February 4, 2025 • 24 mins
What if everything you’ve done in life—every mundane task, every struggle, every challenge—was actually preparing you for something bigger?
In this episode of the Engineering Emotions & Energy Podcast, Justin Wenck takes a deep dive into The Karate Kid (1984) and the powerful life lessons hidden within the classic film. From unexpected training methods to the power of trust, discipline, and resilience, this episode will shift your perspective on your own personal journey.
Key Highlights:
- 🎬 The Karate Kid Breakdown: How this 80s classic is packed with personal growth lessons.
- 🥋 The Power of Training: Why the “Wax On, Wax Off” moments of your life matter more than you think.
- 💡 Trusting the Process: How frustration can lead to breakthroughs in your personal and professional life.
- 🏆 You’re the Best Around: Embracing setbacks as part of your path to greatness.
- 🤔 Then vs. Now: How perceptions of masculinity, mentorship, and gender roles have shifted since the 80s.
- 🎶 The Ultimate Hype Song: Why “You’re the Best” is more than just a catchy tune—it’s a mindset!
Overcome the daily grind with transformative techniques from Justin's book, 'Engineered to Love.'
These practices aren't just about finding peace—they're about reconnecting with yourself and the world around you in meaningful ways.
Access your free materials today at engineeredtolove.com/sample and start living a life filled with joy, ease, and love.
Watch the full video episode at Justin Wenck, Ph.D. YouTube Channel!
Check out my best-selling book "Engineered to Love: Going Beyond Success to Fulfillment" also available on Audiobook on all streaming platforms! Go to https://www.engineeredtolove.com/ to learn more!
Got a question or comment about the show? E-mail me at podcast@justinwenck.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What if all of these things thatyou've been up to have been the
(00:03):
training for the big event thatis yet to come? And we're
talking about this through thelens of 1980 four's Karate Kid,
this is it. This is the end ofthe line.
Hey, I know it's hard, but we'renot quite as are we. I promise,
teach karate. It's not justkarate. Listen for all life
(00:27):
Columbia Pictures presentThe Karate Kid.
That's right, I watched theKarate Kid again for the first
time in probably over 30 years,and it was incredible. And so
many life lessons and so muchentertaining so let's get into
it. Are you ready to live a lifewith enough time, money and
(00:52):
energy have relationships andconnections that delight you?
Are you ready for theextraordinary life you know
you've been missing? If so, thenthis is the place for you. I'm a
best selling author, coach,consultant and speaker who's
worked in technology for overtwo decades. I'm a leader at
transforming people andorganizations from operating in
(01:14):
fear, obligation and guilt torunning off joy, ease and love.
It's time for engineeringemotions and energy with me.
Justin Wenck PhD, Hi there.
Today we are talking about, whatif. What if, everything you've
been doing in your life, all themundane things, all the things
(01:38):
that seem pointless, all thethings that have seemed tedious,
or maybe there have been somefulfillment, but at some point
you get you're like, there's gotto be more than this. Like,
there's more. I want more. Therehas to be more to my life. What
is it? What if all of thesethings that you've been up to
have been the training for thebig event that is yet to come?
And we're talking about thisthrough the lens of 1980 four's
(02:01):
Karate Kid. That's right, Iwatched the Karate Kid again for
the first time in probably over30 years, and it was incredible,
and so many life lessons and somuch entertaining. So let's get
into it. So karate kid came outin 1984 it's about teenage guy,
(02:23):
Daniel's son, Danny Larusso,played by Ralph Macchio. Mom
moves him out from New Jersey toCalifornia because she gets a
job and he's there and thingsare not going well. But one
thing that really amazed me isjust how Daniel LaRusso, this
kid's got Moxie. He's ballsy,like he's mixing it up. He's
(02:46):
making friends and gettinginvited mixing it up. And what's
interesting is that this ends uphe's runs into people that, oh,
he starts to get some friction.
So these these guys, these CobraKai guys from the rich part of
town. And it's really funnybecause I'm from Southern
California, so it's like, I knowsome of these, some of these
towns. And it's reallyinteresting because the rich
(03:08):
people are from Encino, andDaniel is living with his mom,
where he also meets Mr. Miyagiin town called Reseda. And all
this is, if you're not aware ofSouthern California, greater Los
Angeles area. Stuff is in whatis known as the San Fernando
Valley. And I don't know ifnowadays, any of that is
(03:29):
considered, you know, thegreatest place. None of this is
Bel Air. None of this is BeverlyHills. It's funny that they're
like, oh, he lives in receita.
Like, Oh, can't believe you'retalking to somebody from Reseda
and Encino. You maybe have heardof the little Brendan Fraser
movie called Encino Man as Idon't think that's considered
super fancy anymore, but in thismovie, it's fancy. And so Encino
good receipt of bad. But Danielis getting kind of like, beat up
(03:57):
and harassed. He's didn't makesome of the best moves, but he
meets Mr. Miyagi, who is themaintenance guy at the place
where he lives. And eventually,Mr. Miyagi agrees to teach
Daniel karate so that he candeal with his struggles. But one
of the one of the big lessons isit's not about fighting. It's
(04:19):
about defense, and it's reallyabout, like, personal peace.
