At Least Do No Harm

“At least do no harm.” This has been my mantra for my students, especially my black belts, who are struggling with motivation. Most of you have heard me say it but I suspect many of you underestimate how the mantra applies to you.

Mastery is a continuous challenge. It is impossible to embrace mastery without having to face challenges. In fact, mastery cannot exist without challenges. The greater the challenge, the greater the opportunity for mastery. Our egos tend to get in the way of recognizing the opportunities created by challenges. Hence my constant reminder to all of my students that you must become a control freak. So while you cannot control what challenges life throws your way, you have absolute control over how you choose to respond to those challenges. You can shrink away in the face of the challenge and lash out with your frustration, or you can accept challenges as a certainty in life and adjust your sails accordingly. It is your choice.

My mantra of ‘at least do no harm’ is for those of you who are so overwhelmed with what life has thrown your way that you cannot make the decision to help yourself. When we are focused on only helping ourselves, we can lose our awareness of inter-being. Nothing we do happens in a void. Everything we do matters. Everything we do not do also matters. So not making a decision to help ourselves has consequences beyond ourselves. Hence the mantra. If I am not choosing a positive path by exploiting opportunity, I need to be aware that the lack of positivity creates space for negativity. This is where people overwhelmed tend to gravitate - negativity. Rather than taking action to help ourselves, we lash out and cut others down. Instead of training harder to achieve our goals we blame our situation for our mediocrity, totally ignoring that our situation is a result of our own actions.

Often the worst outcome of our negative response to challenges is the collateral damage it causes. Bad attitudes are as infectious as good attitudes. By keeping the ideal of ‘at least do no harm’ in front of us, we are reminded that how we choose to react to our stress is going to either help or hinder, not only ourselves, but those around us.

“Make a habit of two things: to help; or at least do no harm.” - Hippocrates (460 - 370 BC)