I’ve been watching the political insanity that’s been in the headlines lately, and while I don’t have an opinion to share here, there is a bigger issue at hand for Kravists. That is, how do we frame our perspective and approach to adversity? What is the most potent means of managing ourselves while affecting the outcome of the issue at hand?
First, let’s explore several productive truths that have yet to permeate most of our society when it comes to resolving conflict:
- Hope is not a strategy. If you want to facilitate a specific outcome in any situation, work as an integrated person – physical, mental, emotional, intuitive, and spirit – to find a viable solution set.
- Anger is not a course of action. Anger is often ego-driven.Anger is often triggered by the guilt, shame, and/or fear surrounding any given circumstance.If you feel angry, peel back a few layers and get to the root cause (it’s rarely the issue at hand specifically).Manage yourself.
- Your feelings often do not reflect truth. This is a modern day fallacy that is starting to permeate our social fabric.Thus, we are risking the development of a seriously destructive social construct.Feelings are not reliable, accurate (in terms of objective truth), or traditionally useful in finding resolution to problems or stress events.Feelings are often indicators that something in you is being threatened.But, the specific thing being threatened may be an unhealthy shadow emotion or belief based on a corrupted or inaccurate understanding of an experience and/or perception.To manage feelings effectively, first understand where these feelings come from – then learn how to recognize the triggers as they occur.
- Seek to understand before being understood. This is a fundamental skill in resolving conflict.And, for the most part, this single effort – that spawns conversation, perspective shifts, and connection – is the least utilized approach to conflict resolution.In fact, there is very little of this happening in today’s public debate.So, find common ground first; divergence is most effectively managed through common understanding.
If you really want to join a conversation, affect an outcome, and leave room to repeatedly engage in future debates by conducting yourself in a reasonable and effective way, try employing the four concepts above the next time you need to weigh in on an issue of concern.If we all did this, we’d restore decorum and respect in our public and interpersonal debate overnight.This is Krav Maga in action. Wouldn’t that be something?
