PeaceWalker Blog

Classmates who passed away since our graduation... Reminding us that life is precious & fleeting... Saturday was off the hook w/social events: My Morning - Bar Mitzvah My Afternoon - Wedding My Evening - Class Reunion Oh my! It was a whirl wind of cool craziness and a bunch of mini road-trips gallivanting around West Michigan!   It was a great day of re-connecting and celebrating w/friends... The ONE THING I Learned from My Reunion that Could Instantly Change the World! One thing happened at my class reunion that really stuck with me... Something SO POWERFUL that all cliche's aside... COULD CHANGE THE WORLD! A group of people who are decades removed from our K-12 experience reunite for an evening... We've all lived long enough to have Life kick us around a bit... After some time here on this planet, it's difficult to avoid having things happen to us that we have absolutely no control over... And I&

Just got back from New Jersey; a weekend of training (and a bit of teaching too). It was great hanging out w/old friends, meeting some new ones and getting some good training in. As I unpacked my gear, I was reminded of a discussion that Jack Hoban's teacher Maasaki Hatsumi had regarding space. He took out a piece of calligraphy parchment and painted the character of LIFE on one side of it, let it dry as he explained his thoughts of space, distance, timing and what we in the 'tactical' world would call the 'Reactionary Gap.' When the paint was sufficiently dried, Hatsumi then flipped the parchment over and painted DEATH on the other side... He then looked at us and said "In battle, the difference between Life & Death are often only the width of a paper apart!" I thought it was an eloquent example The Space to Live... When fractions of seconds count... Distance often equates to time. The way you move, the posi

Where Fear Meets Anger... Gavin DeBecker's book "The Gift of Fear" make some really good points about that gut feeling you get that will keep you safe. Most people are pretty clear about why we feel fear However... Less people know what to do with Anger, let alone how to USE it as a tactical advantage! When we can throw off all of our current stigmas that coincide with anger, namely, loss of control, guilt, shame, bullying, victimizing... etc. You can see anger for what it truly is and what it can be used for. ACTION! Anger Equals Action! Yep, When you're Angry, sh*t gets done! Now I don't mean unbridled rage, temper tantrums or anything to that extreme. I'm talking about feeling the emotion of anger, harnessing it and using it to your advantage! If you can accomplish that, you can use the energy that anger gives you to good use. However... In this age of "being a victim" is power, the onl

Picture Courtesy of Tom Collins Fall came in fast... Today I am in a bit of a reflective mood about the shock and tragedy that happened 17 years ago. It could just as well have been yesterday for me... It's still that clear in my memory... Where I was... What I was doing... How I was feeling... The phone calls... Watching events unfold... But I was one of the millions of people who weren't actually there... But I have friends who were... Police, firefighters, friends. Not everyone made it... But, we all remember... And that reminds me of Israel and what an Israeli friend of mine said about the attitude of many in that culture... I Wish I Was There... When a terrorist attack occurs many people think "I'm so lucky I wasn't there." And don't get me wrong I would say that would be a pretty rational and intuitive thing to think... However... Some of my friends and colleagues from Israel have a differen

I feel good today, not fearless, but courageous... Why... Well, let me first say this, Fearless is Bulls#*t! Yep, I said it! ...and I meant it! Don't confuse fearless with Courageousness! Being courageous is feeling fear and moving forward anyway! Move Forward Despite Your Fear. . There are times when I am fearless. I'm not saying that it's never happened, but it's rare. Yes, I've had some: "Dude hold my drink and watch THIS," moments, where I was truly fearless (and careless). Those don't always go well for most folks. Anyway, all joking aside, most of our biggest gains in life are when we are FAR FROM FEARLESS. Rather we are full of fear, but we don't let that fear paralyze us from moving forward in a positive direction. How Does This Apply to Conflict Management? It's easy to get caught up in the fear, anxiety and drama of our inner voice. It is more likely to happen to you whe

Part 1 Hear how Rob Barrett uses the PeaceWalker perspective in his life & career as a high school teacher. See Part 2 Here! Get MORE FREE Exclusive Tips, Tricks & Tactics to Living a Protectors Life - Sign up on www.peacewalkersubscribe.com