The train subway platform was all but empty. Master Lee’s Hapkido session, and meetings with his top instructors had gone longer than expected. Lee was getting on in age, and yet a formidable expert from years of training in Hapkido, a form of self-defense, he originally learned in South Korea as a young boy training with Choi, Yong Sool, the founder.

He couldn’t help it, his mind immediately went to techniques, and situational awareness. Today he was contemplating what he would do if attacked right there on the platform by a rear naked choke. Several of his favorite techniques came to mind, and his most favorite, a simple circling move from a “turtling” position came top of mind. Lee smiled.

“DISCERN, I would first DISCERN the situation and move to a better defensible position, then I would not even need the circling turtle technique.” He chuckled to himself and said, “However, before that I would leave earlier to avoid any sketchy situations. Ha! Better yet!” His last few words echoed off the concrete of the station platform.

As he looked further he thought of his senior instructors, and their life struggles. His mind then went directly to Life Defense, a concept he learned through years of training that employed simple PRINCIPLES of self-defense in life.

DISCERNING what in their lives is choking them out before life’s chokes actually tighten, and their dreams die might be helpful. Even before that, he would first council them to dream, and not in some ethereal realm. Rather make a concrete list of 25 dreams they wanted for their lives, and write them down. Because, without DISCERNING what it is they actually want first, what is most important to them, and what makes life worth living, they would have nothing to defend and fight for.

As he boarded safely on his way home he determined to re-ignite each instructor to write their dreams in his next meeting. Then he would teach them to use Life Defense PRINCIPLES to DISCERN dangers to those dreams before they are attacked, that their dreams may live! First, as he sat down on the smooth fiberglass subway bench the old teacher would write his own dreams. “So much to dream. Where to start…?”

In life, how often do we DISCERN what it is we actually are here for, what we want, and then defend those dreams as if our lives depended on them? Because they do. Consider, DISCERNING first what you are defending, then employ Life Defense and live…

#lifedefense #discern #allenhughes

Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-photo-of-man-standing-near-the-edge-of-concrete-pavement-1060492/

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