From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.
In climbing high to reach nobility,
and supportive of their sibling Ds,
are the Cs of Character, Courage,
Commitment, Concentration and Consistency.
The first essential step to a spiritual life is character.
Only a man’s character is the real criterion of worth.
The first prerequisite of a gentleman or a lady is a good moral character. If that is not there, what else is left?
Remember this photo of Aidan “Smasher” Ligtvoet taken a few years ago when he was a very young aspiring martial artist in the Kiado-Ryu system? Obviously, he knew what he wanted to be!
Well, look at him now at age 16!
Smasher is all grown up. He tested for and accomplished his KIA Green Belt on Thursday, 26 January 2023. He now has a green light to move in accomplishing his first dan Brown Belt status.
From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.
In seeking patterns of success and a strategy to win,
The “D” Line offers five clear maxims:
Desire, Dedication, Determination,
Discretion, Discipline.
A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.
Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal—a commitment to excellence—that will enable you to attain the success you seek.
From Parenting Wisdom: What to Teach the Children.
In the 1960s the American folk singing group Peter, Paul and Mary, popularized a Pete Seeger song entitled, Where Have All The Flowers Gone? It is not an unfair question in these early years of the 21st Century to ask, “Where have all the manners gone?”
What are manners? Manners are social modes of action expressing respect and deference for others. Manners, or the lack of them, speak to the character of an individual and a culture. The famous German writer, artist and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (18th/19th Centuries) stated:
From The Karate Consciousness: From Worldly Warrior to Mystic Master.
Strength is internal power manifested in external form. As all qualities of Divine Individuality, it flows from the center of man’s Oneness with his Creator. It permeates all components of the life system—physical, mental, spiritual—and is the sustaining force in the quest for perfection.
It is an absolute necessity for the student to continually increase his strength if he is to successfully progress in the continuum. New obstacles and challenges on the vertical growth pattern always yield an increased functional understanding of the life force once they are surpassed, but to conquer them demands a degree of strength equal to each task. Therefore, the goal for each individual aspiring to mastery is to continually seek to increase the flow from the Source because, of itself, the Source is strength and man is only as strong as his ability to align himself with it.
CONGRATULATIONS to Shaw “Wind” Shahriari for attaining his Blue Belt ranking! Wind is a devoted martial artist in multiple martial art systems in Iran (his home country) and the United States. The Karate Institute of America is proud to have him study in our Kiado-Ryu System.
Everyone has their special skills. Wind has two that are distinctive. 1) his kicks are devastatingly powerful and 2) he is an excellent kata performer.