Redding Shotokan Karate

Today I am thinking about weakness. Like most humans, I have many weaknesses and I have occasionally been chided for my candor in confessing them.

I find however, that I cannot face that which I am unable to acknowledge and fully accept. Additionally, I have found that there is much to be learned from what we perceive as weakness. Often times, what I perceive to be a strength in someone else, they themselves see or have once seen as a weakness. Displaying the tenacity to overturn one's weakness is nothing short of inspirational. This encourages me to persevere when I might have otherwise ceded to mediocrity.

It is very easy to confuse weakness with failure, especially early on in practice. I feel this myself occasionally and have seen it in others. It is so easy to say "I just CAN'T do this", "I'll NEVER get this" or "I am just NOT any good at this." It is even easier to say those things when we see others who "CAN do this", "DO get this" and "ARE good at this". It's easy to forget that they probably have shared these feelings.

It is imperative to remember that when we face our weakness, our strength is revealed and even more importantly, as I have experienced, can also reveal the strength in those around us. But weakness becomes failure when we avoid, ignore or run from it.