Friday, December 25, 2009

A "Perfect" Christmas?

When I was a kid, I LOVED Christmas. I still do. When I was a kid, Christmas was that magical day of the year when you actually got what you wanted. It was about Santa, snow, presents, and yes...Jesus in the manger. For me, Christmas was the perfect day of year because everything and everyone I loved was in the same place. Christmas is always marketed and seen as that one day out of the year that love, joy, and good tidings to all mankind are the themes of the day.
While Hollywood, the retail stores, and even the Christians are trying to promote Christmas as a perfect day...I see things a bit differently. Now that I am older, and as things are much more complicated than when I was a kid, I realize that Christmas is not meant to be perfect. It's about perfecting the imperfect.

If you look at the Nativity Story, the very first Christmas was not perfect at all. Imagine you traveled literally thousands of miles on foot or by donkey (if you were lucky) while dodging hordes of soldiers trying to kill your unborn child and your wife is about to go into labor...and the only place you can have her give birth and stay in for the night is a barn filled with farm animals and horseshit. Your family isn't even there to spend the night with you. Instead, it's some shepherds and three random dudes who bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh as gifts to your kid (how a baby is supposed to play with that is beyond me). The first Christmas was ANYTHING BUT perfect. But, Christmas is not about the atmosphere or even the circumstances around you...it's about finding the joy in what you already have with the people around you.

We all have problems. They could be family issues. They could be relationship issues. There are some people who are forced to work on this day due to their profession. There are others who are alone on this day due to loss of a loved one or simply because they have no where to turn to. We all have battles we have to deal with, and unfortunately, they do not take a vacation on Christmas Day. But again, Christmas is not about perfect circumstances or "warm fuzzy feelings". It is about finding the perfection from what you have and choosing to develop those "warm fuzzy feelings" through recognizing the abundance in your life...being thankful and happy for what you have as opposed to what you don't have. For me, this is what having a "Merry Christmas" is all about.

On this day, I wish Maligayang Pasko to you and yours. Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Finding Your Outlet

When the world feels like it is falling down on you, and when all the emotions are boiling and coming up to the surface....one of the best ways of dealing with the problem is to find a way to express those feelings and emotions in a focused and productive way. There are many ways to deal with one's problems, and after these past three years or so of going through many of life's experiences, I have realized how important it is to not only face the problem head-on, but also to dedicate time towards a specific outlet to better focus my emotions and energy. Now, an outlet is not the same as an addiction. In this case, an addiction being anything that one may take part in to distract themselves from their problems.

In my humble opinion, if people placed the same time and energy they put into avoiding their problems into bettering their lives, then this world would be a far better place.

The difference between an outlet and an addiction is that an outlet enables one to put their energy into something positive that can better improve their situation in the long term, whereas an addiction is often negative and may only bring temporary relief from the problem.

I have found that discovering an outlet not only enables one to be able to deal with the problem before them, but often leads to the individual finding something that they can truly be passionate about that can turn their life completely around for the better. We can never underestimate the power passion can hold in our lives. Passion can truly allow a person to change their course of action and give them something to live for. It can rise people out of their problems and enable them to live truly productive lives toward something greater.

In addition, an outlet can enable one to find simple joy in their daily lives. Back in college, no matter how stressful grades, school, papers, and final exams were, I knew that my daily Kali training session would be one of the highlights of my day. This sense of positive thinking and focus helped me look at my problems differently and gave me the chance to take a step back from my problems and then face them once more. Having a productive outlet gave me the strength to keep going no matter what faced me.

Finding your outlet could be as simple as doing something you never thought you would do or enjoy doing. Go out there and try something you've always wanted to do but for some reason, you felt you didn't have the time for it or just kept making excuses why you couldn't do it. Finding your outlet can also be as simple as finding that one hobby or activity you truly enjoy but never delved into it as deeply as you wanted to. Before, FMA was simply a favorite hobby of mine...I was good at swinging weapons and loved the cultural side of it. Then it eventually became my overriding passion. Now, it is becoming my career and a lifestyle for me, and it's a vehicle that I am using to not only better my life, but the lives of the people I train.

I firmly believe that an outlet can truly better one's situation. Find your outlet, and you will find the path to a productive life. While we cannot control what problems we may be facing, we CAN control the way we approach those problems.

