It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity
that great things are achieved, but by reflection,
force of character, and judgment.
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
A little while ago I posted “Thoughts about moving beyond just teaching Taekwondo – Mentoring novice and junior ranking students,” suggesting that those who teach or mentor Taekwondo students should be engaged in a continued process of reflection to help us get better at what we do.
But why should those who practice or teach and mentor Taekwondo students reflect on their own experiences?
Reflecting on our experiences might allow us to look at and critically examine our own life-stories or experiences in the context of our own yearlong Taekwondo practice and training. It might also allow us to become more critical of ourselves, as we evaluate our actions as students of Taekwondo, which, I would argue, are deeply connected to what we do as role-models, teachers and mentors in the dojang. I would further postulate that doing so can allow us to better relate to others, and doing so with empathy, compassion and a better understanding of what others experience, because, simply put, we have been there.
Such a reflection, which can even be done by thinking and/or writing about one’s experiences, can thus help examine our strengths and weaknesses, our successes and failures, and our feelings and perceptions etc. – all of which can help us help others, as .
What are some issues to reflect on? Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Why did we start our own Taekwondo journey? Was it because we just wanted some activity, to lose weight, to learn how defend ourselves, or was it because parents felt we needed more self-confidence and self-assurance?
2. What do we feel are our strengths and weaknesses? Some students might excel at sparring while other might excel doing their pattern or poomsae. What kicks do we find hard to do and what kicks come easy or even naturally to us?
3. Does testing for the next belt level make us feel nervous and anxious? What were our own tools to overcome stage fright and testing anxiety?
4. When were the moments that we might have thought about quitting? Was that a moment of injury? Was is after having been defeated in a sparring match-up? Was it a few kicking drills that we felt we couldn’t master well?
5. How did we learn our patterns best? Was it to just learn the entire pattern first and then perfect it or was it to learn it in stages?
6. What were the moments that we felt like the proverbial Hwa Rang Warriors when everything just went right? What are our best kicks and movements? What are our favorite patterns?
7. What were our thoughts and ultimately actions to improve in areas that we felt a bit weak in? Was it to just practice more and more to do well or to just slide by because we felt we could make up by being really good at one thing and not another?
8. What were some situations in our lives outside our dojang that prevented us from focusing on training? Was it a test at school? Was it a mom or dad who deployed to lands far away? Was it that a friend had difficulties and we were preoccupied with helping him or her? Or was it a day that we were tired and didn’t feel like practicing but did anyway?
9. What made us keep going? Was it another student that mentored us? Was it our instructor who really knew us and believed in us? Was it family members who sat and watched us and in cheered us on?
10. What was the role of other students in our process of learning? What qualities did they have that helped us move along? Has their understanding (empathy) of their own experiences that helped us shape ours? How did they critique our performance effectively?
11. What does this all mean to us? How do we define ourselves as martial artists? Do we define ourselves by just the skill set that we have learned or is it our attitude and mindset?
Final thoughts: as we reflect (maybe by writing about it) on our own development and as we are teaching and mentoring and continue to learn the art, we might realize that as a group we are pretty much asked to do the same thing to advance in belt rank, and also, that we are all very unique. With this understanding, we realize that novice and junior ranking students of Taekwondo will most likely be as unique as we are – individuals who have their own challenges and difficulties and who can tell stories of success mixed with feelings of just not being able to do well. And we also should always remember that without the support of others in our dojangs, the consistency of expectations that were placed upon us as students, that all of that takes place in an environment that allows all of us to overcome difficulties that lead to our very own stories of success!