I haven't posted much lately because I haven't had much on my mind outside of getting healthy and doing my job at AT&T. I finally made it back to Tae Kwon Do last night and was working out with my instructor/buddy. We were practicing this combo (a series of techniques to be executed in a certain sequence). It was one of those block-parry-strike-strike things. Remembering the sequence isn't hard, but having to adjust to your attacker was difficult. For instance, if they attacked with the right hand, then you had to do the sequence starting with your left side... and if they attacked with the left hand, then you had to start the sequence with your right. So it takes some reaction time too. We were getting mixed up and all, then we decided to just go with an "Empty Mind."
In martial arts, you can go with a beginner's mind, a focused mind, or an empty mind. Beginner's Mind is when you approach whatever you're doing as if it's the first time you've ever done it (even though you may have done that particular punch or kick a zillion times over the course of twenty years). With focused mind, you just concentrate on what you're doing and blocking out everything else. Empty mind is just letting reactions work and doing what seems natural. After having done the sequence several times on each side already (without a partner), our bodies should've memorized what do... so we decided to stop overthinking "should I use my left or right hand first?" We used our empty minds and just let our bodies and "muscle memory" take over. It was easy after that.
This makes me wonder if there is ever such a thing with "Empty Mind" with Christianity. I have friends that were born into families where the faith was ingrained in them, and they never had doubts. I guess they can have Empty Mind, but I doubt I ever will.
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