The F-Word

A lot of people underestimate the power of the F-word. The F-word has been said many times and expressed many different ways, but it seems that people today are losing sight of it's power. The F-word is considered to be "uncool" by many in today's world. But, the F-Word can help people look at things differently. The F-word can transform their lives. It can help them work through their own problems and pain. I feel if we just take a step back and embrace the F-word, we can all feel a little bit better about the way our lives are going and truly make a transformation in the way we live.


The F-word, that I am speaking about, is Faith.


Now when I speak about faith, I am not espousing any specific religious belief or doctrine. I feel that faith is something all people can embrace regardless of their religious background (or lack thereof). The truth is that all people...ALL PEOPLE...possess faith. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines faith as: "firm belief in something in which there is no proof." As funny as it sounds, we all believe in things, oftentimes without any proof to back them up.



For instance, I was told by the weather channel that it was going to snow last night. I bought snow melting salt, moved the car into the garage, and basically prepared myself to wake up to a snow white backyard. When I woke up, the backyard was still as green as it ever was. NO SNOW had even landed in my backyard. My faith in the Weather Channel has been tested several times, but I always seem to accept their forecast as true regardless of the fact that they have been wrong in the past.



When I teach FMA and meet a new student, I introduce myself as Guro Mike Pana. Now, the person doesn't know me. They have every right to ask me if that is my real name. After all, people have made false alias' in the past. But, they do not ask me that. They accept my name as true. Even if they did question my true name, and I showed them identification cards...they could still question the validity of the ID cards and whether or not they are fake...but they do not do that. They simply accept my name's validity without any proof needed.

As weird as it sounds, I am trying to make a point.

The fact of the matter is that the act of believing in something, without proof, is a normal human trait. Faith is often associated with religious belief, which I believe is an example of how powerful faith can be. However, the act of believing something that can't be proven is not unusual. We all have faith.

The act of trusting in something beyond yourself is a powerful thing. We can have faith that we can be better people. We can have faith that we can improve our lives. We can have faith that we can muster the strength to fight the battle's life gives us. We can have faith

We can have faith that there is something beyond ourselves, something greater in us, that watches out for us...that takes care of us. I call that "something" God. Some people might call it the Universe, or Allah, or the Great Spirit. Whatever you want to call it, that faith in a Higher Being is a powerful thing. Now, belief in God alone will not solve your problems. I know a lot of religious people who, when faced with a problem, close their eyes, and pray to try to take their mind off the problem. Instead of dealing with the problem, they try to pray it all away.

It is important to note that the greatest warriors throughout history have all possessed great spiritual faith: The Spartans, the Samurai, the Knights, the Apache have all relied on a sense of faith in a higher power to direct their choices in battle or in daily life. They never ran from the battle. They relied on their faith to guide them and help them focus in battle, and in that sense I feel that faith can be an extremely powerful thing. Likewise, everyday people can work through their life battle's by placing their faith in something above them to help direct their decisions and keep them focused through the problem. A cinematic example would be the sniper in Saving Private Ryan who, when faced with doubt and fear, prays during the battle to give him strength and focus.

Faith is a tool, that when used properly, can help a person get through lives problems much easier. It is not a blindfold to hide one's eyes from the problem in front of them. Rather, it is given to us by God to work through the problem in front of us. Never underestimate the power of the F-word.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

To Deal, or Distract?

Being in my mid-twenties, I am noticing more and more how people, specifcially young people, deal with their problems. Most of what I see are young adults who, upon facing a problem, try to avoid the problem by distracting themselves or those around them as opposed to figuring out how to deal with it. When the problem faces them, they'll drink, smoke (sometimes illegal as well as legal substances), or work hard at either school or their job to take their mind off things. It seems that the standard way of dealing with problems is preocupying the mind rather than learning how to face the problem and deal with it.

In these last 3 years, I have gone through several life experiences and challenges. It seems that when you hit your mid-twenties, problems start coming at you from virtually every angle. It could be your relationships. It could be your financial situation. It could even be just trying to control over your own schedule and lifestyle. Whatever the problem is, distracting oneself will not help. Nor will bitching and complaining. Nor will worrying and freaking out. People spend more time and energy doing things to DISTRACT themselves from their problems as opposed to doing productive things that will help them DEAL with their problems.

I say this from experience. Recently, I have learned through my training as well leading a group that you can't run from your problems. You cannot distract yourself. Doing so is not only a waste of time, but eventually, the problems will catch up to you. You can never outrun your problems. You can never hide from your problems.

