How Martial Arts has changed my life.

[Goju_boi]

It just randomly came into my mind.i think it might of been from South Park.

[lgm]

I changed through time. The martial arts was one of the various things in my life that i incorporated into my being... but it was 'my' choice to do so, and therefore it was not the martial arts that changed me, but me changing myself via the use of martial arts and other means. I.e., the martial arts, the study of philosophy, computers, art, literature, etc.. all of these were things that "I" opted to subject myself to, because that is what i wanted of myself... what i wanted to absorb.

And thus my joking reference to me being Batman. He made himself. Through the experiences he was subjected to, he had options... and he chose the paths to take to develop himself to what he became.

People make themselves from what they experience, not the other way around, therefore the martial arts didn't change you... you changed yourself and used the martial arts, like a cheap date, to obtain some of the goals you were aspiring to.

You are not a feather in the wind.

I guess when people say martial arts changed their lives for the better, they mean that the training and experiences they have had in martial arts changed their way of thinking, attitudes and coping styles. According to cognitive psychologists, what your beliefs are so will be the way you act. You changed yourself due to a change of your thinking and your thinking changed because of your martial arts experience. We may be splitting hairs here, but from the epistemological point of view, one's martial arts exposure do indeed change people by changing their way of thinking. So, in this sense, people are still correct when they say their martial arts training changed them for the better.

But, is this objectively and validly true? Or, it is just a personal, subjective and biased experience? Current psychological researches reveal some initial positive findings in the area of self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy/self-confidence, anxiety and aggression, but more confirmatory scientific researches are needed to support such preliminary findings. As far as my own doctoral research on related literature in the US and other countries regarding the effects of karate on personality, no psychological study has claimed global or overall change in personality functioning due to martial arts training, but only on some or a few selected traits that have been scientifically investigated. (For those interested, documentary sources can be cited upon request. You can pm me.)

Edited October 3, 2005 by lgm

[White Warlock]

Which is very much my point, actually. People undergo changes due to what they expose themselves to. In this case, exposure to the martial arts. As you indicated, there is no hard evidence to support the claim that it is the martial arts which made the changes in the person, or whether the person underwent change utilizing the martial arts as a utility, or medium to do so. Or, even whether it is merely that certain persons geared toward certain thinkings merely levitate towards such studies, and thus the characteristics within them that were dormant received the outlet they needed to reach the next phase of their evolution.

Of course, this bent is exiting psychology and entering into philosophy but ah well...

[Goju_boi]

isn't there a study out there that shows that martial arts helps kids with add and kids with agression problems.If there is it might go into the "martial arts changed my life" thing.