Beyond Your Front Door

Yesterday, advanced members of our club participated in a fun, sweaty workout at a West Coast World Martial Arts school in Hollister, owned by Master Mark Preader, an old friend of mine.

I like visiting my old martial arts buddies. Many of us trained at different schools and we were introduced to one another because of similar visits that our instructors did with us. It warms my heart to see them, to reconnect our schools and our students once again.

For a while, I lost sight of this. What used to be regular visits with my instructors slowly faded away. We missed out on the opportunities to connect with others. As my school became more successful, I believed that I didn't need to do it - that I was doing fine on my own, and others would just come to visit me.

How arrogant of myself to believe that I was worth visiting, and they weren't!

We need to reach out to others in our lives regularly. It inspires excellence by broadening our perceptions of how excellence manifests in people. It inspires compassion and understanding because we can see how other people experience their own challenges and still find success in their own way. It fosters innovation and new ideas through synergy and collaboration. Most importantly, it builds connections which are far more valuable in our lives than building walls.

Unless we make a conscious effort, our lives will often provide us with compelling reasons to stay home.

Why do homes have windows? So that we are reminded that there's a world outside of our "personal bubbles", one that we must be a part of by stepping beyond our front doors.

Who haven't you seen in a while? Maybe it's time to change that.