Many times, when faced with a problem, I used to always blame another person, or my circumstances. From a purely emotional level, it was the easy way out. However, recently, I have learned that most of, if not all of the time, the problem is not an outside force or individual. Rather, the problem is MYSELF and how I am dealing (or not dealing) with the problem. It's easy to point the finger, but I am realizing more and more how often the problem lies within ME and that it's important to face it. Is it difficult? Absolutely. But, it can be done.

Now, the real question is: How do you solve a problem that's within you? There are many ways one can do this. For me, it's a combination of my faith as well as my training. I've been taught the importance of prayer and faith since I was a child. However, I believe there is also a way of praying with your body. Some dance. Others play basketball. For me, it's my training in FMA. I say this not out of personal bias, but out of practicality. In FMA, the problem faced in front of me is so severe that I must face it whether I like it or not. A person with a weapon in their hand is a pretty scary prospect for most people, so the ability to look at the enemy in front of you, and deal with that enemy head on in a very direct and aggressive way, translates to the way you live your life. If you can face an armed individual, or several armed individuals, by yourself or with a team (which I personally prefer), then you can approach your life problems with the same focus and courage. Your training partners do more than just train with you...they train with you to improve you. They will stand by you on the physical battlefield or the spiritual battlefield. That is why I train, and that is why I teach what I teach for a living. It's the lifestyle that FMA provides that I have found to be capable of transforming people from the inside out.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Living VS Existing

I was driving down the Garden State Parkway earlier today when I noticed a car in front of me had a bumper sticker that said, "I had a life...but my job ate it." It was funny, for sure. But, it got me thinking about the current state of our world and how we as a society have lost sight of what's important in these last several years.

When I was a kid, I recall my kindergarten teacher doing a project in which she asked me and my classmates what we wanted to be when we grew up. Back then, there was no limit as to what you were allowed to dream up or what you wanted to be. Every kid in class, including myself, had dreams of what they wanted to be when they grew up: firemen, police officers, dancers, professional athletes, veterinarians, and astronauts. When I got to the third grade, I was asked to write two paragraphs in my English journal of who I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote: "I want to be a martial arts teacher because I like martial arts and it makes me happy." The teacher gave me an A. However, when I got to sixth grade, an adjunct teacher of the school who taught a life skills class asked us to write a one-page paper as to what we wanted to be when we grew older. To this day, I recall exactly what I wrote. I said that: "I want to be a professional martial arts teacher. I'm also thinking about doing writing and maybe become a stand-up comedian someday if I get good enough." My grade for the paper? An F. She said, "This is completely unrealistic. The real world is harder than you think. You need to grow up and realize that your options need to be practical."

It seems that it's fine to dream and have goals when you're a kid, but the older we get, it appears as if you are only allowed to follow certain goals according to certain standards that society dictates. The goals and dreams you had as a kid eventually became labeled as "unrealistic" or "fantasy". Whatever dreams you had as a kid were automatically tossed onto the scrap heap once you got older for the primary purpose of making money. Now, I'm no hippie. I love money...a lot. Money, when used right, can help you improve your quality of life as well as the quality of life for those around you. However, people do crazy things for money. They'll toss their dreams aside. They'll stab people in the back. They'll neglect the people they love. People end up focusing on money so much that they do not use money as a means of improving life. Many end up focusing on money just so that they can make MORE of it. Some people then go out just looking for a job as a means of just paying the bills as a means of just getting by.

Today, it seems that more and more people are looking for a "means of getting by" or "finding another job" instead of truly trying to carve out a better life for themselves...trying to follow their passion to develop a more fullifilling life for themselves. People are simply trying to exist as opposed to truly living their lives.

Now, I know this is difficult to grasp in today's world, where the economy is the worst it's been since the Great Depression. However, I am meeting more people who, while they have lost their jobs or a great deal of money due to this recession, they were able to find a way around their situation to make more money by following their dreams. I was recently emailed a few months back by a Filipino martial artist who, after losing his job as well as his home to foreclosure, saw my website and felt inspired to open up his own Filipino martial arts school. Today, he has his own school and is making a living doing what he loves. While he says I was one of the people who inspired him to follow his dreams, the fact that I was able to help inspire a person realize their dreams is one of the factors that inspired me to take Bayani Warrior to the next level.

I realize everyday that I refuse to simply exist on this earth in mediocrity. I believe I need to LIVE my life with purpose.

I am living my life with purpose.