The Value of NOT Getting Bopped On The Nose

Sending another message in a bottle, back to the kid I was who started this life path. The question: what might I have done with my life if I’d not had the need for martial arts training. What if I’d simply been whole on that level…what might I have done with those tens of thousands of hours of my life..?

What should a writer who has never studied martial arts know about them? What information might have saved me thousands of hours of practice time, or even enabled me to skip them altogether? After all — I only went in them to escape pain and gain pleasure. If I hadn’t been afraid of bullies, hadn’t been mocked by the pretty girls I desperately wanted to want me, I’d probably have put that time into more yoga, and maybe dancing. Different life path.

On a recent thread, the subject of “Heartbeat Meditation” arose. THAT is something I would have wanted to know about, no slightest doubt. The “Five Minute Miracle” is the most basic piece of the Lifewriting puzzle, but “Heartbeat Med” is way, way up there.

Here’s the conversation, in the context of people changing their minds about things:

• A reader said: “Steve has definitely recommended using your heartbeat as a focus for meditation. I’d have sworn he also talked about having your heartbeat as part of your attention while doing martial arts. I asked him about it at a convention, and he did some tai chi while presumably paying attention to his heartbeat. He claimed he’d never said anything about heartbeat and…