PeaceWalker Blog

If you train with me you know we talk a lot about tactical space (the place of advantage) and strategy. I'm always going off on how they trump techniques.  Well, if you want to learn more about strategy there's a good book called 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene. It's a good book, especially for us PeaceWalkers. The main reason it's so important is because it gives ample examples of how to start thinking more strategically instead of just thinking about techniques.  What it teaches is the exact opposite of what all these self defense instructors preach and try to brag about on facebook, youtube and instagram. All of those flash techniques probably look especially cool to the newbies. But in reality it’s kind of foolish and not-very-wise, basing your ability to protect yourself on the One Technique to Rule them All! When you think about it its like bragging about jumping out of a plane and then building the parachute on the way down. How about simply not boarding a ...

"Stand up, you don't have to be afraid Get down, love is like a hurricane Street boy, no I never could be tamed Better believe it..." Loud, I wanna hear it loud Right between the eyes Loud, I wanna hear it loud Don't want no compromise" Yep, listening to some early 80's Kiss, "I love it loud." to get me 'in state' so to speak!  That song was on their Creatures of the Night album. I remember when it first came out. I can still see it in the wooden record bin near the checkout at the 'little' Meijer grocery store near where I grew up.  Here's the Real Irony! They shut that Meijer down in the early 80's. Later they renovated the space into smaller units and that I've been running our local Krav Academy out of for almost 20 years now!  Keeping it close to home yo! Makes it easier to visit my folks and hang out in my old stomping ground! It's good to shoot for the stars but remember where you came from!  Never forget your ...

Every year I watch Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies. That  brought to mind a book called: “Bandersnach” (Funny name I know! It was a fictional creature in Lewis Carroll's 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass and his 1874 poem The Hunting of the Snark =) The book is mostly about J.R.R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis and their time in the writers group they founded called The Inklings that met for some 20 years. Lots of good advice inside for writers. There’s also some insights for community-building and conflict management. Especially for us PeaceWalkers. For example: The inklings was like a mastermind but was also a community. And without it the Lord of the Rings especially would be quite different. In fact, Tolkien fans can thank C.S. Lewis for it being written at all. Lewis basically had to nag & prod Tolkien into finishing it. Yet, Tolkien had an extreme… dislike… for Lewis’ Narnia books. And so there was certainly some conflict there. But what there was not between them...

In today's day in age we have access to more information than ever!  The internet is both a blessing and curse!  We are overloaded with information. There's too much of it to process! Especially if you don't know how to curate it.  You can watch a video, read a book, take a home study course and aside from it's entertainment value, you've really haven't progressed at all.  Think of how many self help, diet and fitness books, videos and other information is out there, Combined together it's about a $400 billion dollar industry... Yet many people are still overweight, out of shape and miserable...  But still buying all that stuff! The Missing Ingredients... The problem is that all that information is DIY... Do It Yourself! You get the info, but information alone isn't going to work. Heck, most of the time, if you're not already some type of exert, you won't even know if the information is good or not!  Even if it is good, mixing some things from he...

  We think of July 4, 1776, as a day that represents the  Declaration of Independence   and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation. However,      • July 4, 1776 was not the day that the Continental Congress decided to declare independence. They actually did that on July 2, 1776.      • July 4, 1776, was not the day we started the American Revolution either. That had happened back in April 1775.      • July 4, 1776, was not the day Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. That was in June 1776.      • July 4, 1776, was not the date on which the Declaration was delivered to Great Britain. That didn’t happen until November 1776.      • July 4, 1776, was not the date the Declaration of Independence was signed. That was August 2, 1776. So, what actually happened on July 4, 1776? On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies claimed their independenc...