It's a karate is about nothaving to fight. And I felt like
that was a really great, a greatlesson in there, because the guy
from Cobra Kai, their sensei isjust all about show no mercy,
like, take it to your enemy.
Like, almost, they're just,like, looking for a fight, and
(04:40):
they get to this arrangementwhere Daniel has to fight the
main bad kid who's beenharassing the most, who also is
the ex boyfriend of his buddinglove romance. So we're going to
get to the training and the bigevent. But first I want to share
some kind of, like, veryinteresting things that. Little
bit of slice of life, because,again, this movie is from 1984 I
(05:03):
was born in the early 80s, so Iknow I saw this, probably, maybe
when I was I don't know, I wantto say maybe, like nine or
something, but quite young. Andit's one of those things, like,
I remember certain things, butlots of things that I didn't
remember. And I don't think I'dseen this. So it's really was,
like going back in time. And onething was the there's like, two
(05:24):
or three scenes where they needto push start a car because the
battery is dead or they lostcharge. And it's one of those
things like growing up, Idefinitely remember doing this a
couple few times with my dad.
Was like, Oh, that the dots inthe dots in b2, 10. We got to
push start this thing. Let's geta rolling start push. And you,
you know, I'm going to pushJustin you get in there and make
(05:44):
sure the thing doesn't careen,you know, off into the sidewalk
and and then turn the key andI'm going to jump in. And this
was totally a thing, and Ihaven't heard or seen of that in
20 years. So I'd be curious ifyou, if you're watching this,
have you ever had to push startit a car, or heard about it? And
if so, what decade were youborn? When's the last time you
(06:05):
had to do it? And then anotherreally interesting thing is
family fun centers. Daniel has acouple dates, a couple outings
to what I always call a FamilyFun Center. And this place
usually has many golf videogames and possibly other things.
And definitely late aliens,early 90s, there was lots of
cool other things, at least whenI was a kid. These are, like
(06:27):
bumper boats. And I think Ialready met, I don't know the
bumper boats, I think, and maybeit was a bumper cars and
possibly other rides, like theycould have been also a water
park. And it was just kind of,oh, batting cages, batting
cages, right? And so I'd also becurious anybody still to ever go
to family fun centers, because Inot a part of a family with
(06:48):
small kids, so I don't know ifthat would be my place. And
another really interesting thingthat I noticed that came up was
a couple things, this is great.
We're going to be getting to thepart of how your life is in
training very soon. So continuelistening. But this, some of
(07:08):
this is like, what's old is new.
What's new is old, and sometimeswe have to grow through what we
thought we knew to get to wherewe want to go. And one thing
there's a part later on in theshow, after Daniel gets his
driver's license. Mr. Miyagi hasgiven him a car. He meets at the
Family Fun Center his romanticinterest, Lady lady friend, and
she's, she's like, Oh, wow, yougot this car. And he's like,
(07:31):
yeah, do you want to drive it?
And she's like, really, you'regonna let me drive it? And it's,
it's sitting away, implying thatyou're Wait, the man is gonna
let a woman drive? And he goes,Hey, it's the 80s. And as far as
I know, to me, this is one ofthe earliest decades where that
has come up, where there'ssomething about, oh, women can
(07:52):
only do certain things. And it'slike, Well, hey, this is, this
is a modern era. Women can doanything. And I don't know if
I'd seen it any earlier than1984 so I'd love it if you have
a better, more, earlier exampleof this, of this common trope
that I think actually in thelast five to 10 years has gone
away and it's been completelyreplaced with women can just
(08:15):
automatically do everythingamazing. Yeah, there's as
opposed to like but I just findit interesting that for this
movie is now literally over 40years old, and so that means for
40 years this concept of, oh,can women do a thing? And it's
like, of course, this is themodern era. So this might be
(08:37):
something where it's just timeto realize that people are
people, and doesn't matterwhat's between your legs, some
people can do things, otherpeople's can't. And that they
can't might be because theyhaven't learned yet, or maybe
they don't want to. Maybethey're here for something else.
And so let's, you know, just letgo of the Oh, you have to,
(08:57):
either, you know, bedisempowered because of
something, or you're empoweredto make up for decades of just
do what, do what you want, dowhat you want. So that that's
one where I think it's like,Okay, it's time to just move
beyond but I would like to know,have you ever seen an earlier
instance of the Hey, it's, it'sthe 50s. So like, yeah, let, let
(09:20):
a let a woman smoke a smoke acigarette while she's pregnant.
Hey, it's the 50s. Hey,Menthols, the
taste of a new generation. Isthat Pepsi and so how that was
interesting. And then a coupleother interesting things. Is
Daniel the kids got Do theystill, they still say Riz the
(09:41):
charisma, but he's got away withhe's got away with the ladies,
just the confidence. He's got anassertiveness and a dominance
that I don't know if you wouldbe able to write this and
portray this anymore, becauseit's one of those, like it's
borderline. But he. He rides theedge where he's actually always
(10:03):
aware of his his impact, of howhe's in his space, how of how
he's in the girls space, and howhe's talking to her, of how
she's taking it in, you know.
