patterns pretty much form the moment one executes on a task/a condition more than one time. the question might be more towards "do I let it nurture or do I intervene"? from a non-martial arts perspective: are patterns good? evil? from a martial arts perspective: are patterns good? evil?.... predictable? is that evil?

depends on the context where I need it. usually when seeking for it in daily live, it's already in a situation, I'm at a loss when relying to my usual methods, being in the need of more sophisticated ones. The moment I'm "forced" to think in patterns that aren't usually required, I'm already in a state of defence and having to rely on me living the principles of calm, clarity and presence are getting dominant in a respective situation. however, depending on the response, I'm abandoning it entirely - fairness prevails in the end. Presence, calm and clarity are tools and where they're used, is purely contextual.

While I get at what you're trying to say that pushing ahead focuses on expansion of knowledge and skill but leaves you spread thin like butter (took that quote from LotR, of course). I don't know out of the blue if optimization would be the right word for that kind of advancement. It makes progress brittle and building from it, risks collapse - like the saying goes: don't fear who has done 1000 techniques once. Fear the one that has done one technique a thousand times. I'd define optimization as the opposite. in fact, actually it describing the progress of considering depth, understanding and learning about what you've learned - in contrast to advancement. BUT! that's my interpretation, of course :) did you had other words in mind to describe this construct? to add something to your initial question: actually, I rather not advance if I feel that I lack in sections I'm still not rock solid. at work, I get told "advance! learn this, learn that!" but I reject it, if I haven't understood the need for it, even more if I can clearly see that I'm not using that stuff in the forseeable future. of course... if something's interesting enough, I'll go through it. but then again, it's a different motivation Happy Easter!

次！ Greetings from a place called not-Heidelberg!!! But close enough :) My journey began rather stereotypical - like almost everybody had a similar motivation. Watching movies and documentaries, as well as anime (almost nobody can deny pop culture having having some kind of impact in this journey), I wanted to learn more about it and tried several martial arts for multiple years, predominantly Ninjutsu. The science behind the movements and the concepts were more important than rules and competition. Strategic thinking, decision-making and effectiveness became a great part of my training and especially the effects on others was stuff that also put fear into me and my abilities. In short: the meta around martial arts and the influence on peoples behaviour is what's currently led me to this community. And previously already having such a community but having lost it, I can tell you: "Howdy, it's difficult to find people with that mindset!" The last question is a tricky one, so I'm answering with a question to myself: "Do others also look at the darkness next to the illuminated path?"

I haven't incorporated a next step every time but tried to introduce the method in daily activities where saw it fit. I'm not yet able to put the progress into words but it certainly helped in one or the other cases