Patience is the first virtue of Iron Mantis and it’s probably the most difficult to learn and the hardest to practice, yet the most important. Without learning patience, all of the other virtues not to mention skills that we as I.M. students seek would be completely unattainable. Patience is the bedrock upon which our foundation is built.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy is a good example of this analogy. The tower started leaning as soon as the 2nd floor was constructed due to a soft spot in the bedrock. The most skilled craftsman labored for 344 YEARS ,in vain, to fix the lean and complete the tower. Due do the poor bedrock, the tower no matter how perfectly all it’s pieces fit above it’s foundation or how beautiful it’s design the tower will never be complete, or safe for that matter. It will always be leaning and will never have a proper center. We as martial artists should always be seeking the center. If we don’t learn and practice patience no matter how many years you train, you will always have a “lean” and your martial arts will never be complete.

Patience is defined as; ” the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.” Most people fail or quit due to the fact that they DO get angry, sometimes violently because they have little to zero patience with delay. Road rage for example, is an all too often seen display of peoples fundamental lack of basic patience. Life is measured by Time and our time is precious. Think of the worth we put into diamonds. Diamonds are a corporeal representation of time. It is poor Wude to not accept the importance or value of the time of others and to do so you might as well be stealing their diamonds. To be calm and serene when other people ignore the importance of your time i.e. cut you off in traffic or in line at the store is to rise above the flock making you a better more centered person and martial artist. I personally find it amusing when I see people jockey for position in traffic as if there is prize to be the first to stop at the next intersection. Many martial arts students in their unwillingness to tolerate delay will never complete even the first few levels of their training just because of the time it takes to learn martial arts. This often results in someone who has very little skill or actual knowledge, yet they have “trained” in several styles.

Now if you can’t ,”accept or tolerate… “trouble” , well as a martial artist that isn’t good. Self Defense is all about accepting trouble and ending it. If you are easily upset during a troubling situation such as getting mugged, for example, your mental faculties will fail you and the adrenaline which should be aiding your body will overwhelm your mind and your chances of survival will be reduced. If you are patient and have good training when the attacker comes or a high stakes life or death situation is at hand, you will be able to remain calm and focused. Such situations to a skilled and patient practitioner in the martial arts should be viewed to the martial artist in an almost “ Oh, so I guess we are doing that now” mindset.

Suffering is a guaranteed in not only martial arts training but in life. The sooner that a person can accept that the better a human they will be for it. As martial artists we train our bodies and strengthen them to endure through self-imposed suffering. The impatience people have with tolerating delay and trouble can be trained out of them through the suffering of traditional martial arts training. Patience while suffering is key to mastering many skills in the martial arts. Suffering teaches patience. Without learning to remain stoic while enduring the physical discomfort caused by real martial arts training you can never realize the full spectrum of your potential as a martial artist and as a human being.

“Good things come to those who wait” , “Beware the wrath of a patient man” These sayings are directly applicable to martial arts and true. Don’t rush for the END of the fight, appreciate the NOW of it and and the end will come. Set it up. Not to imply that you do nothing or don’t act quite the opposite actually. Let your opponent make a mistake which given enough time we all do, so be patient wait and when the time is right unload all that patient wrath in a calculated instant.

Remember that patience is a virtue, take your time, the end will still be the end no matter how long it takes to get there and it’s better to get there correctly and safely than it is to take shortcuts. Learn Patience, Learn Kindness, Learn Humility, Learn Iron Mantis

Peace.