And again, he's a teenage boy,so he's not the greatest, but
still, there's a little bit ofhe's got some confidence, but
some awareness, and he's stillbeing assertive and dominant
while also being aware. And insome ways, it's really is pretty
close to what is a very healthyform of masculinity. And
(10:27):
nowadays, I don't know if we seethat it would be sort of like,
very, very passive. Or it'seither would be passive and that
would be shown as like, Oh, thisis appropriate to like, not even
try and or it would just beshown as as like, Oh, it's too
much. And he's, it's, it'stoxic, it's toxic masculinity.
He's being aggressive anddomineering, which he absolutely
(10:47):
was not yet. It's just kind ofinteresting at the all these
years later, it's like, ooh, wedon't see this anymore. That's
that wouldn't be consideredokay, because this is too close
towards what we consider, but alot of times healthy behavior.
It's about the balance. It'sabout it's about bringing in the
balance between what is maybeharmful, and then outwards
(11:09):
towards others, and then what isharmful to the self by just
almost going in and collapsing.
And I thought it was really coolto see sort of this balancing of
that, hey, he's got some thingshe wants to do and express. And
I thought it was also amazinghow the young woman she she was
(11:30):
expressing herself and going,No, leave, give me my space, and
she was exerting herself. Ithought it was, you know, again,
these are teenagers, so they'renot the greatest, yet they're
both not afraid to expressthemselves and to say no or to
say what they want. I justthought that was like, really
amazing in this movie from 1984and then the other thing that
(11:51):
we're going to lead into the howthis ties into with your entire
life and where it's going, isthe relationship between Daniel
and Mr. Miyagi that I'm I'mwatching this, and there's a lot
where it's just like this, he'sborderline like a pedophile cult
leader. Oh, maybe that'ssupposed to be bleeped out on
(12:13):
YouTube, or, I don't know,because there's certain words
that I watch, but I think it'sbecause they try to be
monetized. I'm not here to bemonetized. I'm just here to get
messages out so that you canhave a better life and enjoy
enjoy the process. So enjoy theshow. Well, getting things that
maybe improve your life, butit's like, because Mr. Miyagi,
the first few things that he hasDanielson do is like, I'll come
(12:34):
over to my place where nobodyknows. And then he's He has him
wax his car, has him paint hishouse, hasn't paint his fence,
and then it's like, Okay, nowthat you're really bought in,
hey, let's go to the beach.
Here. You get in your swimsuitand go get wet, and I'm just
gonna sit here, then I'm gonnawatch, gonna watch you in the
water half naked, and justthere's just like, this is like,
(12:57):
if this was a horror movie, belike, Oh, this guy's gonna be,
you know, do some horrible,horrible stuff to young Daniel.
Oh no. Oh no, yeah, that's Mr.
Miyagi. Is on the up and up.
He's on the up and up. And he'shas a purpose for all of these
things in Daniel's bestinterest. And it's this, there's
this tension and trust of hegoes, Daniel goes with it. And
(13:22):
then at times, he's like, Hey,what the fuck is this about?
Like, why am I waxing on, waxingoff, and paint the fence and all
this other and sand in the sandand the board and and then Mr.
Miyagi always finds the way to,kind of, like, get the message
across that, hey, this is doingsomething for you. We had an
agreement. I'm teaching you now,fucking learn. And I feel like
(13:43):
this is something that, in manyways, has gone away, where
there's going to be, I believeit's still out there, where
there are great men. Because Ido feel like as women, get a
bigger pass with underage, withunderage anybody, even though I
just saw like another story ofor something about a, you know,
a woman who had an affair with,like a fifth grader or something
(14:03):
like that. So apparently, thethe women can do shenanigans
with the underage youths aswell. Yet, I feel like it's been
so, you know, not to say thatthere wasn't bad things
happening. Yet, there is alittle bit of, you know, now the
men are kind of put in aposition where it's like, if
(14:24):
you're gonna have anything to dowith anyone younger or, quote,
unquote, in a less position ofpower, even if they are an adult
of your same age, but therecould be a perceived whatever
it's like you better either notdo it or make sure it's so
supervised that there's nopossibility. And so I do wonder,
like, how much of like,beneficial mentoring and
(14:44):
camaraderie has been missed outbecause of the fear of the
things that I ended upperceiving that I think a lot of
us perceive as, like, oh mygosh, this guy is abusive, and
he's probably got some No, no,naughty things that he has in
mind. Because why would thisgrown, grown, older adult man
spend all of this time with ayoung child at and it's like
(15:05):
there's so many reasons thathave nothing to do with abuse or
sexual impropriety or any ofthis stuff. And I kind of wonder
it's like, Have we lost out onsome of that, some of that?
Because we've gone way too farthe other way not to say that
there wasn't that stuff thatneeded to come to light and
needs to be like, No, that isnot proper. But yet, I think
(15:26):
it's, again, it's about it'sabout balance. And throughout
this movie, Mr. Miyagi is oftenlike, hey, balance first, then
then the ability to fight comes.
You must balance, go kick in thewaves. Balance, go stand on that
pedestal. Practice the crane.
Kick for balance. Now the bigthing is, like, danielson's
(15:50):
doing all of this stuff, youknow, painting the fence, waxing
the car, and he's like, What isthe point of this? And I feel
like in my life, and I'm sureyou have this at times in your
life where you're like, why, whyam I doing this? What is the
point of this, even? Why? Why amI doing these mundane things?
