This article was originally published in the July 2006 issue of This is Highland Park, Vol. I, No. I.

Mental Fitness: Life Lessons from the Dojo

Lesson One: Make Picture

I remember as a teenager watching The Karate Kid and thinking what a great movie it was. As an adult watching the movie again, I remember thinking how many brilliant life lessons there were hidden in this charming story about a boy from New Jersey.

Among the many gems was a scene that almost gets thrown away in the film. Daniel Larusso wanders into Mr. Miyagi's apartment to find that Miyagi is touching up one of his collection of beautifully crafted and manicured bonsai trees. Daniel is amazed at Mr. Miyagi's ability to form these trees into such perfect visions. Miyagi in turn encourages Daniel to try his hand at the craft. Daniel protests that he doesn't know how.

What Mr. Miyagi tells him next is about as profound as anything I've ever heard. I will attempt to paraphrase. He says, "Daniel-san, close eyes. Think of tree and make picture. When you have picture, open eyes. You have picture, Daniel-san?"

"Yes," says Daniel.

"Good, Daniel-san, now open eyes.

"Now what?" says Daniel.

Motioning to the bonsai tree, and handing him a pair of clippers, Mr. Miyagi says, "Now make picture."

To get anything in life, the first order of business is to know what it is you want. Think of it like going to a restaurant. The waitress comes over to your table to take your order. You say, I'm not really sure. She says to take your time, and she'll come back in a little while. She comes back and you say you're still not sure. She says, "Ok, let me know when you decide." You say ok, but never make a decision. Finally, she comes over and says, "Look the restaurant is going to close now, so you have to leave." You get up and leave, never having eaten, let alone ordered. Obviously, this is an exaggeration to make a point, but that is exactly how it is in life. The people who decide what it is they want are usually eating from the restaurant of life, and those who never make that critical first step are still waiting to place their order.

More important than 'knowing' what you want, is deciding for sure, with no room for negotiation, that this is what you truly desire to have, achieve, see, or take place. Once that has been decided, the task at hand is to go about turning this desire into it's physical counterpart.

We first have an idea of what we want, then we can go ahead and make it happen. The question here is how do I go from idea or thought, to making this thing actually come to life?

Let's go back to Mr. Miyagi.

In martial arts, as in other activities we use visualization as a training tool. This is a simple exercise which can be used in many ways. One way is to take a technique or skill that you are having trouble with, and to close your eyes, and go into the television of your mind, and see yourself doing the technique or skill the way you want it to be done.

After doing this enough times, you are able to open your eyes, and repeat in reality what you have been rehearsing in your mind. It is amazing how quickly your mental picture translates into physical imitation and success. This can also be done before a sparring session or the performance of a difficult combination. You just close your eyes and see it the way you want it to turn out, then you go ahead and do just that. It isn't always perfect, but practice certainly makes progress, and continued progress gets us to our goal.

When Mr. Miyagi told Daniel to close his eyes and "make picture" what he was teaching him was how to accomplish anything in life for the rest of his life. In America we are familiar with the phrase, "I'll believe it when I see it." This is absolutely true, but not in the way most people think. The majority of people are waiting for someone to show it to them in its completed physical form.

To really be a black belt in life, it is completely the opposite. To be a black belt in life, we have to make a definite decision to first see it in our minds. When you are able to "see it" clearly in your mind, in perfect detail it becomes totally real to you. At that point you will positively believe it because it will already exist for you in your mind.

Miyagi taught Daniel that everything is created twice. First it is created in thought, just as if you were watching it unfold on a television or movie screen. Once that has taken place it has now been created once. To create it in its physical form, all you really have to do is copy it down from the picture in your mind. So whatever it is you want to order from the menu of life, the first thing you have to do is "make picture" in your mind. Once you are perfectly clear on what the picture looks like, go ahead and open your eyes.

Now, just like Daniel-san's bonsai tree, get busy and "make picture."