A Special Stillness.

In the space between each thought and act is a special stillness that carries from stillness to stillness giving balance to thought and act.

Everything arises from and returns to stillness. Stillness is the ease in which non-thinking and non-doing happen of themselves.

207 The Tao of relationships

by Ray Grigg

Victory over oneself is the primary goal of our training. We focus on the spirit rather than the form, the kernel rather than the shell.

P86 The Art of Peace By Morihei Ueshiba

It is surprising how many conflicts are prevented, managed, or resolved using a sense of humour, humility, and good manners.

P15 Aikido Weapons Techniques by Phong Thong Dang and Lynn Seiser

Say to yourself first thing in the morning: today I shall meet people who are meddling, ungrateful, aggressive, treacherous, malicious, unsocial. All this has afflicted them through their ignorance of true good and evil. But I have seen that the nature of good is what is right, and the nature of evil what is wrong; and have reflected that the nature of the offender himself is akin to my own – not a kinship of blood or seed, but a sharing in the same mind, the same fragment of divinity. Therefore I cannot be harmed by any of them, as none will infect me with their wrong. Nor can I be angry with my kinsmen or hate him. We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. So to work in opposition to one another is against nature: anger or rejection is opposition.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

Socrates

We need to remember that the primary goal of Aikido is harmony and good relations between people. If we don’t cultivate a harmonious heart along with technical skill, there will be a lack of integration in our practice, which will show up in behavior off the mat.

Linda Holiday, Journey to the Heart of Aikido: The Teachings of Motomichi Anno Sensei

Walk with your head in the clouds and you will stumble and fall. Walk with your head down and you will bump and brush your head. You should always try fostering a mindset that can see in all directions.

p 89 Enlightenment through Aikido by Kanshū Sunadomari