Bohdi Sanders's Blog, page 24
June 21, 2014
Silence, Calmness, and Kindness: Warrior Traits for Everyday Life
Don’t ever mistake my silence for ignorance,
my calmness for acceptance, or
my kindness for weakness.
It is a mistake to believe that the silent person is ignorant. The silent person is almost always the one that you should listen to most, when he talks. Instead of spending time babbling about unimportant things, he listens, and learns. He spends time in thought instead of meaningless conversations about nothing. Ignorant is the last adjective that would describe him.
If you are looking for wisdom, look to the quiet man or woman who knows when it is time to speak and when it is time to be silent. The warrior’s silence denotes wisdom and intelligence, not ignorance. But when he is ignorant of the subject at hand, you will not know, as he has the good sense to stay silent and learn, instead of trying to sound knowledgeable on a subject which he knows nothing about.
Likewise, the person who can stay calm in all situations is a person of quiet confidence. Do not read anything into his calm demeanor, except for the fact that he probably has his act together. The warrior, who is confident in himself, has no reason to lose his cool. His maintains his composure in spite of the storm around him.
In addition, his uncommon calmness does not signal acceptance of the situation, but rather his rational thought and self-confidence in his ability to handle whatever comes his way. You may even find that the more dire the situation, the more calm and rational the warrior becomes because he is even more focused than normal. While other men are losing their composure, he is taking everything in and rationally deciding how to respond to the situation. He is calm in the eye of the storm.
Many people also tend to look at the kind-hearted man as weak or wimpy. This is another common misconception. Kindness is not a weakness; it is a strength. A warrior’s benevolence does not signify weakness, rather it signifies the warrior’s good heart. You can have a good heart without being weak, in fact, I would suggest that it takes courage and self-confidence to be kind in every situation.
The weak do not have the self-confidence to be kind in every situation, only in the situations where there is no risk to them. The warrior has the self-confidence to be kind, even when his has to be firm. The warrior’s benevolence is a sign of strength, not weakness. And it is a mistake to see his kindness as a sign of his weakness, a mistake that has cost many predators dearly.
The person who can maintain a calm silence in troubled times, and at the same time, can continue to be kind to everyone in his path, while they lose both their composure and their benevolence, is a person of honor and integrity. He has mastered the art of inner peace. But this in no way should be seen as weakness, ignorance, or acceptance of unacceptable situations. Those who truly understand, will hold such a person in great regard. Bohdi Sanders ~ author of the award-winning bestseller, Modern Bushido: Living a Life of Excellence
MODERN BUSHIDO – If you care about character, integrity, and honor, you will like it. Check it out today!
MODERN BUSHIDO: Living a Life of Excellence won two FIRST PLACE BOOK AWARDS in the 2013 – National Indie Excellence Book Awards and the USA Book News Best Books of 2013! These prestigious book awards are a great honor for Modern Bushido!
If you haven’t read it yet, you can get it immediately with no waiting on KINDLE, or order it in paperback, at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S26INK.
Signed copies are also available. You can order them from: http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
Personal Breakthroughs Begin With Your Thoughts
All personal breakthroughs begin
with a change in beliefs.
Tony Robbins
Science has now proven that your thoughts actually do have power to make changes in both your physical body and in every part of your world. Yes, this is a pretty bold statement, but it is true. What you think matters. All the sages from throughout time knew this to be true. Buddha stated that you are what you think. Jesus also talked about the importance of belief. It is a fact that what you believe affects your life.
Knowing this, if you want to change your life, you must start by changing your thoughts. Your thoughts can actually change your body chemistry and either put you on the path of good healthy or keep you unhealthy and lethargic. Your thoughts are the precursor to your actions. Therefore, if you want to change how you live, how you feel, or anything else in your life, you have to begin with a change in how you think and what you believe.
If you want a personal breakthrough in any part of your life, start by assessing your thoughts and changing what needs to be changed. This is not a magic spell that will mystically change your life overnight. It takes persistence and patience, but it will happen if you don’t give up. Just remember, your thoughts and actions did not get you where you are today overnight. And they will not change things overnight. But they will immediately put you on the right path. And the right path will take you where you want to go, IF you stay on it until you get to your destination. Bohdi Sanders ~ author of the award-winning bestseller, Modern Bushido: Living a Life of Excellence
MODERN BUSHIDO – If you care about character, integrity, and honor, you will like it. Check it out today!
MODERN BUSHIDO: Living a Life of Excellence won two FIRST PLACE BOOK AWARDS in the 2013 – National Indie Excellence Book Awards and the USA Book News Best Books of 2013! These prestigious book awards are a great honor for Modern Bushido!
If you haven’t read it yet, you can get it immediately with no waiting on KINDLE, or order it in paperback, at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S26INK.
Signed copies are also available. You can order them from: http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
June 17, 2014
Your Choices Determine Your Life
Your Choices Determine Your Life
I Choose…
To live by choice, not chance.
To make changes, not excuses.
