On a personal note, I’d like to share with you an honor that I just received. I have been promoted to sixth degree black belt in the martial art that I have been studying for 37 years, by the Aikido Yoshinkai head school in Tokyo, Japan.
On the macro level, it means that I am one of the highest ranking women in the Yoshinkan style of Aikido, outside of Japan.
On the micro day-to-day level, it’s nice, but I will just keep on practicing. The phrase “do” in the word Aikido means “the path” or “the way.” It’s a learning process that never ends, and that is the attraction of the study. It’s about our interactions with others, and how we choose to deal with aggressive energy.
The path that Aikido takes is to defend by redirecting and deflecting that aggressive energy, while not harming the attacker. It is a big study with the variables always changing.
Health care, and ministering to patients in need, is also a “do.” It’s a never-ending study to both keep abreast with the latest scientific findings about health, and also to create a relationship with the patient so that the important health concerns and issues are shared and understood.
I find the study of both Aikido and my patients’ health concerns to be endlessly interesting.