And this could be something thatother people go like, Oh my god,
(16:13):
I can't believe you do that.
Like, I can't believe like,you're a medical doctor, like,
Oh my gosh. Like, yeah, you're,you know, you've, you've written
books, or, Oh, you're doing apodcast, or, or maybe it is
mundane, or, you know, it'slike, oh, you're raising, you're
raising a family, or you're,you're in a marriage. All these
things, you know, to differentpeople at different places in
their life can become like, Ohmy gosh. What's the point of
(16:35):
this? What is this movingtowards? And then at some point,
there becomes the AHA, andthere's this a pivotal scene
after Daniel's been sofrustrated. She's like, Oh, why
have I been doing this? I wassupposed to learn karate. And
Mr. Miyagi is just like, throw,starts throwing punches, like,
at his face, and is like, paintthe fence. And then Danielson
just automatically, like, liftshis fist up because he's gotten
(16:58):
out of the muscle memory of howto move his body in these ways,
for the for the karate moves,the appropriate defenses and
offenses and all these things hedidn't know it. And that's what
a lot of our life is. Andyou've, maybe you've had some
moments like this, and if not,I'm sure they're on their way
where it's things start to cometogether. Because I recently had
a situation where I was put, Iwas put in a situation of of
(17:21):
where it was like, Hey, Justin,you're gonna need to describe
what you're doing right now aspart of a part of a workshop.
And I was just like, oh my oh mygosh. I'm so glad I have my
experience as a yoga teacher andas a writer, as an author,
because it was, even though itwas challenging. I was like, put
on the spot. I'm like, I waslike, oh my god, I can do this.
(17:43):
And so no matter what you'vebeen up to in your life, what
you're currently doing now,there are so many skills,
abilities, awarenesses, that youare getting that if you think of
it as training, training forwhatever's coming next, maybe
you know what your equivalent ofthe career championship fighting
(18:04):
thing is, or maybe you don't.
Point is it's on the way, andyou're in training, and so just
that little shift, that littlemindset of all the little
things, whenever you're like,what's the point of this? If you
can just look at as like, I'mbeing trained, whether you have
your Mr. Miyagi or not, I'd liketo believe that we actually all
do, whether they are, you know,our internal trainer, or maybe
(18:25):
it is actually somebody yet weare effectively, this human
experience is a little bit likea training where we just
continue to grow and have newexperiences. And lots of times,
the reason we haven't gottenwhat it is we think we want yet
is we're still getting thetools, we're still getting the
skills, so that we canultimately, ultimately succeed
(18:46):
and enjoy it, and even thefailure, the times where it
doesn't work. Because it'samazing how challenging the last
fight is, because the last fightbefore the penultimate fight
before the championship, hebasically gets kicked and
injured. And he's Daniel stillgets up, he's like, No, I'm
gonna fight the last matchagainst the guy that's been the
(19:07):
bully for this entire movie. Andthen there's still, like, a
couple, like, cheap shots andthings like that. And Daniel was
like, Oh, this hurts. This ishard,
yet he finds it within himself.
And it was such a reallychallenging experience to get to
that. Yet he kept overcoming,and he and he succeeded, and it
wouldn't have been as sweet. Itwouldn't have been as amazing
(19:28):
without all of those littlehiccups, those challenges. So
when you look at your life andwhat you're going through and
the challenges and the setbacks,can you see it through that lens
of, I'm having the greatest, thegreatest experience that I could
possibly have. This is going tobe something for the ages. And
just maybe you are not to that,that climax just yet, you're
(19:49):
you're almost there. It's thepart of the movie where it seems
like, oh my gosh, I'm going tofail. It's not going to be good
enough. And this is where I'mgoing to end with. With the the
big song that gets played duringthe end, I'm trying to it's,
it's called, you're the best.
And I think it's like by thisguy, Esposito, and it's, it
(20:12):
starts, it starts out, you know,this, try to be the best,
because you're only a man, andthe man's got to learn to take
it. So again, you know, this isearly 1980s try to believe,
though the going gets tough. Yougotta hang tough to make it.
It's like, all right, you know,stick with it. Stick with it,
right? Like Daniel's been doingthroughout the movie and
throughout this this tournament,history repeats itself. Wait a
(20:35):
minute, this is the first time.
