Skip to main content

SEISHIN


Seishin, the second mental attitude refers to transferring energy or our focus into the technique to make it more effective. 


The word Seishin, I am told, can have several meanings. It can mean “honesty” as in giving a task an honest effort, the proverbial “old college try.” Another interpretation of the word can mean “heart” and/or “mind” referring to applying oneself to a task with passion, putting your “all” into it. 

 Non-martial artists can think of Seishin as directing their mental focus. For example, you have a huge presentation to prepare and present to important clients. You need to focus and calm your mind in order to prepare for the work that lies ahead. 

 Seishin would be the marshalling of that focus and bringing it to bear on a specific item in your presentation. It is the directing of the intense focus you have already invoked. 


 This is Seishin as applied to a non-martial situation, the essence of directing your concentrated focus to a specific element for the completion of the task at hand. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nirvana

I can no more cease to write than you can stop breathing. It is my salvation. Writing is my path to Nirvana, where suffering has been extinguished, and complete peace is realized, if you believe that sort of thing. I'm not sure that I do, but it's a nice sentiment. For me, since I must work at doing something that fails to excite me in any meaningful way, I must search for my own meaning. Writing is the vehicle I use now. It used to be that my path lay with studying martial arts, but life changes, the body wearies. I suspect many of us, no, most of us, are in the same boat. We are trying to manage our lives the best we can while searching for Nirvana, our own private paradise, or however we might  describe it. Viktor Frankl wrote Man's Search for Meaning. He posits that our meaning is what we choose it to be and that meaning may change day to day. He said, "“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.” Following your passion ...
2 comments
Read more

Life's Uncertainty Principle

There was a particular moment, a span of about ten seconds, in my life when I chose a course of action that changed everything and with very dramatic effect. It is hard for me to talk about this without telling you the details but I am going to try. It started in 1982, I had worked hard to earn a position within my job. During my course of duty, a situation developed and I had the obligation to choose, literally, to stay where I was or go. I know, " should I stay or should I go now." I could have stayed . I should have stayed . But I didn't, I went . Ten seconds of my life, that's what it took to change my life's path in every way. I am not talking about military service and fighting a war, where one looks back thinking had I gone right and not left, I wouldn't have been shot. No, nothing that noble. I wasn't shot, blown up, or physically injured in any way. But the situation turned sour and the result from that decision of mine played out in the cou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pascal and Aristotle

“Fake it ‘til you make it," is a version of 17th century French philosopher, Blasé Pascal’s famous wager, and commonly used in modern times to inspire positive change in people struggling with their place in society. (Huge apologies here to philosophers; Pascal was speaking of the existence of God and the modern version of his wager is most commonly used to help people struggling with addiction. Not being a philosopher, I am simply musing about adopting a philosophical approach that might help us through our daily grind.) It is daunting when you are overwhelmed or feeling sad, and not up to the rigors of working and living in your community. When someone says you’re not alone or that they know what you are going through as they have had similar experience, it doesn’t make you feel better. The mood you’re in feels like it owns you and no one could possibly understand what you’re going through. It might be more helpful if you had acknowledgement, psychological validation, th...
Post a Comment
Read more