The Power of Doing Nothing
“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” — Anonymous
Every Saturday I willingly sacrifice myself to possibly be beaten. To put this into a less harsh perspective, I take jiu jitsu classes where the belt range staggers between the lowest to the highest. There are oftentimes that I am paired with a higher-level belt than what I obtain when doing drills or recreating real-life scenarios.
A few weeks ago, we were paired with another to be the submissive while the other was in a position of dominance; the goal for me was to gain dominance. With the luck of the draw, I was partnered with a brown belt (one away from a black) to be her submissive. To keep her identity private, I’ll call her Jane. Jane is rather quick, swift, and exceedingly clever with her movements, I aspire to be just like her. I make one move, and she’s already two ahead of me seconds from putting me in a bicep slicer; it feels just as it sounds, trust me. Before I knew it, I was in an arm bar tapping for my elbow’s life.
Normal transition here…I grew up in a society thriving on everything and anything that comes quickly. Stopping to smell the roses is more so an activity to do when shopping for one’s garden. As an adult, I became more aware of the “fast and now” mentality that circulates around our society and attempted my hand at the opposing. Even so, I found myself filling of angst merely rushing back in with the crowd. Everywhere you look, people are in a rush; to get their coffee, a response to an email, to get to the stoplight/stop sign first…the list goes on.
I’ve come to realize that I’ve made it a habit to rush. As it goes, we are far vulnerable to our environments, which we soon become. Since being surrounded by speed my entire life, that’s all I know, and doing the opposing if far out of my reach to just decide to slow down. As I’m sure there is many downfalls to being in a constant of swiftness, there is one I’ve come to understand more that has helped ease my angst when walking while others are running.
[In jiu jitsu,] when you’re given the upper hand off the bat, your goal is to follow your opponent’s movements to keep them from gaining control. In my eyes, this is life itself, it responds to your responses. My problem when in a position of submission is that I just move continuously without taking a second to think of my position (or the others’); I’m rushing to find the quickest way to the top. Though, as I’m moving, my dominator is moving just as quick (or even quicker) along my movements; with this, I never obtain a position close to obtaining dominance. It’s almost as if going against the grain — the more I push, the more it pushes back, and before I know it, I’m in a chokehold tapping for air.
Whatever position you may be in during a battle towards dominance, there is a power underlying the act of doing nothing. Another class, I was paired, yet again, with a higher belt than I. I began with dominance, but soon had this title slipping from me as she found her stance to overpower me. I sat (more so laid) in the position she had me in to scan my and her body positions. I was able to think out my next move, and soon, I had her in a chokehold of submission.
In the constant of go, go, go, we rarely take time to step back from a situation to address our next move (with reacting and/or speaking), this is where mistakes are made and could possibly lead you to something far disastrous; a position of submission to life itself. Taking time to reassemble and mentally “scan” our environment, selves, and the situation will almost always put us in a better position to fade life’s grip off of our collars.
