Tough Love and the Shaolin Temple
Boy, did I get a butt chewing yesterday.
A genuine helping of good old fashioned "Tough Love".
I know a thing or two about butt chewings. At one time I was a member of the world's finest fighting force, the United States Marine Corps.
And let me tell you, you haven't really lived until you've had your butt chewed by a mean, skinny, weather beaten, veins popping out of his forehead, spit flying in your face Drill Instructor.
Don't get me wrong, I deserved the butt chewing I got yesterday.
My mentor and coach, who I highly respect and who I'm paying a lot of money to teach me, jumped all over me for my lack of progress.
He told me that at the pace I was going, I'd be good at what he was trying to teach me...in about eighty years.
Then he went on to use more "colorful" language to berate me some more and basically tell me I was being a wimp and to get moving on what it was he was trying to teach me.
Then he told me to get lost and not to bother him again until I got everything done he had originally told me to do.
The Coach was right. Fear and lack of focus had gotten in the way and was keeping me from doing what I needed (and wanted) to do
I didn't get mad...I didn't get my feelings hurt...I didn't run to anyone and start to whine about it.
He was right. I needed to G.O.M.A - Get Off My A@# and get moving.
He taught me a lesson during that short butt chewing. He reminded me, since I am an Instructor and Coach myself, sometimes you have to use "Tough Love".
Not coddle people.
Blow smoke up their you-know-what.
Not tell them what they want to here.
Not be "politically correct" for fear of damaging the person's frail ego.
No, he taught me that if you care for the student, and truly want them to succeed, then you tell them like it is and hit them right between the eyes with the truth.
It worked. I got about a week's worth of work done in about two hours after I got my butt chewed.
You might be doing this to yourself right now. There may be something you want to achieve right now, but you are letting fear get in the way.
It had to be the same way years ago for the young monks when they were first accepted to the Shaolin Temple.
They had the desire. They wanted to be the best...to be a member of the famed Shaolin Temple.
They faced hours of grueling training, months and months of physical discomfort, years of reflection and growth.
They spent a short amount of time with their Instructors. They would be taught a technique or principle and then sent away to practice, practice, practice.
Then they would return, show their Instructors how far they had come and either be taught some more or given a little "Tough Love" and sent on their way.
It had to be scary. They had to be intimidated and wonder if they were crazy or cut out to be one of the best.
To read for yourself stories about the Masters, what it was like to train at the Temple and much more, get over to www.shaolinsecrets.com and get your copy of Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Vol. I.
And every time you find yourself procrastinating or hesitating on something that just might change your life, picture the Head Monk, standing there with that stern look on his face that teachers reserve for their favorite students...and get going.
Yours in the Arts,
William Huff