Turns out this song wasoriginally meant to be for Rocky
three, and so history repeatingitself would have made a lot
more sense, because I thinkRocky, had, you know, tried to
do things and just would makesense for a sequel, not for
original, but he didn't want torewrite the song. And you'll
succeed. Never doubt that you'rethe one and you can have your
(20:55):
dreams. You're the best aroundnothing's ever going to keep you
down. You're the best around,nothing's going to ever keep you
down. You're the best around,nothing's going to ever keep you
down. So just remember thatyou're the best and nothing's
(21:16):
ever going to keep you down. Andkeep going. Remember that
whatever you've been through,whatever you're going through
now, consider it training forthe big thing that you may not
even know realize is coming. Yetit's coming, and you're going to
find so much joy, so muchpleasure in that that bring it
into the present moment andenjoy the joy and the amazement
(21:37):
of the process of being intraining, of being on the
journey, and recognizing thatnothing's going to get you down
because you're the best, whetheryou're winning, whether you're
losing, whether you're early,whether you're late, whether
you've just won, you're thebest, and just own that have
that compassion for yourself andwhere you are at your journey,
(21:57):
and realize that you never quiteknow how it's all gonna work out
until it's working out. So youmight as well just accept that
it's working out and that you'rethe best around nothing's ever
gonna keep you down. Oh man, Ican't believe I actually was
singing that song. So with that,thank you, and let me know what
(22:19):
you think, if you got anythoughts on the Karate Kid, or
what you might be in trainingfor, or any other interesting
things of you know, used to belike that in the 80s, and now
it's a little different. Some ofit's good, some of it's better,
some of it's worse. Whatever itis, I'd love to hear it. So with
that, thank you, and that's funchatting up the Karate Kid and
(22:41):
how you have been in trainingfor the big the big event that's
still to come. And with that,take care and good day.
Thanksfor tuning in to engineering
emotions and energy with JustinWenck PhD. Today's episode
resonated with you. Pleasesubscribe and leave a five star
review. Your feedback not onlysupports the show, but also
(23:02):
helps others find us and starttheir journey of emotional and
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with someone you think will loveit just as much as you do.
Together, we're engineering moreamazing lives you
What if all of these things thatyou've been up to have been the
(00:03):
training for the big event thatis yet to come? And we're
talking about this through thelens of 1980 four's Karate Kid,
this is it. This is the end ofthe line.
Hey, I know it's hard, but we'renot quite as are we. I promise,
teach karate. It's not justkarate. Listen for all life
(00:27):
Columbia Pictures presentThe Karate Kid.
That's right, I watched theKarate Kid again for the first
time in probably over 30 years,and it was incredible. And so
many life lessons and so muchentertaining so let's get into
it. Are you ready to live a lifewith enough time, money and
(00:52):
energy have relationships andconnections that delight you?
Are you ready for theextraordinary life you know
you've been missing? If so, thenthis is the place for you. I'm a
best selling author, coach,consultant and speaker who's
worked in technology for overtwo decades. I'm a leader at
transforming people andorganizations from operating in
(01:14):
fear, obligation and guilt torunning off joy, ease and love.
It's time for engineeringemotions and energy with me.
Justin Wenck PhD, Hi there.
Today we are talking about, whatif. What if, everything you've
been doing in your life, all themundane things, all the things
(01:38):
that seem pointless, all thethings that have seemed tedious,
or maybe there have been somefulfillment, but at some point
you get you're like, there's gotto be more than this. Like,
there's more. I want more. Therehas to be more to my life. What
is it? What if all of thesethings that you've been up to
have been the training for thebig event that is yet to come?
And we're talking about thisthrough the lens of 1980 four's
(02:01):
Karate Kid. That's right, Iwatched the Karate Kid again for
the first time in probably over30 years, and it was incredible,
and so many life lessons and somuch entertaining. So let's get
into it. So karate kid came outin 1984 it's about teenage guy,
(02:23):
Daniel's son, Danny Larusso,played by Ralph Macchio. Mom
moves him out from New Jersey toCalifornia because she gets a
job and he's there and thingsare not going well. But one
thing that really amazed me isjust how Daniel LaRusso, this
kid's got Moxie. He's ballsy,like he's mixing it up. He's
(02:46):
making friends and gettinginvited mixing it up. And what's
interesting is that this ends uphe's runs into people that, oh,
he starts to get some friction.
So these these guys, these CobraKai guys from the rich part of
town. And it's really funnybecause I'm from Southern
California, so it's like, I knowsome of these, some of these
towns. And it's reallyinteresting because the rich
(03:08):
people are from Encino, andDaniel is living with his mom,
where he also meets Mr. Miyagiin town called Reseda. And all
this is, if you're not aware ofSouthern California, greater Los
Angeles area. Stuff is in whatis known as the San Fernando
Valley. And I don't know ifnowadays, any of that is
(03:29):
considered, you know, thegreatest place. None of this is
Bel Air. None of this is BeverlyHills. It's funny that they're
like, oh, he lives in receita.
Like, Oh, can't believe you'retalking to somebody from Reseda
and Encino. You maybe have heardof the little Brendan Fraser
movie called Encino Man as Idon't think that's considered
super fancy anymore, but in thismovie, it's fancy. And so Encino
good receipt of bad. But Danielis getting kind of like, beat up
(03:57):
and harassed. He's didn't makesome of the best moves, but he
meets Mr. Miyagi, who is themaintenance guy at the place
where he lives. And eventually,Mr. Miyagi agrees to teach
Daniel karate so that he candeal with his struggles. But one
of the one of the big lessons isit's not about fighting. It's
(04:19):
about defense, and it's reallyabout, like, personal peace.
It's a karate is about nothaving to fight. And I felt like
that was a really great, a greatlesson in there, because the guy
from Cobra Kai, their sensei isjust all about show no mercy,
like, take it to your enemy.
