The Mind of a Knight

Introduction

Mental development is every bit as important as physical. The traits of clarity and discipline can carry over into all areas of life.

In martial arts, one needs to cultivate discipline to maintain a calm mind when faced with danger. When your mind is unbalanced, your body becomes unbalanced. The opposite is not necessarily so. When you have this calm mind, you can see the attacks coming in, you can move more efficiently. Even if you have perfect technique and timing, when your mind is unbalanced, you technique will fall apart.

When you are seeking to develop your physical or spiritual power, you need to have discipline, or else you're severely limiting your growth. With a lack of discipline in physical training, you will not push yourself to grow. In spiritual training, you will stop doing "boring" or "simple" exercises, cheating yourself of the development those practices offer.

When faced with uncomfortable situations, we call upon our mental strength to see clearly, to solve the problem, to weigh our options. When our mind is clear, without doubts, or fear, all of our actions will be more focused, powerful, and effective.

Mental clarity is a key to spiritual practice. You cannot have a stray thought in mind, or you will be robbing your operation of its power. Some spiritual practices invoke powerful forces, and a lack of focus is a disservice to these mighty forces, sometimes with negative results.

When you begin to cultivate these wonderful qualities of the mind, your workouts will be more beneficial, your operations will be more powerful, and your day to day life will be easier to handle with comfort and grace. Mental training is also a tremendously healthy practice. It will greatly reduce, and possibly eliminate stress. In today's go-go-go world, we all could use less of that.

When you lack training, on any level, it drags down your development in all fields.
If your body is sick, it will be mentally draining, rob you of focus. If your body is weak, it will cut out a valuable avenue to develop discipline, coordination, and confidence. When you lack mental training, your physical actions will easily be unbalanced, your spiritual efforts will lack effectiveness (ie: your meditations will be less profound, you will waste more time trying to stay on task). When spiritual training is ignored, you miss out on your intimate connection with the world around you, the upper limits of your development of other fields is restricted.

On the opposite side, when you are developed on all levels, in harmony, you can begin to tap into your extraordinary potential. When your body is strong and healthy, you are more confident, your energy is not drained by the efforts of healing. When your mind is focused and clear, your physical training can be more productive, and your spiritual efforts become more powerful. When you have developed a level of spiritual depth, you will be in touch with levels of wisdom and might that otherwise would have been out of reach.

It is also vitally important to develop your knowledge. The more knowledge you have that can be applied, the more powerful you become. The more skills you have developed to a higher level, the more valuable you become to the community. I'm not saying you need to be everyone's Mr. Fix-it, however, being able to fix a car when you break down, knowing how to administer first aid, how to tell which plants are poisonous to eat, and other skills could prove life-saving. You're not always able to rely on someone else, so it is important to have at least basic level skills in a lot of areas. However, when you know too little, you can be more harm than good, so make sure your information is well founded before you apply it.

Knowledge is nothing if not practical, practical knowledge is worthless if not applied. This is another key to power. Seek knowledge in your fields of interest, it will give you power. Even if you never have the occasion to use a certain skill set, or knowledge, you can have conversation about it, if done in a non-bragging way, you can give your guests a favorable impression of you.

Comprehension is key, you ever read a book, come across a word you don't know? Ever hear a song lyric you don't understand? Understanding information that is being conveyed to you will help you get more out of it. It will make life and communication much richer. You'll be able to express yourself, and perceive expression on a much deeper level.

Memory retention is important. We've all forgotten a name, directions, what have you. But without memory retention, your knowledge will fade, especially without use. Some people naturally have a great memory, others can only remember things of interest, and some others still have a hard time recalling the previous day. This is fine, wherever you're at, training mental clarity can help with this. However practicing memory games can quickly build this area. Take a deck of cards. Lay each card face down, flat on a table. Shuffle their order. Then pick two, flip them over and try and get a match (two aces, for example). If you don't match, flip them back, face down. Keep going, and try to remember where the previous cards are located. This can be frustrating, but little games like this can boost your recollection greatly.

Mental training is a valuable, often neglected part of self-development. Do not think it is a waste; it is a key to unlocking your potential. Do not judge yourself with the level of knowledge, memory or mental abilities you have. Accept yourself as you are now, and work your way to learn how to better use your mind.