I have mentioned a number of times in this blog that I practice and teach the art of aikido. It continues to be an important part of my life. The premise of aikido is to de-escalate conflict situations and the mind/body calmness needed for this applies equally well in physical and non-physical conflict situaitons.
One of the early American practitioners was a man named Terry Dobson. I never had the honor of meeting him. Terry studied in Japan with the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, and wrote one of the basic aikido texts on conflict resolution when he returned to the U.S.
He is famous for a story he wrote of his early training days in Japan and a life-changing encounter he had on a train. I found a copy of the story on this blog and hope you will check it out. It is a great reminder of the options we have in life if we take the time to center and consider.
Thank you for the story. It was a gentle reminder of what it really means to love one's enemies...
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