William Vandry's blog

I recently had one of the nicest private dinners with some very close friends in my life. I enjoyed the dinner, which almost turned into a William Vandry roast, with laughter, cheers, good camaraderie, small talk and overall reflection of my relationships with these great people.

First of all Happy New Year to all of my students, association academies, friends and family! I hope everyone has some new resolutions to be made, focused and goal setting to accomplish for 2010. I have worked on new ideas for teaching, developing new ideas for students to learn at an accelerated rate and to be a constant student in this martial art.

The last two months have given me an opportunity to not just reflect and write about Black belt responsibilities, but the whole responsibility that tests your humility, your mental restructuring, your daily attitude, your mentality as an athlete and martial artist, your grace with other students, emotional maturity, and overall the whole responsibility while pursuing the trail of the goal to BJJ Black belt.

Last month I discussed more of direct protocols involving responsibilities, protocols and some personal and philosophical requirements that I have learned from my instructors (Carlos, Roger, Rigan, John and Jean Jacques Machado), and moreso, from my own life, upbringing and my own philosophies.

Whew. The mid and last week of July and the first week of August this year were three weeks of a reflection upon myself, my community, my career, and my meaning to myself. In BJJ and even the blending with MMA, our community search, meaning and pathway in our destiny to find our meaning is a question that will never fully be answered, but like good and bad, black and white, right or wrong, we always have a general idea of the general meaning.