Recently in our martial arts school I have been talking about how to live an abundant life, how to seize the moment and enjoy life, fervently seeking a better way of living, passionately pursuing a greater way of life. After our Tuesday night stretching class I talked about creating a calm environment. This is an environment that is not temporal, but constant. Part of life is learning how to navigate through challenges, some that are positive, others that are negative. Like a cork in the ocean, fluidly flowing to the least resistant area, with the least amount of stress as you flow. This is living life on the high road.
Self fulfillment is vital to the individual and we need to cultivate our surroundings to achieve a higher state of being. The stronger I am, the more complete I am. The more positive I am, will allow me to meet the challenges of life. It is in this state of being that I can meet the needs of others. It is difficult to meet the needs of others and have a heart of charity if I am not complete and I do not understand myself. If I am sick and frail and lonely, I need to work on developing myself first. Again, it is difficult to meet the needs of others and have a heart of charity if I am living a life of deceit, anger, and hate. It’s through my strengths that I achieve a heart of charity which in my opinion is the heart of God. Virtues like love, peace, kindness, and mercy come out of a righteous man. Deceit, lawlessness and self idolatry (humanism) come out of the heart of anger and frustration, not out of the heart of love.
Bruce Lee said that he wanted to achieve a higher level of martial arts. He referred to becoming an artist of life, not just a martial artist. And that’s my mission in life, to live life and to enjoy the moment now, not tomorrow. Have a revelation of truth today, smell the roses, appreciate God’s creation and take the time out for rest and relaxation. Try biking, hiking camping, going to a lake or beach, and just enjoying life. Our martial art class is simply a tool to achieving enlightenment, assuming you want to drive on the high road.
I was driving to school today and all of the road signs caught my eye; school zone, stop sign, yield, speed limit, all kinds of signs. A teacher should help you on your journey by pointing certain road signs out to you. Let’s call these road signs “life signs”. True education is not to teach you conformity and to put you in bondage. True education is to create a free thinker, one who can create new ideas. We need to break the herd mentality by being accountable for our own actions. I’m sure you’ve heard the statement, “dead man walking”. This means you are living a mediocre life and you are just tapping into the resources of life that sustain you, like bread and water. It’s a substance but it’s not going to be maximum nutrition. I’ve actually met people that are not only a dead man walking, but buried alive. They have been so infiltrated and deceived that they are buried alive by all the stuff heaped upon them. We all have within us the resources to soar like an eagle but you will have to dig yourself out of negativity by replacing it with a positive mindset. This is only the beginning.

Let me finish with some finals thoughts that may help start your day off right. I encourage you to meditate and process these thoughts before applying them. Bruce Lee also had a famous quote, “knowing is not enough, we must apply; willingness is not enough, we must do.” Knowledge has a certain amount of power in the knowing, but the actual power comes from the application of the knowledge, that’s true power.
-Ditch the morning alarm clock that makes your day start off in a panic, replace it with an alarm clock that wakes you up with soft music or a tone that is not so obnoxious.
-Make sure you go to bed at a decent time. Our bodies require 8-9 hours for maximum rest. This will prevent that groggy, lethargic, moody feeling from lack of sleep.
- Make a habit when you wake up to take 5 to 10 deep inhales and exhales for proper breathing.
- Practice early morning smiles. I guarantee when you wake up, look in the mirror and smile, it’s refreshing.
- Wake up on the first alarm sound, don’t hit the snooze button.
- Have a nutritious breakfast, stay away from the greasy, sugary foods.
- Before you leave for work or school make a small list, let’s call it the “gratitude list”, start your morning off by giving thanks for what you have.
- Lose the morning coffee, if you need caffeine try green tea.
- Start off with a large glass of purified water, reverse osmosis, or distilled and a squirt of lemon or lime for electrolytes.
- Listen to music that is encouraging, soft, and therapeutic, stay away from hard obnoxious music, especially in the morning.
- Avoid the news for long periods of time. Generally speaking the news is seldom positive and has a bias to the negative side. Just hit the highlights and any major concerns that could affect your day.
- Take a minute to meditate and pray. Praying is talking to god, meditating is hearing from god.

I hope this helps and I encourage everyone to live an abundant life.

Grandmaster Gallaher