Video on Anger Mangament and...

Take the best qualities of the best/greatest people you can think of…

Take the best qualities of the best/greatest people you can think of…

And embody them.

Take the qualities you know, in your heart of hearts, are destructive, like…

Greed; envy; arrogance; apathy; negative pre-judgment; and hate…

And make a conscious decision not to let them work thru you in your life.

Forgive. Forget. Offer kindness even in the face of anger and confusion.

These ideas reflect the kind of martial arts “master” worth knowing (and that we strive to be).

The purely physical is the box of cake mix.

Making the cake is your training. Sitting down to eat it is part of the reward.

Eating it with a complete awareness of the fragility of life, so that when you’re sharing it with your daughter, you are completely aware of the fact that you are there, alive, and so is she…eating it with awe for what it is and what’s brought you to that place.

Well now, THAT is something so big, so valuable, so enchanted that it is borders on the sacred.

Going to your dojo today, is the cake mix.

Doing your work and workout is making the cake. Teaching is part of your reward.

Teaching people to become better, more cognizant, participative, more empathetic, more here and now and happy for it, that is the sacred.

That’s something those folks you admire might have admired themselves.

New Instructions for People Starting the Ultimate Black Belt Test

August 28, 2007, by team coach Tom Callos

Note: Some of the following instructions have been written, in one form or another, elsewhere, while some of this is all-new.

The UBBT and Your Role as a Teacher
As a member of the UBBT, you are not just a participant; you are a teacher to hundreds and probably thousands of other people. They are watching you on the website –and learning vicariously through your experience(s). A number of prominent martial arts teachers have told me that they read the UBBT’s journals first thing every morning. I’m going to guess that a lot of other people check them regularly too. So, remember, you are teaching –and there are things you do for other people’s sake when you’re a teacher, that you might not do if the process were only for yourself.

The point here is, to realize your role, and play it out as if we were making history.

The UBBT and Whining/Complaining
The UBBT is a no whining, no complaining zone. You just don’t do it. As a mature, accomplished black belt in the martial arts, you should know all too well the power one’s viewpoint holds in thought, attitude, and outcome. You don’t complain, you fix. You don’t gossip, you encourage. You don’t whine, you take action.

Most of all, you commit yourself to either having or developing an exceptional attitude about success, defeat, obstacles, people, and situations.

What happens to you is up to you. What you make of your test doesn’t belong in my hands –or in anyone’s hands –but your own. If you can’t embrace this notion with 1000% of your heart and soul, then don’t join the program until you can.

I welcome any and all conflict we have between us during this process, because when it surfaces, we will find out what is truly beneath our shells.

Passing the Test
In all likelihood, you will not earn new belt rank in the UBBT. If your participation is contingent upon earning a new level of rank, then it’s best not to be involved. To earn rank in this program you have to actually DO the agreed-upon curriculum –and you have to do it with style and something more, something that’s hard to pin down in words, but what I expect of an immensely resourceful, self-disciplined martial artist. People have earned new rank in the program, but many have not. Most people engage in the program because it speaks to them, not because they get to put a new stripe on their black belt.

Engaging with Your Fellow Testers
As a part of this team, know now, right up front, that you are expected to act (towards your fellow members) the way YOU would want your own students to act among themselves if they were testing for THEIR black belts under you.

Don’t be one of these selfish, self-centered, too busy to engage, every excuse under the sun, including “it’s hard for me”, kind of teammates who can’t seem to find the 10 minutes once-a-day to engage with people who are all supposed to be working towards THE ULTIMATE black belt test.

Act the way you would act if you knew that you were going to be teaching people all over the word WHAT TEAM IS ALL ABOUT.

Yes, I know it’s a lot to ask, but then, this is the UBBT. Begin with the end in mind.

The UBBT Journals
The journaling in the UBBT is meant to be a chronicle, a diary, of your journey. It’s not where you complain about your lack of commitment or enthusiasm, it’s where you teach and document your progress. If you suffer from low motivation, if you have “dirty laundry” you feel compelled to air, if you can’t think of something positive to say –well, you might want to picture the most spiritually evolved being you can imagine –and do what She would do.

However, you are who you are, and it’s a difficult thing to hide for very long. Journal what’s in your heart and on your mind, but JOURNAL once a week; it’s about self-discipline and doing what you committed yourself to doing. If you miss a journal, make it up.

The UBBT: A Method of Attacking the Idea –and Why

There are some things that probably ought to be done without fanfare, without announcement, without publicity.

The UBBT isn’t one of them –and let me tell you why:

We are teachers; teachers do for others. Now, of course, there are plenty of reasons that teachers teach that could be considered selfish, as there are certainly benefits teachers derive from practicing their craft; but, for the most part, teachers give (and give and give), unselfishly and unconditionally.

At least the best teachers do.

This is what the UBBT is about. The program may, at first glance, seem like an ambitious self-improvement program, and it is –but only in part. The UBBT serves you best when you recognize it as a teaching tool. Telling people about the UBBT is telling them about the potential people have (you have, they have) to use daily life, ambitions, goals, and practices, (the struggle!) to REALLY LIVE. And to be fit, to be aware, to be participative, to make it a habit to grow, learn, and evolve.

Doing the UBBT is a way to teach others, to SHOW THEM they can do more; you show them by your example; and not to guilt them into improvement, but to just simply show them how they can apply themselves to their life in a way that is immensely rewarding (although it requires self-discipline).

Do you recognize how SHOWING someone is so much more powerful than just telling them?

But wait! How powerful would it be to just decide you are going to live as an example of “mastery” –separate from any UBBT, event, or whatever? That is, I think, the amazing thing that some ordinary people do –that eventually makes them shine.

Jhoon Rhee’s like that, as is Ernie Reyes, Sr. I think Dan Inosanto embraces the idea, as does Thich Nhat Hahn, Julia Hill, and add the name of your favorite hero right here ______.

Whoa! Wait again! Don’t we want our students, our “black belt candidates” to USE their black belt test (or any test) as a reason to transform and improve? Could we ask for more?

So, let’s teach them a lesson about how to use one’s “black belt test” as a vehicle for improvement. Let’s show them how it’s done. Do it right, do it thoroughly with discipline and focus, and you’ll teach 1000 lessons.

Two or three times during the UBBT I’ve had someone tell me they’re not writing down their ACTS OF KINDNESS because they want to engage in kindness separate from recognition and/or reward.

And that’s noble –except that is, in my opinion, not the point of the exercise.

We record 1000 acts of kindness, and we do it publicly and with declaration, because we are teachers. Every acts of kindness is a lesson in the extraordinary, in self-discipline, in determination, and in commitment. If it were just for our own spiritual health, then yes, it would be a good thing just to DO them...but this isn't about you --it's about people you have the opportunity to teach (young and old alike).

So is it with the entire UBBT process. Doing the UBBT is an act by a martial arts activist. It is you doing something overtly public –to serve as a role model for others.

Julia Butterfly Hill sat up in Luna, the old growth redwood tree, not just to save a single tree or patch of forest, but as a declaration of the need to take action on issues that you feel strongly about. It was to show how one person can make a difference.

In my “perfect world” scenario, people who do the UBBT do it because they CAN –and because they believe that it’s their responsibility (and/or opportunity) to teach others they can also do more, be more, change, and improve. Of course, some people will not understand...but that's not going to stop us from turning the key in the lock of our classroom --and opening the door. It's our job.

Start the UBBT with the mindset of a teacher (which is the mindset of a student).