Quest Martial Arts

Tae Kwon Do Mastery is Self mastery By Master Dan Zaleski

     To become a master in TKD, we must first master ourselves. Through years of trial and errors (the hard way to learn, but effective) I know these four truths help achieve self mastery.

     A good start is to - observe your own beliefs. Your eye’s will only see what your mind believes.Self-mastery is about exercising complete control over your own self, especially your thoughts, emotions or behaviour. Mastering yourself – your body and mind – is a lifelong struggle. Besides maintaining control over what you think and believe, and how you feel, the pursuit of inner calm is an indispensable part of having mastery over self. When you aim to achieve absolute control of your own life, you need to have:

     Self-discipline, an essential element to achieve self-mastery or any goal. Cultivate self-discipline first before you attempt at gaining self-mastery. We all know what we want to have, be or do. But are we willing to evoke our self discipline. It’s necessary to choose…just do it! Every one of us has eaten junk food in the heat of the moment. No one has ever made us eat candy. The self-discipline I am talking about is the kind where you use your internal will power to choose something better for yourself. It is where you cognitively decide that you are going to work towards a goal and achieve that goal without being sidetracked by “instant” distractions. The self-discipline I am speaking of is all about developing a mentality where you can fix your mind on something and achieve it.

     To have control over your life, you have to accept that you are responsible for everything that happens to you. If you are a successful person, it seems easy to know you are responsible and accept the full responsibility of your action and behaviour. If you are not, it’s easy to believe and blame fate causes and controls all events that happen to you, so you cannot change or control the way things happen. Acceptance of personal responsibility begins with feeling strongly that you are responsible for all areas of your life.

     Values are principles or beliefs which you choose about what is right and wrong. They govern your personal behavior. You are guided by your moral values to be a person of principle with correct behavior and attitudes. Not accept a situation or a particular type of behavior which is contrary to your values.

So what are your values? What values do you believe in? Only you decide what values you believe in. If you believe in the values of integrity, gratitude, self-reliance, generosity, empathy, and perhaps more, then you are a person of those values. Your values and beliefs form your distinctive character. The ability to know your values enables you to know who you are. When you know who you are on the inside, you can decide what you want on the outside. You feel in control of your life, because you are.

Master thought: Our true character is revealed under pressure. Only orange juice comes from an orange…it’s what’s inside that counts.