To be motivated, not manipulated.
To be useful, not used.
To excel, not compete.
I choose self-esteem, not self-pity.
To listen to my inner voice, not the random opinions of others.
You do get to choose, you know. You, and you only, make the specific decisions about how you will live your life. But you do have to choose. If you don’t choose, you will simply live by chance. You will find that living by chance, making excuses, competing, and listening to others will come naturally, if you don’t make a firm decision to live life your way.
Don’t allow yourself to fall into self-pity, being used and manipulated, and then making excuses for your lack of discipline. This is not the way of the warrior. Choose to live life YOUR way. Choose to live by choice, not chance! Bohdi Sanders ~ author of the award-winning bestseller, Modern Bushido: Living a Life of Excellence, available on Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S26INK or from The Wisdom Warrior website at: http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
April 20, 2014
Do nothing to make you lose respect for yourself.
Do nothing to make you
lose respect for yourself.
Baltasar Gracian
The respect that you have for yourself can’t be taken away from you by anyone else. You are the only person who controls the level of respect that you do or don’t have for yourself. Other people can try to hurt you, embarrass you, humiliate you, etc., but they can’t control your own feelings toward yourself. You control your self-respect just as you determine your own honor.
So if others can do nothing to cause you to lose your self-respect, how do you lose respect for yourself? Obviously it can be lost or Gracian would not have admonished us to be careful about losing self-respect. The answer is that you lose self-respect when you lower your standards or do not live up to your own code of conduct that you have set for yourself. The warrior knows inside his spirit if he is living up to his code of honor or not. Only he can determine that.
When he knows inside that he is not living up to his own standards, he starts to lose a bit of his self-respect. If he refused to help someone because of fear, that action would eat away at him until he made it right. This is because of the strict standards which he sets for himself. He knows that he must do what is right in order to feel at peace with his own actions. Anything less and his conscience will not let him be at peace. Warriors esteem their honor too highly to allow themselves to lose self-respect because of weakness or laziness. When you live up to your code of honor you never lose self-respect.
Bohdi Sanders
from the book
WARRIOR: The Way of Warriorhood.
WARRIOR: The Way of Warriorhood is now available,
in both paperback and on Kindle,
from Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ELWCALA.
Signed copies and package book deals are available on:
http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
April 5, 2014
Dr. Bohdi Sanders Interviewed by Kelly S. Worden -Join us at 12:00 Noon PST on www.klay1180.com
Dr. Bohdi Sanders Interviewed by Kelly S. Worden
on the ON THE EDGE radio show!
You never know where the conversation will go when you get Dr. Bohdi Sanders and Kelly S. Worden together!
Join us at 12:00 Noon PST on www.klay1180.com!
Kelly Worden’s “Rocking like no other” “ON THE EDGE” Radio Broadcast! “On the Edge” offers me an opportunity to meet and share information with a very diverse spectrum of individual’s who have created their own destiny; the Saturday May 5th guest is no different… Dr. Bohdi Sanders is a lifelong student of martial arts and wisdom literature; as a multiple award winning author of seven books,, his focus is on integrating universal wisdom, honor, and integrity into one’s personal life.
Join us at 12:00 Noon PST on www.klay1180.com!
Can You Trust the News?
The wise pursue understanding;
fools follow the reports of others.
Tibetan Proverb
It seems it is getting harder and harder today to find an unbiased source for news. No matter which television station you watch, radio show you listen to, or news page on the internet that you read, it seems that they all have an agenda. It is foolish to blindly follow the reports of others, especially when those sources have hidden agendas which you are not privy to. With this in mind, you may ask, “What is a person to do if he wants to understand world events?”
That is a hard question to answer. The best you can do, if you do not have personal knowledge or have trustworthy friends with personal knowledge of what is going on, is to get your information from several different sources. This is akin to hearing both sides of the story. If you hear only one side, you will find that you are in the dark, as far as your understanding goes. Don’t take things for the truth just because they are on television or because they are in writing.
Facts and statistics can be slanted to demonstrate whatever someone wants them to illustrate. Many people are experts when it comes to twisting the truth to fit their own personal agenda. Don’t take what they say as gospel. No matter what the topic may be, strive to achieve an understanding of the issue. Trusting in the reports of others can prove dangerous and misleading. The warrior has to depend on the truth, not the spin.
Bohdi Sanders
(From the book, WARRIOR: The Way of Warriorhood.)
WARRIOR: The Way of Warriorhood is now available,
in both paperback and on Kindle, from Amazon.com at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ELWCALA.
Signed copies and package book deals are available on:
http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
April 4, 2014
Martial Artists Must Live by Honor and Courage
Shun any action that will diminish honor.
Tiruvalluvar
When you have a decision to make and you are back forth about what to do, the first thing that you must look at in order to make the right choice is whether or not the action is honorable. If the action in question is dishonorable or will in any way go against your code of honor, don’t even consider it. It is as simple as that. Any action that will diminish your honor is not the right path for you to take, even if it seems that it might be, for whatever reason.
