Watching the Dragon Ball series life lesson nostalgia.
Every episode hints at hidden esoteric gems.
Allow me to provide a high-level overview of what’s reinforced.
Gohan
Gohan has the luxury of being homeschooled until he’s of high school age.
With the condition of the public school systems today, wouldn’t it be ideal if more families could homeschool?
Thanks to his mother, Chi Chi, Gohan focuses on his books, unlike his father Goku.
After proving his power in his victory over Cell, he still finds it important to be educated.
Even if it’s not school, we all need to stay focused on learning.
The mind, when not exercised, like muscle, will wither and weaken.
The brain will actually start to deactivate parts of itself when they are not being used.
If we’re not concerned with growing intellect, we could find ourselves becoming “brain dead”.
Vegeta
This guy is my favorite character.
It’s his sheer will, which sometimes borders on ignorance, that inspires me.
This guy trains non-stop.
He will stop at nothing to be the best.
Before the Android Sage, Bulma (wife), builds him a Gravity Machine.
Basically, it’s a room where gravity gets multiplied.
The average human would not be able to stand up in this room, let alone train with the machine set to low.
Vegeta not only trains in this thing but he literally destroys the machine while its set to over 300x gravity.
He was doing handstand pushups on one arm in a gravity machine!
Goals!
We not only need to train our minds but also our bodies.
Neglecting one for the other is not enlightenment.
[bctt tweet=”What good is a strong mind if one cannot protect it?”]
Goku
He’s the series’ protagonist and Japan’s Mickey Mouse.
I hate him but I respect him.
He annoys me for two reasons.
He drops his guard too easily and he’s a naive idiot.
But you have to respect his gangsta when it comes to fighting.
He wants to fight anyone and everyone to prove his supremacy as a fighter.
After Krillin dies for the second time, at the hands of Frieza, we first see Goku turn Super Saiyan.
Goku has a unique drive to consistently reach new heights.
He’s always pushing the envelope.
Pushing himself to the next level – not being satisfied with his current successes.
You’re only as good as your last fight (accomplishment).
Sometimes we get stuck on celebrating our past achievements and we embellish them to prove our worth today.
But what is the next achievement? What’s the next height you’re reaching for?
Piccolo
This guy is like the Godfather of the Z-Fighters.
He’s the mastermind behind the team.
With Goku not around because he’s trying to save the universe, training, or waiting to be wished back to life, Gohan doesn’t have a masculine energy to mentor him.
Piccolo steps into that role.
You can see his mentorship paying off when Gohan basically becomes the coach for Universe 7 in Tournament of Power.
Goku is ready to enter the tournament every man for himself style, as usual…
…But it’s Gohan’s mind that creates the plan to work as a team – a foreign concept for Goku and Vegeta.
What’s the lesson here?
The youth have the energy and the elders have the wisdom.
Experience is meant to be passed down.
When the two are combined you create an unstoppable force.
Too often we set bad examples for the next generation, especially on social media.
The kids are watching and they will emulate us.
You don’t always need to lead someone with hands-on mentorship…
…Because they are always watching.
We just need to be the example.
Another major takeaway from Piccolo is his spiritual nature.
He has mastered the power of visualization.
When he prepared for the Tournament of Power, he didn’t do it physically.
He did it in his mind.
He visualized the fight and prepared in meditation.
When probed for advice and I often prescribe meditation.
It’s such a small thing but it has a big impact.
Something as simple as stillness and breathing can transmute your energy.
Before I write my books or perform daunting activities, I visualize the process in my mind.
I go through the motions mentally before physically.
By the time it’s time for me to physically do a thing, it’s already done.
Chi-Chi
Of all the characters, Chi-Chi is probably the most grounded.
While the others are distracted with training and fighting aliens, Chi-Chi is the one who reminds them that bills have to be paid and the kids have an education to get.
She’s what’s missing from so many families in America today.
With feminism pulling women out of the home and into the workforce, there’s no one home to attend to the kids full time.
With a fulltime mother, kids get all the care and attention they need.
It’s gender roles that hold the family together as a solid unit.
Chi-Chi was no pushover either. She’s the only person who can intimidate Goku.
She had assault rifles and submachine guns (definitely a second amendment advocate).
She was no slouch and could fight with the best of them.
But that never got in the way of her role as a woman.
She kept Goku grounded and in check.
She’s the mind of the home…
…a vital role in creating a powerful nation.
Frieza
As mentioned in my book, sometimes enemies make great allies.
Often, you and your enemies have more in common than you know.
As Goku’s nemesis, it’s hard to picture them on the same team.
But when Goku assembled the team for Universe 7, they wished Frieza back to life.
You’d expect Frieza to backstab the team but (spoiler) he doesn’t.
Goku was about to be eliminated from the tournament, meaning that Universe 7 would lose their best team member extremely early, but Frieza saves him.
It’s not a question of if Goku could trust Frieza.
It’s a matter of how much does Goku trust himself.
Sometimes it’s not that we don’t trust others, its that we don’t trust ourselves.
We don’t trust others because we don’t believe that we can create measures to protect ourselves from betrayal.
Final Thoughts
There are many aspects of our being and too often we focus on one and neglect the others.
Mind, body, and soul is cliche but it’s real.
Each are like a muscle and need to be exercised and pushed to their limits.
We have to strive for new heights daily.
We can’t be concerned with past or future but instead, need to focus on the present moment.
Because both past and future are reliant upon the present.
Keep ya third eye open like Tien, yall!
