Michael Gelb is one of the world’s leading authorities on creativity. He’s also an aikido and qi gong master and best-selling author of a number of books including one of my all-time favorites: How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci.
In The Art of Connection, he tells us how important it is to be able to regain our poise and equanimity when we lose it in our day-to-day social interactions. He shares a story about Morihei Ueshiba (the founder of Aikido) to bring the point home.
O-Sensei, as he was known, was one of the greatest martial artists ever. An absolute master.
One day, Michael tells us that one of O-Sensei’s most senior students said to him: “‘Your techniques are perfect! You never make any mistakes. You never lose your center!’
O-Sensei replied, ‘I lose my center frequently. I just find it again so quickly that you can’t see it.’”
In our last +1, we talked about the fact that even the Buddha suffered on occasion. Here we learn that even one of the greatest martial artists ever lost his center. All the time.
But….
They both practiced so hard for so long that they could regain their equanimity so fast that nobody noticed.
THAT’s a game worth playing.
And, that’s Today’s +1.
Get knocked off center? Make it a game. See how fast you can recover.
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