Enjoying the Path

It is not about where you arrive, but how you walk—

People tend to focus only on the destination. They want to succeed, improve, and achieve results. That desire itself is not bad. However, when your consciousness is captured solely by the destination or the result, the steps you take in this very moment are reduced to mere 'means.' You start to feel as if you are being forced to do something; if things don't go well, you suffer, and if you don't get results, you feel it is all meaningless.

But in essence, the 'Path' is not like that.

The Path is something where the act of walking itself has meaning. Even if you are heading to the same place, the quality of that time changes completely depending on how you walk. If you proceed with impatience, you will be exhausted; if you continue reluctantly, your heart will wear down. Conversely, if you proceed while savoring each step, the process itself becomes fulfilling.

The same can be said for martial arts. If you make only becoming strong your goal, training becomes an ordeal. You get frustrated with yourself for not winning, impatient with the slow progress, and depressed by comparing yourself to others. However, when you turn your attention to the movement itself, observe how your body changes, and enjoy the subtle shifts in sensation, the meaning of training changes completely. There, an 'interest' that transcends winning and losing is born.

This also applies to meditation. The more you strain to clear your mind or focus, the less successful you become. But when you take an interest in simply observing the flow of your breath or the sensations in your body, and start to savor those changes, it naturally deepens. It transforms from something you have to do into something you find yourself wanting to do.

Enjoying the Path does not mean abandoning results. Rather, it means acquiring a way of being that is not bound by results, which in turn brings you closer to them. Unnecessary effort and waste are stripped away, movements become refined, and the mind settles quietly. Beyond that accumulation, results follow later.

Many people think they will be able to continue once they start enjoying it. But in reality, the Path only opens up when you adopt the attitude of trying to enjoy it. It is not fun from the beginning. However, you focus your attention on the step right in front of you and try to make that step even a little bit better. In the repetition of that, a moment eventually arrives when you feel that 'walking itself is fun.'

There is no end to the Path. No matter how far you go, there is always another step. That is precisely why how you savor that step becomes everything. There is no need to rush. There is no need to compare. Just proceed while confirming your own walk with your own senses.

Only then will you realize that you have not just 'walked the path,' but 'lived the path.'

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Book Introductions:

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“Meditation Training for Leaders”

“The Unconventional Laws of Happiness You Don't Know”

“Adventure in the Age of Super-Acceleration:AIWriting and the Wisdom of Martial Arts Qigong”

“AIFastest AI Writing Publication Technique”

Videos of sparring and demonstrations with karate practitioners can be viewed on the site below.
(Martial Arts Qigong Health Classroom | Shijonawate City, Osaka Prefecture)