Karate-Do: A simple life

I ran into one of my former primary/elementary school classmates who remembered me practicing karate 30 years ago. He couldn't believe I was still training. Here are a couple of random quotes that I think nicely sum up my motivation to practice three decades on (and my approach to training). I've intentionally not used the words of karateka or budoka. Also, please excuse that there is nothing too profound in here... But certainly some food for thought, which goes beyond words and steers a lifestyle. Karate-do, a simple life!

_________

"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John Wooden

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." - Vince Lombardi

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." - Lance Armstrong

"Nobody's a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It's hard to stay on top." - Paul Coffey

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." - Thomas Jefferson

I'd wrap up by saying that I could have selected a number of other quotes, but as they say "less is sometimes more". The simple life of karate-do requires action, then everything else falls perfectly into place. There is time for reflection and discussion while the body is recovering...

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2011).