The Zen of Humility

I mentioned to you that I have begun training again in the martial arts. There is something about beginning again, that I find both frustrating, and exceedingly challenging.
The sports that have appealed to me have always been those that require an internal challenge. I like the intensity of battling myself. Running is like that, so is weight training. Martial arts is that way, too. Team sports have never been my thing, perhaps I don't play so well with others.
My current intellectual battle is this struggle to un-learn. It's more difficult than learning something from scratch, because I need to work backwards a bit before I can go forward. Weird, huh? The conscious decision to empty myself, is far more difficult than the filling part.
Because I am in a new style, I have to go back to a very ridged, mechanical way of moving. Slow and deliberate is the only way to accurately program muscle memory. I keep finding that habit wants to o'er take me as I begin to move, and I feel less adept than the freshest white belt. I fight my prior programing with every series of movement.
This process forces me to focus with an internal intensity that is very much exhilarating. Love that.
The humility required is instructive, too. Unless I am willing to forget all I think I know, and subject myself to the teaching at this new school, I will not progress. There's a lesson in that. To humble myself is a choice. It requires an accurate assessment of my skills, and their relevance to my current situation. That is applicable to many other aspects of my life. And that alone is worth the price of admission.
I can be confident and teachable. At the same time.
I may know lots of things about this or that, but I know nothing about what you may teach me today. And for the opportunity of learning about you, I can set all else aside.
There is more yet to learn than what I may think I know.
Too many martial artists are convinced that they know it all. Too many human beings are convinced that they have no need to be taught.
Gosh, if only I can remember this valuable lesson, and apply it to all my relationships! I would be a much nicer person.