Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  Hi, this Joe Hurtsellers from ohiomartialarts.com and welcome to my podcast. Most people think of martial arts as something that going to be really difficult and hard, and that they’re concerned if they’ll be able to do it.  Well, we’ve made our passion making martial arts techniques simple, enjoyable, and easy for the average person.

Most people know that there’s an internal mental part of the martial arts too, but so often those things that been made complicated, and difficult, and hard to understand.  The purpose of this show is to take complex mental aspects of the martial arts and break them down so that they’re so simple and enjoyable that the average person can put them to use in everyday life.  Welcome to Mindpower. I hope you enjoy.

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Student 1:  Thank you.

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  Now lets all line back up.  Good stuff, and all teams kiotsuke.

Students:  Sir.

Sensei Joseph Hurtsllers:  Rei.  Thank you, Mr. Steve.  Questions you might have today, questions?  Oh, please Seiza, have a seat.  Questions you might have?

Student 2:  Sensei, I have a question.

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  Please.

Student 2:  What did Spiderman do so wrong?

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  What did Spiderman do so wrong?

Student 2:  Yeah.

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  Give me an example.  Is it a riddle, or are you looking for my answer?

Student 2:  I'm looking for your answer because I want to know what Peter Parker did?

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  Well, it's one of my talks that I use with the kids all the time, but what's funny is I've been teaching it for so many years, and I have an example.  It really served me for a number of years, and then, all of a sudden, it's Pokemon and Power Rangers. Then next thing you know, I have no idea. I don't know what they've got now.

But the analogy that I used always use was really from the movie Spiderman.  When the very first movie Spiderman came out, they plastered everywhere this slogan.  They still use this slogan to this day, and it was, "With great power comes great responsibility."  And I got thinking about that one day, and I said, "They're wrong." I mean, we have many examples of power and a lot of irresponsibility, right?  Power does not create responsibility, but you know what does create power? Responsibility.

So, when you—and this is funny because I'm not trying to stroke you Mr. Pagel, but I was thinking of you just as I was walking in today.  What it was, I think the late Steven Covey used to talk about this idea of being proactive, like taking personal responsibility. As I was thinking about Steven Covey I walked in, and I thought, I can't think of anybody that I know that is more proactive than you.  I cannot think of anybody. He just takes off of his own martial arts. He never needs someone. You know, students will come to me, and I can always tell when they are probably going to struggle in the practice because they'll say to me things like, "I just really someone to push me."  And I smile and I say, "You probably got the wrong guy."

[laughter]

Because I'm not that one.  I'm not that one, and I also know from much life experience that I could spend a lot of energy and effort pushing people, and that student is still not going to make it.  Because one day I'm going to be at my place in Tucson, and I'm not going to be there to push to them. And then they're going to really struggle. Make sense?

So, the point is be responsible.  Take responsibility for everything in your life, and when you do that, everything gets a lot better.  So, it kind of leads me to kind of what I was going to talk about anyway which is this idea that there is—of course, we always start out by saying there is three promises, and one promise is we're going to teach people practical self-defense.  Another promise is we're going to get people in fantastic shape, and then third promise is we're going to teach them how to focus their mind.

This talk was really based on the idea that, first all why is it important that we learn how to focus our mind.  There is an analogy that's a pretty good one, and I don't know if anybody else has ever done this, but I've certainly done this.  I remember some years ago I decided I wanted to learn how to invest in the stock market. All the people that are teaching you how to invest, they all the exact same thing.  They say what you do is you start with a fake portfolio, and you invest with that. Well after investing for a year with my fake portfolio, I was like the next Warren Buffett.  I was making a fortune in fake money! I mean, I was getting rich in fake money! If you ever done that, most of the time that's what happens, and then you get excited. Then you start using real money, and everything changes.

So, the question is why do things change when you start using real money?  And I'm going to make a proposal to you. This is what I propose. The reason why things change when you start using real money is you introduce a hidden agenda.  See, when you were using fake money your agenda was learning how the markets work, doing the best you can, enjoying the process. When you introduced real money, there was a car maybe involved.  There was a wife maybe involved. There's a condo maybe involved. There's a retirement maybe involved. There's all this stuff that is really important, even more important than the investing itself, and what that introduces is that introduces fear.  When that fear is introduced it messes you up.

So, why is it important that we get the mental part?  Because if we get the mental part, we can learn how to reduce the fear so that we can be successful.  Because just because you learn martial art moves, doesn't mean as long as you're in the grip of fear you're going to be able to pull them off because that grip of fear will take over and everything goes out the window.

That leads me then to the second point is, how do we do it?  How do we let go of our fear? So, it's really interesting because I'm a big sports fan.  Anybody that knows me, big sports fan, big sports fan. As soon as class is over, I'm going to check my fantasy score.  See what's going on, but that's what I do. I really am a big fan of it. But many years I've watched sports on television, and I remember when TVs used to be smaller and not nearly as good, and I was still watching sports back then.  One day somebody invited me, got some extra tickets. I went up to the Lions. I said, "Man, the Lions! This is so great to be in." That was back when they were in the Silverdome. It was so great to be in that culture and that atmosphere.  My friend in those days even had season tickets, so I got invited a couple times. I got to go up there, and I thought, "Man, I really really like that." But then what happened was TVs started getting bigger, and better, and surround sound systems, and, frankly, my furniture got a little bit better too.  One day I realized I'd rather watch it at home, especially when I get a DVR. When I see referee do a bad call, I can pause it and go right back and then yell at everybody over it. Then I can pause it and go right to the refrigerator and get a beer without paying $14 for it.

[laughter]

This is great, right?  So, most of my sports I watch at home.  Now, what does that have to do with what we're talking about here?  Well happened was I came to this point where I realized that what was going on inside my own mind and inside my own house was more enjoyable then what actually happened at the real stadium.  Now why that has value is this; you need a way to eliminate your hidden agenda, and what most people's hidden agenda is they have a hidden agenda of, I don't feel enough, so I have to become a martial artist so that I can feel better.  I feel afraid, so I have to learn how to fight so that I won't feel afraid. I feel like I'm not worthy, so I have to become a black sash, or red sash, or a brown sash, or whatever it is, or win a tournament, or get a metal, so that I can feel worthy.  And what I'm going to suggest to you is as good as my surround sound system is and as good as my big screen TV is, and as good as refrigerator is loaded with all kinds of beers, that you have a better surround sound system and a better video screen called your mind.  If you will learn to meditate, and you will learn this internal part which I've documented pretty well in my books, what will begin to happen is you'll begin to value the way you can make yourself feel in your mind over and above the reality. In other words, you'll come to a point where you're going to say, "I feel so worthy, and so strong, and so confident I don't need anything else than what I've been able to generate up here."

Then somebody will come along to you, and they will say, "Well then why do you need to show up at the dojo?"  And you'll say, "Because I enjoy it." And when those words come out of your mouth, you're on your way to being like Mr. Pagel.  Make sense?

Students:  Yes, sir.

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  Okay, Seiza.  Dojo ni rei, hai.  Hai. Sensei ni rei, hai.  Hai. Make sure you've checked in, make sure you'll listen to the podcast, and, if I don't see you, Merry Christmas.