Without the pressure it is easy

I've been watching both political conventions here in the States. I actually enjoy the carnival antics of the overall show. I love to see the passion and the conviction that is displayed by the folks speaking.

Speaking at a convention is easy. This is what politicians do, they speak. The only pressure the politicians might feel is speaking in front of a large crowd. But, any good politician lives for that very thing, speaking in front of a huge audience. The real pressure will come for them when those politicians have to "do" what they said they will do before their next re-election. Up until that time it's just words politicians say - really no pressure.

Same can be said about a personal relationship. Things are usually great in the beginning of a relationship. There's very little pressure. The pressure you might feel is how good do you look, or am I saying the right things to impress the other person. Where the rubber hits the road is how does the relationship manage when there is tension between the two people involved and how do they react to each other when that happens? That's where you see the real side of the other person involved in the relationship.

Feeling pressure is interesting. In a grappling situation, pressure feels like someone is squeezing you, you feel their heaviness or tightness, maybe making it difficult for you to breath. In a life situation, pressure might make you short of breath, a tightness in your chest and possibly make you react in ways that you might not want to react in (anger, outburst, frustration, desperation or worse etc).

Many people train in martial arts but never feel pressure. They think they do, but really, they don't. This is a huge unfair mistake by their instructors.

Life without pressure, is impossible. Everyone has pressure in one way or another.

In life, you see how people really are and really will really react when things don't go easy and they feel pressure.

Train in your art with pressure. Be reasonable and push yourself a little bit every time. You'll learn something physically and learn something about how you can deal with things mentally.

The next two months here in the States will be a floor show of political rhetoric. This for the politicians is the easy part - just words, just words...