If your honor is compromised, you have chosen the wrong action. In order for your code of honor to be meaningful, it must be unbending. Don’t compromise where your principles are involved. Don’t be willing to put your honor on the shelf for a period of time in order to perform an action that you know full well goes against your code of honor. Doing this reveals that your commitment to honor is weak and that you don’t really take it that seriously, but it is simply a convenience rather than an integral part of your life.
Your honor must be more important to you than the many other things that tempt you to act in ways which might cause you to violate your code. Men of true honor will place their honor above personal gain or profit. There will be things which they will refuse to do, even if they find them enjoyable or profitable, simply because their honor forbids them to be done. The warrior puts his code of honor first in his life, and by doing so he finds that everything else falls into place. Live with honor.
Bohdi Sanders
excerpt from the book, The Warrior Lifestyle
The Warrior Lifestyle is available in both paperback and on Kindle,
from Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ELW2DVM.
Signed copies and package book deals are available on:
http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
April 3, 2014
What Will Your Legacy Be?
Cattle die, kinsmen die, all me die at some point and time,
but a noble name built on character and honor is eternal.
The Havamal
Are you working to build a lasting legacy with your life? Is your word as good as a signed contract once it is given? Do you take your honor and integrity seriously? The man or woman who builds his or her name on character and honor, is building a lasting legacy.
Stand out from the crowd and take your name, your honor, and your word seriously. Dare to be different than the masses; build yourself a noble name, one that is known for honesty and integrity. Dare to work towards perfecting your character. Live the warrior lifestyle, and live it with your eternal name in mind.
Bohdi Sanders
author of the award-winning bestseller,
|Modern Bushido: Living a Life of Excellence
If you haven’t read it yet, you can get it immediately with no waiting on KINDLE at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S26INK.
It is also available in paperback! CHECK IT OUT TODAY!
Signed copies and package book deals are available on:
http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
April 2, 2014
Serious Martial Arts
Treat every encounter as a fight to the finish.
The Eight Essentials for Novice Swordsmen
The human body is very fragile. Any physical encounter should be taken seriously, as there is always the chance of being injured when you find yourself in a combative situation. Even if you win, the old saying holds true; when two tigers fight, one will be killed and the other will be injured. Never underestimate your enemy or his ability to do bodily injury to you. Treat every violent confrontation as a possible life-or-death situation.
Treating every physical encounter as a fight to the finish ensures that you are in the right frame of mind for the fight. You must have your mind focused on the task at hand, which is to make sure you are safe, and to destroy your enemy’s will to continue to be a threat to you or those around you. Don’t allow overconfidence to slip into your mind. There are no small enemies. Overconfidence can lead to your demise. Every fight is a serious fight. If it isn’t serious, you have no business fighting.
I’m not suggesting that by treating every physical threat as a fight to the finish, you should kill your opponent whenever you enter into a fight. This should be common sense. What I am saying is that you should enter that fight with the mindset that your enemy wants to kill you, and act accordingly in your self-defense applications. Never count on someone’s mercy or self-control in this type of situation. You take control. Make sure that you are safe, not because your enemy is unwilling to really hurt you, but by ensuring that he is unable to hurt you.
Bohdi Sanders
(From the book, WARRIOR: The Way of Warriorhood.)
WARRIOR: The Way of Warriorhood is now available,
in both paperback and on Kindle,
from Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ELWCALA.
Signed copies and package book deals are available on:
http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
April 1, 2014
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Henry Ward Beecher
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard
than anyone else expects of you.
Never excuse yourself.
Henry Ward Beecher
To the warrior, laws are pretty much worthless. Laws are for men of low character who need someone else to keep them in line with the threat of punishment. This is not to say that warriors do not have to obey the laws of the land, at least most of the time. What it does mean is that the warrior’s code of ethics is actually stricter than any law of the land. His standards require him to keep a closer watch on his actions than any law could.
The warrior holds himself to a higher standard than anyone else expects of him, just as Henry Ward Beecher suggests that you should do. He doesn’t bend his “rules” as one does with discretionary laws such as speed limits, etc. For this reason, he finds most laws useless. The true man of character doesn’t need laws in order to do what he should. He simply does what’s right regardless of whether or not there is a law to guide him.
Moreover, even if there were no laws, the warrior would still live the same lifestyle of honor and integrity. The point here is that the warrior sets his own law. That law is his code of honor or code of ethics. He decides what is right and what is just, and lives accordingly. You may be thinking if everyone did that we would have anarchy, and you would be exactly right. Everyone is not a man of honor. That is why we have to have laws – for lesser men who will not discipline themselves.
Bohdi Sanders
(From the book, WARRIOR: The Way of Warriorhood.)
WARRIOR: The Way of Warriorhood is now available, in both paperback and on Kindle,
from Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ELWCALA.
Signed copies and package book deals are available on:
http://thewisdomwarrior.com/books-by-bohdi-sanders/.
