Inspiration: Courage

Find your courage

Courage and confidence are not the same thing.  Confidence sounds like “I got this”, whereas courage sounds like “I’m gonna give it my best shot”.

It is no coincidence that we chose the name “Bushido” to represent our karate school and our style.  In fact it is probably why so many dojos have been inspired to include “Bushido” somewhere in their identity. It holds powerful meaning in the martial arts.

Translated to “The Way of the Warrior”  we felt even more strongly about using Bushido in our name when we learned of The Seven Principles of The Bushido. Note that if you search online you will find derivations of these principles, or virtues.  At The Bushido School of Karate, we use the following seven positive characteristics as the Bushido code:

Courage * Justice * Generosity * Politeness * Honor * Honesty * Loyalty

In this, our first week of blogging, inspiration and courage were at the forefront! It doesn’t take self-confidence to start something new – it takes courage.  You don’t need to lose weight to start working out – you need courage.  And you don’t need to keep making excuses before changing – you need courage to find the reasons to do it. 

It’s usually a lot easier to find excuses than to come up with reasons. We tend to sabotage ourselves into trying nothing and attempting even less. It is so hard to be truthful and honest with ourselves. When we choose to think we’re “too busy” that becomes our excuse. But when we find the courage to be honest with ourselves we usually find fear is the root of our excuses.  Fear of being embarrassed, or feeling inadequate…yeah, that all sounds like “I’m too busy”.  Find your courage and your reasons!