Shoka Magazine August 2023

August 1, 2023

Marty Callahan 8th Degree Black Belt

“Mind like moon... mind like water.”

Just as moon light shines on everything, so too must you train your mind to be aware of all things. This gives you a great advantage when dealing with the many individuals and groups who attempt to manipulate you or your family in a myriad of different ways. An expanded awareness allows you to know what is happening around you long before other people know. This allows you to plan and take advantage of situations and circumstances that you couldn’t otherwise. I’m sure you’ve felt controlled by people who were in a position to manipulate you and they did something that you didn’t see coming. Expanding your awareness means that this will happen far less often. I hope you’re enjoying the summer. We live in one of the most idyllic places on earth. Take advantage of it. It will be good for your mind, body and spirit.

Here’s what’s in it this month’s Shoka Magazine:

• Our cover: Mind like moon and Mind like water! (Next month mind like water)

• Shoka News (our newsletter)

• Sensei Callahan’s Birthday Party / Training at Pioneer Park / Potluck Picnic

• Pre-launch of The Hero’s Journey – Act I Separation – Our Book is Here! Get your free copy!

• Advice from an Old Hillbilly

• Repetition

• Dan Kennedy on Personal Influence

• In the midst of chaos move to your center

• Never accept an inferior position

• Benjamin Wright: Former Student

• You’re going to pay a price

• The Story of the Wooden Rooster

• Martial Artists are Artists

We regularly go out into the community to meet good people such as yourselves and to make our presence known. We do this to keep our school healthy and strong. If you take some time to think about this, I believe you’ll agree, that this is good for everyone. So, if you know of an event that might be good for us, let us know, and we’ll see if we can make it happen

Yours truly,

Marty Callahan, 8th Degree Black Belt, Chief Instructor, Founder, Author

Shoka News

Shotokan Karate Leadership School® Newsletter

August 1, 2023

A BIG Welcome to our newest students!

v Tyler Thygesen, Alina Reyes, Norah Reyes, Karter Grieb, Dominic Martinez, Emilie Stirnaman, Emilio Sanchez, Carlos Pureco, Rylee Nelson, Jose Suarez, Saint Hill, Ana Rosete, Ronin McKeown, Mason Richardson, Noah Stickerod, Ethan Bushta, Anthony Rodriquez, Joshua Perez, Atticus Miller

Upcoming Events and Activities

Ø Wednesday Night Market – We’re at the market most Wednesday evenings from 5p to 8:30p. Stop by and see us and say hi.!

Ø Sonoma County Schools start back the week of August 14th

Ø Mon. & Tues. August 21-22 Performance Exams

Ø Sat. Aug. 26th Pioneer Park: End of Summer Celebration, Sensei Callahan’s Birthday Party, Training in the Park, Games, Games and More Games, Potluck Picnic: Pioneer Park is about a mile from the dojo, see flyer for more details.

Ø Friday, Sept 8 – Parents Night Out 5p to 8p, Games, movie, pizza. Free to SKLS students and their guests. Sign up in advance.

Ø Mon. & Tues. Oct. 16 & 17 Performance Exams

Ø Fri. & Sat. Oct. 27 & 28 Sensei Kevin Warner Returns Classes and Black Belt exams

Ø Sat. Nov. 4th Fall 2023 Finley Center Award Ceremony and Potluck Dinner

The Hero’s Journey: Act I – The Separation: Is finally here. Please pick up your free copy and grab a few extra to give to your friends. It’s an interesting read about how Shotokan Karate Leadership School training and our Great Journey to Black Belt is in reality a Hero’s Journey and why you want your child to take this journey. Act I will be followed by Act II – The Initiation and Act III – The Return

Sensei Kevin Warner: Sensei Warner was here on the weekend of July 21-23 in case you missed it. But he’ll be back at the end of October to teach and give Black Belt exams.

Shoka Magazine: We’re mailing it to your house. We hope you’re getting it. If not let us know. It’s also coming by email in an electronic format called Issuu. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Covid: Yeah! The pandemic is over! But be prepared the next one is coming!

You’re Invited!

Sensei Callahan’s 74th Birthday Party

Saturday, August 26th 9am to 1pm

Pioneer Park

2062 Peterson Lane, Santa Rosa

End of Summer Celebration! Training at the Park!

Potluck Picnic! Fun for all!

9 to 10 am Regular Class for All Students

9a to 10:30a Introductory Lessons for Guests

10 to 10:30 am Games, Games, and More Games

10:30 am Party and Potluck Picnic!

All students, families, and friends are invited. Come when you want, leave when you want! For the class... wear your uniform or casual clothes. Go barefooted or wear shoes! Pioneer Park has lots of room to run. There’s a play structure for kids of all ages! Take advantage of this wonderful littleknown community park. You don't want to miss it!

How to move people on your personal influence alone

Dan Kennedy

Selling is a key function to any operation of any size. You can think of it as the ability to move someone to do something. Without sales the United States would be a third world country. Dan S. Kennedy is the provocative, truth-telling author of the popular "No B.S." book series; a serial, successful, multi millionaire entrepreneur; trusted marketing advisor, consultant and coach to hundreds of private entrepreneurial clients running businesses from $1-million to $ 1-billion in size.

Personal influence is the ability to move people on the strength of your personality alone. John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan are two US presidents of our time who clearly possess this. Lee Iacocca could be put in this category. Here’s my list of seven key factors.

