Chris Matakas, The Tao Of Jiu Jitsu Quotes
The most meaningful endeavors are the ones that come without an end.
It is a shock to many college graduates that their segway into the real world is one of obligation, profound debt, and countless sacrifices of the soul.
Anyone can be tough for a season. It takes a special kind of human to rise to life's challenges for a lifetime.
We can lose the roll, we can lose position, but we can constantly strive to win the moment.
Life is a constant build up and release of tension. If we go too far in either direction bad things happen.
I have never been as alive or awake as I have been through Jiu Jitsu.
Anyone who has ever achieved anything has been a steward of his potential.
I have found the more worthwhile something is, the more of your life is required to achieve it.
The greatest effects we have on the world are the ones we can never see.
In the modern world we are surrounded by so much abundance that we cannot see it.
We are the estranged orphans of our nations and tribes, and we now bear the weight not of survival of the group but of personal identity.
We can either approach Jiu Jitsu through the lens of the "real world" or we can approach the real world through the lens of Jiu Jitsu. I have found the latter to be far more rewarding.
Jiu Jitsu has given me an education in education, which I now see is the most valuable education there is.
A core group of guys, all sharing similar goals, can move mountains.
After I received my blue belt, I soon recognized that the belts were simply an external representation of an inner experience, and that they mattered little compared to the person I was becoming.
Plateaus are a manifestation of the law of diminishing returns, and when we reach one it simply means that it is time to adjust our methods.
Jiu Jitsu is a baptism by combat, and serves a purpose in the inner life of the individual that has always existed, but our modern culture fails to acknowledge.
We are force-fed beliefs through incessant advertisements by a culture that ceaselessly fosters our conformity to values which are of no service to the individual.
When you realize you are no longer made of glass, you lose the desire to demonstrate that fragility in others.
I have found that the morning is far more accessible when a good book awaits you.
Jiu Jitsu uses us to express itself, and the best thing we can do to is to become a vehicle capable of expressing Jiu Jitsu with all of its perfection minus our imperfections.
We see that happiness is not comfort. Happiness is the freedom to choose one's own way.
Just know that the achievement of anything grand takes consistent effort year after year. Motivation can uphold you intermittently, but it has too few calories to sustain a life.
Habits are infinitely more beneficial to the aspiring student than motivation. Motivation may get you started, but habits keep you going.
Things can be added, but that doesn't mean that anything is missing.
