A Short Instruction:
The purpose of this article is to practice and validate the Ki principles (Mind moves body) which are the foundation of Ki-Aikido in your daily life. Therefore, it has no meaning if you just read it without practicing it.
The fundamental method of mastering anything is practice. However, not just practice, but it is also important to validate how one has changed as a result of the practice.
It is easy to lose what you have learned without practice. On the other hand, you will never lose what you have learned through practice and validation. Therefore, please read, practice, and validate the contents of my article at least a month.
Sending Plus Ki
I recently taught the Ki principle to business managers at a seminar in Japan.
It is a five-part seminar taking place over a period of five months. At the final seminar of all five, they will have a camp that will last three days and two nights at Ki no Sato.
These managers from all over Japan always study very sincerely.
At the beginning, they don’t consult me because of diffidence. But in process of studying, building relationships of trust between participants and me, they start to talk to me in the following way, “Between you and me, sensei…”
“My staff doesn’t report to me.” “My staff doesn’t have positive attitude.” These are the most common consultations.
“Reporting, informing, and talking” are basic aspects of business.
Reports about bad things like accidents, trouble, or claims are particularly important, because the delay of reporting makes the matter worse.
The delay of good news matters little, however, the delay of a bad report absolutely matters. Disguising a bad report is the worst.
Therefore, it is a serious problem when managers cannot get reports from their staff. I think it is not surprising for managers to be disturbed by this. The staff of Ki Society H.Q. also trains in order to report smoothly.
In many cases, if the staff doesn’t report to the manager, the manager tries to blame their staff.
“Why don’t you make reports immediately?”
“Every time I tell you that your reports are very important!”
“I always keep the door of the president’s room open! Why don’t you come in?”
I can understand why they are reluctant. But in many cases, it is not the staff, but the managers who are responsible for this unwillingness.
If managers have a hard or somber face when their staff comes to report, they feel it difficult to report to their managers. Most of us would like to approach people who are sending plus Ki, and would move away from people sending minus Ki.
Therefore, we have to check our own state of mind first, before blaming our staff for not reporting. Especially we should check our own face in the mirror.
There is a great manager who practiced this right away after my teaching. He put a small mirror on his desk. He changed his habit by checking his face with the mirror before he talked with his staff.
He said, “I was so surprised when I looked at my face.” He was surprised to find that there were a few frown lines between his eyebrows. After he had changed this, he got more reports from his staff than before.
In addition to this, I heard that conversations with his family were increased. Probably he might have talked to his child with a stern look in the same way.
If you want to improve not only “reporting, informing, and talking” but also communications, you have to “send plus Ki” first. To send plus Ki means taking the matter positively, having plus thinking, using plus words, having a plus face and having a plus attitude.
This also applies to relations between parents and children, teachers and students. It is important not only for business managers but also parents and teachers to create a mood in which someone feels at ease to talk to them.
Sending plus Ki brings plus results. Sending minus Ki results in minus.
Below is this month’s practice and validation:
[Point of practice]
Check your face before a conversation.
See if you are sending plus Ki or not.
Talk with you partner while sending plus Ki.
[Point of validation]
Observe the change in how your partner responds to you.