. As you get older, you will find that people will put pressure on you to compromise who you are or your personal standards, in an attempt to get you to live by their standard or their expectations. Don’t let them throw you off course!

These people seem to think that everyone else should live according to their standards. They think that they know best how you, and everyone else, should live. I don’t know about you, but I will no longer compromise who I am for those who have issues or problems with how I live, and expect me to live MY LIFE according to THEIR standards or expectations.

God has given us all a free will. God, in His infinite wisdom, has also given each of us certain desires, talents, and internal motivations. He didn’t make us all clones of each other; we are all different. But some people believe that if you are not living your life in a way that they approve of, you are somehow living incorrectly. What an arrogant, elitist attitude!

Live your life by your own standards. You have no obligation to compromise what you feel in your heart, mind and spirit, in order to live according to someone else’s standards or expectations for you. Have the courage to live your life, your way. In the end, that is the only true success in life.

There will always be people who will disapprove of how you spend your short time here on earth; that is their problems, not yours. As Fritz Perls so eloquently stated, “I do my thing and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations. And you are not in this world to live up to mine.” This is so true!

When you come to the end of your days, it will not matter what everyone else thinks about how you lived your life; in the end, it only matters what you and God think about how you lived your life. Make sure you are not disappointed in your decisions. Don’t bow to pressure in a vain attempt to make everyone else happy; be true to yourself.

Live your life with personal integrity. This means that you are true to yourself, your code, your standards, your desires, and your mission in life. What other people think about your life or how you live, is none of your business. Everyone is free to think whatever they please. Our thoughts are truly the greatest of personal freedoms. You certainly have no right, and no possibility, of controlling someone else’s thoughts, even if you wanted to. Stop worrying about what you can’t control, and focus on what you can control in your life – your own life.

Let others think what they may; just continue to live your life, your way, day by day. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time or interest in what your critics or haters think about you. Remember, in the end, their thoughts about how you live your life doesn’t matter. You will only have to answer to yourself and to God; Don’t waste your energy worrying about everyone else’s opinions. It’s your life; life it your way! Bohdi Sanders ~ Bestselling & awarding-winning author of MODERN BUSHIDO, MEN of the CODE, DEFENSIVE LIVING, BUSHIDO: The Way of the Warrior, and more, all available on Amazon or on The Wisdom Warrior. com.

08/30/2020

08/28/2020

Nobody is perfect. Even if you achieve enormous capability, you will make mistakes. You will forget things. You will have bad days, and maybe show a poor attitude at times. You will do a poor job of showing a technique.

Even if you are doing your best, you may not be able to complete a task, or you might have an outcome you didn’t want. Everybody fails at some point. Sometimes, things totally out of your control will drastically change your world. These things are part of life. Budo is about what you do after these things happen.

How do you live a life of Budo? How do you keep improving your understanding of Budo? The answer is, at the same time, both very simple and very difficult. The simple answer is that you must always be entirely honest with yourself about what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how you are doing it – you must take responsibility for your choices and actions.

The problem is that, these days, in our society, it has become the normal behavior for people to take shortcuts, to excuse or dismiss poor choices, to accept a minimal effort as sufficient, and most importantly, to not require of themselves, or others, to act always with integrity. People today, seem to find it extraordinarily difficult to avoid being part of these unfortunate trends in our society. GM Fumio Demura ~ excerpt from the book series, SECRETS of the MARTIAL ARTS MASTERS, available on Amazon.

Volume 1: https://www.amazon.com/dp/193788421X
Volume 2: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884228

08/27/2020

The true warrior fights not because he hates the one in front of him, but because he loves those behind him.

Many see the warrior as a brute who loves to fight and hates his enemies so much that he is willing to do anything to destroy them, but this is not really accurate. The true warrior doesn't fight because he hates the one he is fighting; he fights because he loves what he is protecting. There is a big difference.

Have you ever wondered how the warrior can meditate, be holistic, walk in love, and yet train to injure or kill another person? This is the key to the answer to that question.

The warrior knows better than to harbor hate in his heart. Hate is a negative energy that weakens your heart and mind, clouds your thoughts, and has bad affects on the body as a whole, such as causing diseases and even cancer, according to some studies.

None of these are things which the warrior wants to cultivate. The warrior needs to have a strong heart and mind, clear, rational thoughts, and a strong body. He (or she) stays away from things that go against his goals as a warrior. He stays away from hate, long-term anger, malice, and negative energy of any kind.

Wise warriors use love as their motivation – the love of life, the love for those around him, and love for his family and his principles. These things strengthen the warrior instead of weakening him, and ready him to do whatever he must to keep those he loves safe. Sometimes these differences seem like nothing more than semantics, but things aren’t always what they seem. Bohdi Sanders ~ excerpt from BUSHIDO: The Way of the Warrior, available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884201 or from The Wisdom Warrior website at: https://thewisdomwarrior.com.

08/25/2020

🐉🧐 Don’t be in a hurry to “fix” things; rather, enrich your understanding in the ever-going process of discovery and finding more the cause of your ignorance.” 🐉Bruce Lee

08/21/2020

The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things. Miyamoto Musashi

Once you get acquainted with a lot of people in the martial arts world, it doesn’t take long to recognize that a lot of martial artists have issues with overblown egos. Many got into the martial arts to start with because they were bullied, assaulted, or harassed for years.

And even after they have mastered many martial arts skills and techniques, they still carry that chip on their shoulder. They are determined never to be bullied or assaulted again, and understandably so.

When they started martial arts, many had self-esteem issues because of the bullying, assault, or years of harassment. Martial arts is a great way to help rebuild someone’s self-confidence and self-esteem and has worked miracles for many people. This is one of the wonderful things about the martial arts.

Martial arts is meant to help people live a better life, not simply to learn how to fight or to be an entertaining and fun hobby or sport. As Miyamoto Musashi stated, “The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.” Bohdi Sanders ~ excerpt from the new book, DEFIANCE: Exposing the Dark Side of the Martial Arts, available from The Wisdom Warrior website at: https://thewisdomwarrior.com/ and on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884244.