Like, almost, they're just,like, looking for a fight, and
(04:40):
they get to this arrangementwhere Daniel has to fight the
main bad kid who's beenharassing the most, who also is
the ex boyfriend of his buddinglove romance. So we're going to
get to the training and the bigevent. But first I want to share
some kind of, like, veryinteresting things that. Little
bit of slice of life, because,again, this movie is from 1984 I
(05:03):
was born in the early 80s, so Iknow I saw this, probably, maybe
when I was I don't know, I wantto say maybe, like nine or
something, but quite young. Andit's one of those things, like,
I remember certain things, butlots of things that I didn't
remember. And I don't think I'dseen this. So it's really was,
like going back in time. And onething was the there's like, two
(05:24):
or three scenes where they needto push start a car because the
battery is dead or they lostcharge. And it's one of those
things like growing up, Idefinitely remember doing this a
couple few times with my dad.
Was like, Oh, that the dots inthe dots in b2, 10. We got to
push start this thing. Let's geta rolling start push. And you,
you know, I'm going to pushJustin you get in there and make
(05:44):
sure the thing doesn't careen,you know, off into the sidewalk
and and then turn the key andI'm going to jump in. And this
was totally a thing, and Ihaven't heard or seen of that in
20 years. So I'd be curious ifyou, if you're watching this,
have you ever had to push startit a car, or heard about it? And
if so, what decade were youborn? When's the last time you
(06:05):
had to do it? And then anotherreally interesting thing is
family fun centers. Daniel has acouple dates, a couple outings
to what I always call a FamilyFun Center. And this place
usually has many golf videogames and possibly other things.
And definitely late aliens,early 90s, there was lots of
cool other things, at least whenI was a kid. These are, like
(06:27):
bumper boats. And I think Ialready met, I don't know the
bumper boats, I think, and maybeit was a bumper cars and
possibly other rides, like theycould have been also a water
park. And it was just kind of,oh, batting cages, batting
cages, right? And so I'd also becurious anybody still to ever go
to family fun centers, because Inot a part of a family with
(06:48):
small kids, so I don't know ifthat would be my place. And
another really interesting thingthat I noticed that came up was
a couple things, this is great.
We're going to be getting to thepart of how your life is in
training very soon. So continuelistening. But this, some of
(07:08):
this is like, what's old is new.
What's new is old, and sometimeswe have to grow through what we
thought we knew to get to wherewe want to go. And one thing
there's a part later on in theshow, after Daniel gets his
driver's license. Mr. Miyagi hasgiven him a car. He meets at the
Family Fun Center his romanticinterest, Lady lady friend, and
she's, she's like, Oh, wow, yougot this car. And he's like,
(07:31):
yeah, do you want to drive it?
And she's like, really, you'regonna let me drive it? And it's,
it's sitting away, implying thatyou're Wait, the man is gonna
let a woman drive? And he goes,Hey, it's the 80s. And as far as
I know, to me, this is one ofthe earliest decades where that
has come up, where there'ssomething about, oh, women can
(07:52):
only do certain things. And it'slike, Well, hey, this is, this
is a modern era. Women can doanything. And I don't know if
I'd seen it any earlier than1984 so I'd love it if you have
a better, more, earlier exampleof this, of this common trope
that I think actually in thelast five to 10 years has gone
away and it's been completelyreplaced with women can just
(08:15):
automatically do everythingamazing. Yeah, there's as
opposed to like but I just findit interesting that for this
movie is now literally over 40years old, and so that means for
40 years this concept of, oh,can women do a thing? And it's
like, of course, this is themodern era. So this might be
(08:37):
something where it's just timeto realize that people are
people, and doesn't matterwhat's between your legs, some
people can do things, otherpeople's can't. And that they
can't might be because theyhaven't learned yet, or maybe
they don't want to. Maybethey're here for something else.
And so let's, you know, just letgo of the Oh, you have to,
(08:57):
either, you know, bedisempowered because of
something, or you're empoweredto make up for decades of just
do what, do what you want, dowhat you want. So that that's
one where I think it's like,Okay, it's time to just move
beyond but I would like to know,have you ever seen an earlier
instance of the Hey, it's, it'sthe 50s. So like, yeah, let, let
(09:20):
a let a woman smoke a smoke acigarette while she's pregnant.
Hey, it's the 50s. Hey,Menthols, the
taste of a new generation. Isthat Pepsi and so how that was
interesting. And then a coupleother interesting things. Is
Daniel the kids got Do theystill, they still say Riz the
(09:41):
charisma, but he's got away withhe's got away with the ladies,
just the confidence. He's got anassertiveness and a dominance
that I don't know if you wouldbe able to write this and
portray this anymore, becauseit's one of those, like it's
borderline. But he. He rides theedge where he's actually always
(10:03):
aware of his his impact, of howhe's in his space, how of how
he's in the girls space, and howhe's talking to her, of how
she's taking it in, you know.
And again, he's a teenage boy,so he's not the greatest, but
still, there's a little bit ofhe's got some confidence, but
some awareness, and he's stillbeing assertive and dominant
while also being aware. And insome ways, it's really is pretty
close to what is a very healthyform of masculinity. And
(10:27):
nowadays, I don't know if we seethat it would be sort of like,
very, very passive. Or it'seither would be passive and that
would be shown as like, Oh, thisis appropriate to like, not even
try and or it would just beshown as as like, Oh, it's too
much. And he's, it's, it'stoxic, it's toxic masculinity.
