Mental Martial Arts
by Nancy Mueller
I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to
become. ~ Carl Jung
I used to ask myself, “what probable reason could there
be for living the life I’ve lived?” Growing up with ques-
tions about what had been done TO me created a strong
belief that the only way to survive in this world is to fight
for what you want.
When a person is raised with violence, violence seems to
be the only way to solve the obstacles and challenges of
life. When we think of the term, “An Eye For An Eye” it’s
easy to see how vengeance can seem like the answer to
all our problems. In turbulent times with senseless acts of
violence, war, sickness, death and dying; we often hear
the cry, “where is God in all of this?”
When I hear people ask that question, I place my hand
over my heart and think, “right here, God is right here!” It’s
those times when I’m reminded about the lyrics to a song:
Listen people to a story
That was written long ago,
'bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley folks below.
On the mountain was a treasure
Hidden deep beneath a stone,
And the valley people swore
They'd have it for their very own.
Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing,
Come the judgment day,
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away.
So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill,
Asking for the buried treasure
Tons of gold for which they'd kill.
Came the answer from the kingdom,
With our brothers we will share,
All the riches of the mountain,
All the treasure buried there.
Now the valley cried with anger,
Mount your horses, draw your swords
And they killed the mountain people,
So they won their just rewards
Now they stood before the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it
Peace on earth, was all it said.
Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat and friend,
Do it in the name of heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day,
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away.
When temptation demands an eye for an eye, what
would happen if more of us would take a moment to put
our hands on our heart, feel the God within us, and make
a conscious choice to realize that true power comes from
the thoughts we think and the actions we take based on
our thoughts?
Every word only has the meaning we give it; understand-
ing this means we have the power to draw from our
mental Martial Arts; AKA: drawing on love instead of hate
to settle our differences, curiosity instead of judgment and
peace before war.
After all, Life Is All About Choices!
*1970 One Tin Soldier by Joni Mitchell