From The Black Belt Book of Life: Secrets of a Martial Arts Master.

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.

How wonderful it is to reunite with KIA students and friends—in this case with Annette Carden-Dale, aka “Warrior.” It’s been a few years since our last get-together and such events are always fun and enjoyable. “Catching Up” is one of life’s most meaningful and endearing experiences.

Warrior began her martial arts studies at the Karate Institute of America, circa 2006. She was, and is, a great student—always focused, exuding a relentless spirit. She has always been an extremely hard worker, is energetic, talented, intelligent and determined. Before her destiny called her and her family to move out of the area, Warrior earned her Green Belt ranking, awarded on 26 September 2008.

Let’s say you and some friends or family are out for a walk in the woods. Accidentally, you come across a mountain lion. You throw up your hands, scream and shout and do all you can do to frighten him so he’ll go away. However, not having any free space in which to run away to safety, the lion backs into a corner, frightened. Now what? You have a frightened predator who lives his life by killing and who finds himself trapped in a corner with a bunch of human beings who, themselves, are also frightened but who do not live their lives by killing, generally. Obviously, this is not a safe environment for you or the lion to be in. So what do you do?