He's being aggressive anddomineering, which he absolutely
(10:47):
was not yet. It's just kind ofinteresting at the all these
years later, it's like, ooh, wedon't see this anymore. That's
that wouldn't be consideredokay, because this is too close
towards what we consider, but alot of times healthy behavior.
It's about the balance. It'sabout it's about bringing in the
balance between what is maybeharmful, and then outwards
(11:09):
towards others, and then what isharmful to the self by just
almost going in and collapsing.
And I thought it was really coolto see sort of this balancing of
that, hey, he's got some thingshe wants to do and express. And
I thought it was also amazinghow the young woman she she was
(11:30):
expressing herself and going,No, leave, give me my space, and
she was exerting herself. Ithought it was, you know, again,
these are teenagers, so they'renot the greatest, yet they're
both not afraid to expressthemselves and to say no or to
say what they want. I justthought that was like, really
amazing in this movie from 1984and then the other thing that
(11:51):
we're going to lead into the howthis ties into with your entire
life and where it's going, isthe relationship between Daniel
and Mr. Miyagi that I'm I'mwatching this, and there's a lot
where it's just like this, he'sborderline like a pedophile cult
leader. Oh, maybe that'ssupposed to be bleeped out on
(12:13):
YouTube, or, I don't know,because there's certain words
that I watch, but I think it'sbecause they try to be
monetized. I'm not here to bemonetized. I'm just here to get
messages out so that you canhave a better life and enjoy
enjoy the process. So enjoy theshow. Well, getting things that
maybe improve your life, butit's like, because Mr. Miyagi,
the first few things that he hasDanielson do is like, I'll come
(12:34):
over to my place where nobodyknows. And then he's He has him
wax his car, has him paint hishouse, hasn't paint his fence,
and then it's like, Okay, nowthat you're really bought in,
hey, let's go to the beach.
Here. You get in your swimsuitand go get wet, and I'm just
gonna sit here, then I'm gonnawatch, gonna watch you in the
water half naked, and justthere's just like, this is like,
(12:57):
if this was a horror movie, belike, Oh, this guy's gonna be,
you know, do some horrible,horrible stuff to young Daniel.
Oh no. Oh no, yeah, that's Mr.
Miyagi. Is on the up and up.
He's on the up and up. And he'shas a purpose for all of these
things in Daniel's bestinterest. And it's this, there's
this tension and trust of hegoes, Daniel goes with it. And
(13:22):
then at times, he's like, Hey,what the fuck is this about?
Like, why am I waxing on, waxingoff, and paint the fence and all
this other and sand in the sandand the board and and then Mr.
Miyagi always finds the way to,kind of, like, get the message
across that, hey, this is doingsomething for you. We had an
agreement. I'm teaching you now,fucking learn. And I feel like
(13:43):
this is something that, in manyways, has gone away, where
there's going to be, I believeit's still out there, where
there are great men. Because Ido feel like as women, get a
bigger pass with underage, withunderage anybody, even though I
just saw like another story ofor something about a, you know,
a woman who had an affair with,like a fifth grader or something
(14:03):
like that. So apparently, thethe women can do shenanigans
with the underage youths aswell. Yet, I feel like it's been
so, you know, not to say thatthere wasn't bad things
happening. Yet, there is alittle bit of, you know, now the
men are kind of put in aposition where it's like, if
(14:24):
you're gonna have anything to dowith anyone younger or, quote,
unquote, in a less position ofpower, even if they are an adult
of your same age, but therecould be a perceived whatever
it's like you better either notdo it or make sure it's so
supervised that there's nopossibility. And so I do wonder,
like, how much of like,beneficial mentoring and
(14:44):
camaraderie has been missed outbecause of the fear of the
things that I ended upperceiving that I think a lot of
us perceive as, like, oh mygosh, this guy is abusive, and
he's probably got some No, no,naughty things that he has in
mind. Because why would thisgrown, grown, older adult man
spend all of this time with ayoung child at and it's like
(15:05):
there's so many reasons thathave nothing to do with abuse or
sexual impropriety or any ofthis stuff. And I kind of wonder
it's like, Have we lost out onsome of that, some of that?
Because we've gone way too farthe other way not to say that
there wasn't that stuff thatneeded to come to light and
needs to be like, No, that isnot proper. But yet, I think
(15:26):
it's, again, it's about it'sabout balance. And throughout
this movie, Mr. Miyagi is oftenlike, hey, balance first, then
then the ability to fight comes.
You must balance, go kick in thewaves. Balance, go stand on that
pedestal. Practice the crane.
Kick for balance. Now the bigthing is, like, danielson's
(15:50):
doing all of this stuff, youknow, painting the fence, waxing
the car, and he's like, What isthe point of this? And I feel
like in my life, and I'm sureyou have this at times in your
life where you're like, why, whyam I doing this? What is the
point of this, even? Why? Why amI doing these mundane things?
And this could be something thatother people go like, Oh my god,
(16:13):
I can't believe you do that.
