Martial Arts Northumberland, Black Belt Lifestyle

When we teach our martial art classes, we teach much more than kicking and punching routines. We believe totally in the Black Belt Lifestyle. By this we mean the way we approach life as a whole, not just while training in the dojo. We believe that we must always try our very best while training in the dojo, but we also believe that we must always try our very best while living our lives every day.
If you are still at school, you should be trying your very best in every class. You should be acting with respect and courtesy  to your fellow students and the teachers at your school. You should always try to leave a place, say a classroom,  in a better state than when you went into it. By this we mean that if when you enter a classroom, you see that there are papers lying on the floor and it is a bit untidy, make sure you pick up the papers and leave it in a better state than when you entered. If you go to the bathrooms and you see paper towels lying on the floor beside the waste paper bin, pick them up and place them into the bin. (remember to wash your hands).
The same should happen if you have left school or college and are now in the workplace. You should still act with respect and courtesy to your co-workers and you should still leave a place in a better state than when you entered it. This, we believe, is living a Black Belt Lifestyle.
When we walk down the street and we see litter lying near a rubbish bin, we pick it up and place it in the bin. We always place our own rubbish in a bin to leave places clean and tidy. We all have to live on this planet, so we should all try to do our own little part to help it look after us.

Performing random acts of kindness and courtesy should be an every day occurrence in your life. This can be as simple as saying "Good Morning" to someone or holding a door open for someone after you have used it. We do not walk around all day looking for old ladies that need assistance to cross the road, we simply ensure that we are aware of our surroundings and take notice of what is happening. I know of someone that was looking for a new carpet for their house one day. While they were at the carpet store they heard an elderly gentleman talking to a store salesperson. The elderly man was on a motorised wheelchair. He had bought a new carpet for his house. He was trying to get it to fit on top of his wheelchair so he could carry it home. It did not look very comfortable or even safe. So they offered to give the elderly man a lift to their home with the carpet. He then offered to drive the man back to the carpet store to allow him to pick up his motorised wheelchair that was left at the carpet store while he delivered the new carpet to the man´s home. The elderly man was then free to ride his wheelchair home and enjoy his new carpet. After performing this random act of kindness, they just continued with their own task of getting their own new carpet. This is a great act of random kindness. Not everyone has a car or even the time to do this kind of act, but any simple act can have a huge positive impact on a fellow human being. Even a smile can make someone´s day, so try to remember to pass on a little bit of happiness by performing a random act of kindness or courtesy.
Behaving in this manner is only a small part, but an important part of living a Black Belt lifestyle.
Hi Energy Martial Arts Academy