Overcoming Ego

[blooming lotus]

ps........how good is a "good" fighter anyway..........for as good as you are there willalways be someone better..........


there a saying somewhere that goes something like ...........****** I forgot........but I think it was the from the Dalai and btw similar to ...think you're the best, lax a little and drop the ball. In the mean time, Mr. nobody back there is working his as* off and so on and so on............


Maybe it's not the person who's so great but the cirucumstance, all peoples' potential being equal............


judgement is a confusing derailing b*tch!!!!

[SPJ]

Agreed.

A few drinks a day will lower your cholestrol and prevent heart attack or stroke.

Sun Tzu Bin Fa (2500 yeas ago).

The Yellow emporer fought numerous tribal wars and became the first ruler of China 5000 years ago.

Sun Tzu Bin Fa is the first Bin Shu (military sutra) and summarized arts/ways of war based on 2000 years of warfare.

There are 13 chapters and over 6000 words.

It is widely studied by Japanese, Russian, French, too.

There is a section mentioning how to be a general. how to be prudent, how to plan, how to gather info,-- no mentioning of EGO.

Morale, confidence by all means are necessary.

I think it depends on what you defined EGO then.

[SPJ]

I think if you know what you are doing, that is all that important.

Yes, good or bad is a relative term.

There is always a deeper lake. There is always a higher mountain.

There will always be somebody "better" than you. True.

If you do what you can, or the best you "can", then you are good already.

Peace.

[SPJ]

How do you know you are good?

If you know you will win or not before the fight or winning odds.

If you know the opponent's strongpoints and weakness.

If you know how to avoid his strongpoints and take advantage of his weakness.

If you win by outsmart, outmaneuver and outskill the opponent.

If you win by the least amount of fight.

If you win by no fight.

If you fight only when you know you will win. which means if you know you will lose, do not fight.

If you simply said to yourself, you are good. that is not enough. You have to "know". You believe what you learn to know. Or follow a blind faith that you are good. (EGO)

Peace.

[blooming lotus]

but then if you tell yourself you won't win or succeed, you are nueroloically setting yourself up for failure............think it say it hear it believe and acheive it

[SPJ]

Agreed.

In that respect, it is the greatest motivation of all.

A little engine thinks I can.

Thomas Edison invented and invented ever so many.

Madame Currie.

Winston Churchill delivered speeches to keep the British fight on in the darkest time of her history. At the time, the odds against Hitler were ever so low.

On the other hand, the French was totally depending on the impenetrable defense line, which the German bypassed.

[KC Elbows]

Originally posted by Merryprankster
When somebody talks about Ego and overcoming it, what exactly does that mean to you? You hear a lot of people pay lip service to it, but I don't think many of those same folk really have THOUGHT about what it means or can articulate it.

I'd love to hear some opinions on this. It's a big part of many people's MA practice but, I think, not put in context terribly often.

Thanks!

I'm glad you asked what fighting ego means to me. I'm going to answer your question for free, not only because my knowledge is worth more than you could possibly afford anyway, but because I am what better men than you would call beneficient.

Fighting ego is pretty much solved by as close to realistically fighting other people and not being a ****y winner or loser, and when you run out of people who can beat you, find more, etc and so on, until you are old and feeble. For some, it helps to have a complex system of beliefs that explain all of this in glowing terminology, for others, the daily beatings should suffice.

Now, if you happen to be one of those prodigies that have no other prodigies to fight nearbly, then, once you have become skilled enough that none can touch you, expose yourself to a nun and go to court defending yourself, and you should soon have grown sufficiently humble.

If you happen to be a lawyer, there is no hope.

Anyhoo, if I'm training, my goal should be to not always be the best around me, or what am I really learning? And if I become the best, and can find no better, it is just one skill, I should keep it in perspective.

[Chang Style Novice]

Originally posted by SPJ
On the other hand, the French was totally depending on the impenetrable defense line, which the German bypassed.

...those beer-guzzling, frite-gobbling, miserable, fat, Bloody Belgian B@stards!

[Ming Yue]

Originally posted by SPJ


...Thomas Edison invented and invented ever so many.

....At the time, the odds against Hitler were ever so low.

SPJ, you have a decidedly Shirley Temple thing going on with your posts.

[SPJ]

I was trying to have a candid conversation with BL.

I agreed to her point 1000%.

And then I present -1000% counterpoint.

I overdid it I guess, I have goose bumps myself.

I dragged the discussion of personal ego into an expanded EGO discussion.

I even dragged the Yellow emporer, Sun Tzu, the British, the French, and the German in.

Sorry. Pardon. Entschuldigung.

Peace.

[blooming lotus]

Originally posted by KC Elbows
Anyhoo, if I'm training, my goal should be to not always be the best around me,

agree.....I shoot for the best I can acheive and measure my successes only on personal betterment.........that way resent is never an issue an you're always on top


my own best and mosthonest critic

[SPJ]

Agreed.

Learn from the best. and aim for the best. Study and practice to be the best.

I like Shirley Temple though.

I watched all her movies while growning up in the "60.

Hey. I like John Wayne, Bruce Lee and ---, too.

[qeySuS]

To overcome ego is to not care if you win or lose in training IMO. Rather looking at the big picture then the small. For example say you´re competing in BJJ, and you´re really good on your back, in training you can just pull guard and do well against everyone in class, that is, always be the "winner". But then perhaps in competition you get an opponent that prefers guard as well and he manages to be on bottom and you lose

To overcome your ego you must deal with losing a lot to win in the end. So in the example above, you must put yourself in the position you are bad at, and deal with losing a lot even to people you feel you are better then, and you don´t really want to lose to (i know this feeling all too well). But you must do this in order to get far. This is also applicable through other ranges.

For example i´ve often seen some practitioners from other arts come into BJJ class. They are used to being the king of their castle, being the top in their school. But now they're doing something completely different, they are at the bottom of the ranking and have to deal with a lot of losing before they can start winning. Many don´t like this and just quit and go back to their respective art and stay there. I'm sure the same is true also for BJJ crossovers into standup.

[blooming lotus]

right...........becase if you never "loose" you never learn anything ................

[kosovo]

What an incredibly valid topic. Ego is such a powerful force in the human mind. Many times ego can distract. I know I'm not the only person who wonders; "hey, am I being watched," or I know they see the practice I've put in."

Lately, I've found myself acknowledging this human trait, then trying to move on. It seems to be much more of a distraction to my training. Ego can fuel a type of MA Anxiety when other people are around that is detrimental to training.

Also, I'm sure eveyone has met an ***hole that has serious ego problems. I knew one when I was training in Chang Style Tai Chi in Austin, Tx.

This guy suffered from serious short guy syndrome, and practice Gracie Jui Jitso on the side. When we were doing push-hands and sticky hand training, this jerk never wanted to lose. The irony of the situation was laughable, because I would yeild and pull him off balance almost every time. Its not that I was any better than him, but his ego defeated him before he even acted.

Lastly, I believe that with a little loss, comes little gain. When you let go of ego and suffer a big loss, you gain much more and typically don't repeat the same mistakes (A.k.a. Get smacked on the crown of the head....)