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Black Belt Paper Excerpts - Zach Boardman

Confidence is a word that is used all over the place today, especially when talking about kids or students. There are certain things that are supposed to improve confidence, but what is confidence really. It is trust. Having self-confidence is knowing that you can do something, and trusting yourself to do it. In the martial arts world, you must trust your skill and technique or you will never get better. For instance, breaking boards with the side of your hand looks like it would really hurt, but if you trust the technique you find that the boards give way quite easily and that your hand just passes through easily. The same can be said about forms or using techniques. It is too hard to try to remember every movement that is in a form, one-by-one as you execute it. You have to trust your training and trust that you know the form, otherwise you will think about it too much and you will just end up doing it slow and weak. Zen plays a big role in the martial arts of the East, and also plays a big role in confidence. In writing to samurai sword masters, Takuan Soho says, “No matter where you put it, if you put the mind in one place, the rest of your body will lack it’s functioning” (Soho p30). This means that if you think about a movement, such as a punch, then your mind stops at the punch and you will not be able to continuously flow to what might come next. Zen suggests that we not think of anything in particular, but that the mind remain open to every movement and action that might be. This is really hard to do, trusting that you know something well enough to not think on it solely, but to just do it without hesitation. That is what trust means in the martial arts, and it is the basis for confidence in ones movements and techniques.…….

……Having a good attitude is an attribute of the martial arts, and is required for a successful and happy life. While learning something as difficult as the martial arts, it can be frustrating when you screw up on a technique, or you can’t fulfill a requirement for promotion, but a good positive attitude must be displayed in order to overcome that obstacle. People screw up all the time, that is part of human nature, and we as humans are not perfect. However, the way that we respond to failure is the key to our success. For example, a student is testing for promotion in the martial arts, and screws up on a technique. The instructor notices and says something to that student, and the student gets flustered instead of maintaining a positive attitude. Once again, if the mind becomes obsessed over a single thought, then it will freeze there making it hard to accomplish other things. This could ruin a promotion test. However, the artist that says, “yes I screwed up, but I know what to do, and I am going to do it right this time, and better than ever before,” will manage to do well, and will no hesitate over the technique. This is just a small example on how positive attitude can turn things around and result in a happy outcome. All of these attributes; discipline, confidence, respect, and attitude, can be carried over into the life of a student outside of the martial arts realm…..

……Discipline plays an integral role in my life, especially in the sense of following the guidelines of morality that are placed before me by God, and by the martial arts as well. The Bible is the basis of Christianity, it is God’s word and is a tool for learning in all areas of life. The Bible has certain laws, such as the Ten Commandments, as well as other moral guidelines for life that should be followed in order to please God. These guidelines and laws are very different sometimes from what the rest of the world says. To be able to follow the guidelines set before me by God requires a lot of discipline, especially when others tell you to do the opposite. Life in general is full of temptations that can make us stray from our chosen path, and I have seen it work in my life. The same can be said about the martial arts. I have already mentioned that the martial arts can be very powerful, and it takes a lot of discipline to not abuse that power. I dealt with a situation recently were a close friend of mine had betrayed me in one of the worst ways imaginable. I will not go into the details here, but I the result was that I wanted to hurt him, very badly. Given my training in the martial arts, it is very likely that I could have injured him seriously, and even killed him, if I wasn’t careful. However, I knew that this is not what God wanted, and that it would be an abuse of the power that was given to me through the martial arts. In the end, I didn’t do anything, and it took all of the discipline that I had not to, because even though he wronged me, I was the one that had to bite the bullet, and just try to forget about it and him, instead of trying to get revenge. Our lives are full of this struggle everyday, maybe not to that extent, but without Christ as my example, and the teachings of my martial arts instructors, I would have done the wrong thing. If I had I hurt him, that would have been in opposition with the “do.” As I have gotten older, I have decided that I am going to commit my life to God, and he has set out for me the “do” that is my ideal life. Now I must trust in Him, and use my discipline that I have learned to follow the path that I have chosen.

Confidence was defined earlier in these pages, as trusting in yourself to do what you need to do. This relates to my life, not only in the ways of the martial arts, as mentioned before, but also in terms of my life and priorities. I have studied the bible, and I have learned about God, and try to follow His will. I have experienced temptation, and I have justified my choice to follow God through logic as well as faith. That is the technique of my life. The foundation has been set, and now it is up to me to trust my beliefs, trust my faith, and trust in God’s word. If I have no confidence in God, and His word, then everything that I have set before myself as the “do” is meaningless. It is not always easy to trust God’s, especially when I want something different than what I know He has in store for me…..

……Respect plays a big part in my life. I mentioned earlier how we must respect our instructors for what they teach us, and live by the guidelines they set for us in terms of using our martial skill. However, for me this applies once again for God, and what He has done for me. Who has given me more than the one that has created me, giving me life and making all that I do possible. It is obvious that God deserves more respect than anything else in my life, and probably more than I can give Him. In turn, I look around at the world and everything that God has created. The creations of a perfect being are to be respected and used under the guidelines that the Creator has set. Thus, it is not just God that deserves respect, but all of His creations, including animals, other people, and parents. Next to God, I think that my parents have given me the most help, love and understanding, and they definitely deserve respect. This becomes tricky when I am trying to move on to manhood, and become my own person. There are times when they want me to do something, or feel differently about something, than what I feel. When this happens, I try to respect them by remembering what they taught me, and listening to their advise. I always try to thank them and in the end, I tell them that they have given me good guidelines for life and that I will try to do my best for them by including their teachings in my adult life. In the martial arts we bow to another student before engaging in any activity with them, this shows that we are learning and that we are in no way trying to be hostile towards them. The same should be true outside of the martial arts. Our interactions with others should be respectful, and not full of hostility, but instead full of understanding, tolerance, and compassion.

The Seven Habits

My father is what I would call a successful man. .The end result is based off of the format of a best selling author, and is called: The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Boardman Men. It was a to be an established set of guidelines, similar to those of the Hwarangdo, made especially on the beliefs of the Boardman family, and the lessons learned throughout my father’s life. These have acted as a path for which I can live my life, and carries over into the lessons I have learned in the martial arts, as well as the lessons taught in the Word of God. The very fist part of my father’s guide is a foundational statement that is to underline all that follows. This foundational statement is based off of Proverbs Chapter three, verses five and six, and reads as follows, “The Lord is our foundation. We trust in Him.” Prior to my father writing this down, I had already decided that this was going to be the basis for how my life should be lived. In everything that is done, and in every concern, I was going to trust the Lord. He alone knows what is best, and if I follow his guidelines above all else, then my path for life will be set straight before me. My father recognizes this as well, which is why it is to be thought upon with every one of the “habits.” ….

…..Seven, “We act on life rather than letting life act on us. We are never victims.” This reminds me of the never retreating rule of the Hwarangdo. We do not make excuses for failure, or for our actions. We are in charge of what happens in our lives, and can take action to change the world that we live in through the decisions that we make. If a person blames an outside force for failure, when they could have done more, then they will never overcome that failure. Only by acknowledging that there was more to act on personally will we ever be able to change any situation for the better. Excuses only attempt to explain failure, they never help to overcome it.

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Last modified: September 10, 2006