The Happiest Person in the Room

On one unforgettable occasion, Maruyama Sensei was visiting Rutgers dojo. In our new location we had to walk the gauntlet of the weight training room to get to the practice space. Thirty-odd young men were lifting huge metal plates on various machines and sweating profusely. Three or four of us trouped through in our gi, feeling rather small in the presence of all that unadulterated muscle. I muttered something about how Sensei was still the strongest man in the room. Sensei immediately said, "Don't say I'm the strongest, say I'm the happiest man in the room!"

That point comes back to me often. Sensei often says that having money, a girlfriend, a job, will make us happy of course, but the practice of aikido will help us become more happy even without money, without a girl (or boy) friend, without a job.

Recently, because some trees fell in a storm, our house had no power for eight days. When it was turned on again we found that the hot water, the heating system, the garage door opener, the stove and several small appliances had been destroyed by the power surge. To me it was an inconvenience, certainly, a good story to tell, and in some ways interesting to see how being without power made me more aware of my environment. But we have no small children, we have wood stoves, a gas range, showers at work, homeowners' insurance. Yet as I've told people this story,  I can tell by the shocked expressions that many would have found it far more stressful than I did.

I'm no saint. Things upset me. But I do wonder if practicing aikido, especially under Sensei, has something to do with the fact that, even when I'm under stress, I still feel like the happiest person in the room.