This week we focus on the positive successes we have in our life. So many times it is easy to bring to mind failures, but hard to list as many successes. This week we vow to remember we can succeed-because we have done so in the past. We promise to be mindful of each success- big and small.
Newbury Park Martial Arts Center

We are fortunate to have To-Shin Do in our lives. We train to be protectors- not predators. It is always interesting when someone in the community speaks with us- and assumes all martial arts are the same. “Do you learn how to fight”, they ask? Newbury Park Martial Arts Center students are highly intelligent- and fighting isn’t on our radar! Learn fighting? Why not learn to keep peace?
It is our ninja warrior job to help our families and community to feel safer and more secure.
Thank you to all who share in this wise lineage.
Newbury Park Martial Arts Center

                      Pro-active efficiency 

This month we will focus on being pro-active in promoting the promotion of good and the prevention of difficulty.

As a NPMAC student, you have explored Code of Ethic #1; I protect life and health, I avoid violence whenever possible. The easiest way to deal with trouble is not to be where the trouble is. What can you do to set up your life to create success and with efficient effort avoid trouble?

You will find the more you practice this pro-active approach, the more natural it will become. Make a conscious effort this month to negate one bad habit- one attitude of lack. Be proud of your positive momentum. Give yourself a pat on the back for your successes. Keep training- and you will find your successes increasing.

Your task this month is to share your favorite training moment of the year.

Happy Holidays!

 To-Shin!!

Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

This month we have explored leading by example, valued the teachers in our life and turned a negative situation into a learning experience. Share these important lessons with your friends and family- that is being a ninja!

Newbury Park Martial Arts Center

This week we focus on the third part of our student creed—“I show respect for all who help me progress.”

Sometimes it is difficult to show respect to all, even if the lesson was useful.

Newbury Park Martial Arts Center encourages you to find the lesson in a negative encounter you may have had. Find the silver lining.
Newbury Park Martial Arts Center

This week we focus on gratitude and respect for our teachers. Who is a teacher in your life that made an impact? Is there a teacher that wasn’t obvious at first, but you still learned a valuable lesson?

Take time this week to close your eyes and visualize the tools your teachers have given you for getting things done is a timely manner and bringing out the best in you!
Newbury Park Martial Arts Center

                       I lead by example 

Happy bountiful November! This month we explore the idea of compassion, and living a fulfilling life.

You can live a life with confidence and compassion more readily if you walk your talk. Black Belt excellence is meant to extend beyond the dojo. How do you lead by example and experience personal excellence? Take a moment and acknowledge the friends and family that support you- do you show them your best side? Do you think, speak and act in a positive manner?

Your NPMAC dojo is a place you can rely on to help you achieve Black Belt excellence and discover a fulfilling life. This is an empowering place to safely experience modesty and confidence. You will leave feeling re-charged and ready to assist others in their personal quest for excellence.

Recognize your teachers this month- all of them! Be mindful, teachers take many forms. Sometimes what appears to be a negative experience is an opportunity to recognize your strengths.

Your task this month is to answer the following questions:

“What was one great lesson I learned from what I call a negative encounter?”

Happy Thanksgiving!

 To-Shin!!

Our martial art is made to be used outside the dojo. The dojo is the testing ground for stepping outside our comfort zone; the world beyond the dojo is the place to prove our theories. We are protectors. We do not train to fight. We train to bring peace, security and banish obstacles both internal and external. With the ninja time tested “9 method” for achievement, we move forward to bring brightness to the world. To-Shin Do is a gift to the teachers, students and community. Newbury Park Martial Arts Center. www.npmac.com

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Buddha