1. Celebrity. Being perceived by those you deal with most to have celebrity status.

2. Credibility. Being recognized by as someone who is respected and trusted.

3. Expertise. Legitimate, extensive superior knowledge about your subject.

When you combine those three elements, you have a very solid foundation for personal influence. You have the advantage of being paid attention to and accepted.

4. Mastery of the E-factors. Personal influence is entirely based on mastery of your own emotions and appeal to others’ emotions.

5. Good sense of humor. I've appeared as a speaker on several programs with former President Bush. And I'm pleased to tell you that he had and exhibited a healthy sense of humor about having lost the election and his situation. The Bush's home in Houston was their 15th home, which Bush’s wife Barbara used to chalk up to him on not being able to hold a job. And he noted to people that he easily beat them on the golf course when he was president. Yet all seemed to have suddenly dramatically improved their games by the time he was no longer in the white house. It's my opinion that had President Bush exhibited this good humor while in the white house and while campaigning, it would've made a positive difference in the public's willingness to forgive his errors and entrust him with another term. Taking yourself and your circumstances too seriously is an obstacle to relationships.

6. Independence. Personal influence comes more easily to the individual who does not need constant reassurance of his competence and importance from others. The salesperson who needs to be liked, who has a Willy Loman Complex, is prevented from having a dynamic personality. He's a marshmallow and a chameleon. Most people with great personal influence are willing to offend some in order to completely win over others.

7. Bias for action. The decisive individual is admired, respected, and followed.

Note: Article has been edited for brevity.

In the midst of Chaos, move to your Center

Marty Callahan 8th Degree Black Belt

“Talents are best nurtured in solitude. Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.”

-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, critic

Here’s an old story about the power of finding and moving to your center.

The Wooden Rooster.

Many years ago, there lived a King who had a magnificent rooster. This rooster was young, strong, amazingly quick, and strikingly handsome; the envy of the chicken yard. The King decided that he wanted to test his rooster in the cockfights that were common in those days. So, the King sent out a message that he was looking for the best rooster trainer in the land to train his rooster. He found him and invited him to come to his palace.

When the trainer arrived, the King asked him if he would train his rooster. The trainer agreed, but only on one condition. The King could only fight the rooster when the trainer said he was ready, and not before. The King consented, and the trainer departed with the prize rooster.

After some time, the King sent a message to the trainer, asking him if his rooster was ready to fight. The trainer replied with a simple message: The rooster was not ready, and he needed more training. So, the King waited impatiently. After another month or two, the King, who was eager to start his rooster in the cockfight, sent another message to the trainer asking if his rooster was ready. The trainer again responded with a firm no, the rooster needed more training. He politely asked the King to be patient and wait. Then after some more time had passed, the King couldn’t bear waiting any longer and again sent a message to the trainer, demanding to know if his rooster was ready. This time, the trainer replied that his rooster was ready.

The King sent a servant to retrieve his rooster so he could take him to a kingdom-wide rooster fight, where only the best fighting roosters in the kingdom were gathering. The King placed his rooster in the ring and stepped back, he was expecting his rooster to go out and beat-up on all the other roosters. But, instead of attacking the other roosters, the King's rooster walked to the center of the ring and stood perfectly still. He was so still and quiet that he appeared to be made of wood.

The other roosters glanced at the King’s rooster, but they didn’t go near him. His stillness confused them. And from this confuse arose a great respect for the King’s rooster. They were not afraid of him, instead they felt that they were in the presence of a very powerful animal. After a bit, the stillness and peacefulness of the King’s rooster began to have a calming effect on the other roosters. Deep inside, at their very core, the roosters preferred peace to war. One by one, their movements slowed, and after only a few minutes, all fighting ceased.

The organizers didn’t know what to do and after discussing the situation they declared the King’s rooster to be the Champion, not because he beat-up all the other roosters, which they believed he could, but because his calmness and inner strength brought peace to the battlefield and to all who were near.

Shotokan Karate Leadership School®

Benjamin Wright

Benjamin was a BAD student. He was ALWAYS in some kind of trouble, and I mean ALWAYS. But karate had a huge impact on him. Here is what he said in a letter he sent to us years after he left the school and entered college.

Dear Sensei Callahan, I'm not sure you remember me, but my name is Benjamin Wright. I was instructed in Shotokan in my early years at your school on Hall Road. I wanted to contact you and thank you for your instruction. You taught me discipline and honor, which have given me an advantage when interacting with my peers. I cannot find the words to describe the attributes I have developed from your lessons, but these attributes give me confidence as I prepare to leave for college. I will be going to school at the Art Institute of Chicago and I’m thankful that I have retained so many lessons because Chicago is such a dangerous city. Thank you for your assistance in my conditioned development.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Wright

Benjamin graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago and travelled to China to show his artwork.

Here is something else he had to say . “Age is simply the amount of time we have had to notice detail in our environment. I use the term environment loosely as it could mean the room you’re in now, the region of the world you’re in, or even the world its self. You can be 50 and have noticed nothing about your surroundings or you can be ten and be seeing things no one around you have ever noticed. Its important to notice as many of these details as possible so that you can make educated decisions when faced with tough choices. To really see as much as possible requires patience something that karate helped me to cultivate. On a more personal note, I’m now working security at a 4am bar, and if it wasn’t for karate my face would be badly bruised. Ha-ha-ha.”