Theodore Roosevelt stated that,
“Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.”
And Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote,
“Manners are not idle, but the fruit of loyal nature and of noble mind.”
The true being does indeed have a noble mind, which is the root of courtesy. Hopefully you are beginning to see that behaving in a certain manner, consistent with who you are as a warrior, is independent of the actions of others, no matter how rude or threatening they are acting.
Winston Churchill put it about as plainly as possible when he stated,
“Even when you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.”
This is a pretty strong statement concerning your actions.
If you should be polite, even if you have to end someone’s life, how much more so should you be courteous and polite in normal, everyday interactions?
Simply put, be polite and courteous no matter what the circumstances.
Making courtesy a regular part of your normal behaviour is a sign of a noble being who has refined his actions and brought them in line with his own high expectations.
Matsura Seizen stated,
“Noblemen discipline themselves to be dignified at all times…Sharpen your mind and show your dignity.”
This is exactly what you are doing when you continuously behave in a courteous manner.
By acting this way consistently, people will start to recognize your quality.
Be master of the mind rather than mastered by the mind.
Your mind is one of the tools that you have been blessed with on your journey. Your mind and your thoughts have great power when used correctly.
The key here is to learn to use the mind correctly instead of allowing it to merely function randomly as it wills.
You must learn to control your mind and your thoughts.
Use your mind to manifest the things you want in your life.
You decide what thoughts will be entertained, not your mind.
When you master your mind, you master your life.
ps/smoh