Like, I can't believe like,you're a medical doctor, like,
Oh my gosh. Like, yeah, you're,you know, you've, you've written
books, or, Oh, you're doing apodcast, or, or maybe it is
mundane, or, you know, it'slike, oh, you're raising, you're
raising a family, or you're,you're in a marriage. All these
things, you know, to differentpeople at different places in
their life can become like, Ohmy gosh. What's the point of
(16:35):
this? What is this movingtowards? And then at some point,
there becomes the AHA, andthere's this a pivotal scene
after Daniel's been sofrustrated. She's like, Oh, why
have I been doing this? I wassupposed to learn karate. And
Mr. Miyagi is just like, throw,starts throwing punches, like,
at his face, and is like, paintthe fence. And then Danielson
just automatically, like, liftshis fist up because he's gotten
(16:58):
out of the muscle memory of howto move his body in these ways,
for the for the karate moves,the appropriate defenses and
offenses and all these things hedidn't know it. And that's what
a lot of our life is. Andyou've, maybe you've had some
moments like this, and if not,I'm sure they're on their way
where it's things start to cometogether. Because I recently had
a situation where I was put, Iwas put in a situation of of
(17:21):
where it was like, Hey, Justin,you're gonna need to describe
what you're doing right now aspart of a part of a workshop.
And I was just like, oh my oh mygosh. I'm so glad I have my
experience as a yoga teacher andas a writer, as an author,
because it was, even though itwas challenging. I was like, put
on the spot. I'm like, I waslike, oh my god, I can do this.
(17:43):
And so no matter what you'vebeen up to in your life, what
you're currently doing now,there are so many skills,
abilities, awarenesses, that youare getting that if you think of
it as training, training forwhatever's coming next, maybe
you know what your equivalent ofthe career championship fighting
(18:04):
thing is, or maybe you don't.
Point is it's on the way, andyou're in training, and so just
that little shift, that littlemindset of all the little
things, whenever you're like,what's the point of this? If you
can just look at as like, I'mbeing trained, whether you have
your Mr. Miyagi or not, I'd liketo believe that we actually all
do, whether they are, you know,our internal trainer, or maybe
(18:25):
it is actually somebody yet weare effectively, this human
experience is a little bit likea training where we just
continue to grow and have newexperiences. And lots of times,
the reason we haven't gottenwhat it is we think we want yet
is we're still getting thetools, we're still getting the
skills, so that we canultimately, ultimately succeed
(18:46):
and enjoy it, and even thefailure, the times where it
doesn't work. Because it'samazing how challenging the last
fight is, because the last fightbefore the penultimate fight
before the championship, hebasically gets kicked and
injured. And he's Daniel stillgets up, he's like, No, I'm
gonna fight the last matchagainst the guy that's been the
(19:07):
bully for this entire movie. Andthen there's still, like, a
couple, like, cheap shots andthings like that. And Daniel was
like, Oh, this hurts. This ishard,
yet he finds it within himself.
And it was such a reallychallenging experience to get to
that. Yet he kept overcoming,and he and he succeeded, and it
wouldn't have been as sweet. Itwouldn't have been as amazing
(19:28):
without all of those littlehiccups, those challenges. So
when you look at your life andwhat you're going through and
the challenges and the setbacks,can you see it through that lens
of, I'm having the greatest, thegreatest experience that I could
possibly have. This is going tobe something for the ages. And
just maybe you are not to that,that climax just yet, you're
(19:49):
you're almost there. It's thepart of the movie where it seems
like, oh my gosh, I'm going tofail. It's not going to be good
enough. And this is where I'mgoing to end with. With the the
big song that gets played duringthe end, I'm trying to it's,
it's called, you're the best.
And I think it's like by thisguy, Esposito, and it's, it
(20:12):
starts, it starts out, you know,this, try to be the best,
because you're only a man, andthe man's got to learn to take
it. So again, you know, this isearly 1980s try to believe,
though the going gets tough. Yougotta hang tough to make it.
It's like, all right, you know,stick with it. Stick with it,
right? Like Daniel's been doingthroughout the movie and
throughout this this tournament,history repeats itself. Wait a
(20:35):
minute, this is the first time.
Turns out this song wasoriginally meant to be for Rocky
three, and so history repeatingitself would have made a lot
more sense, because I thinkRocky, had, you know, tried to
do things and just would makesense for a sequel, not for
original, but he didn't want torewrite the song. And you'll
succeed. Never doubt that you'rethe one and you can have your
(20:55):
dreams. You're the best aroundnothing's ever going to keep you
down. You're the best around,nothing's going to ever keep you
down. You're the best around,nothing's going to ever keep you
down. So just remember thatyou're the best and nothing's
(21:16):
ever going to keep you down. Andkeep going. Remember that
whatever you've been through,whatever you're going through
now, consider it training forthe big thing that you may not
even know realize is coming. Yetit's coming, and you're going to
find so much joy, so muchpleasure in that that bring it
into the present moment andenjoy the joy and the amazement
(21:37):
of the process of being intraining, of being on the
journey, and recognizing thatnothing's going to get you down
because you're the best, whetheryou're winning, whether you're
losing, whether you're early,whether you're late, whether
you've just won, you're thebest, and just own that have
that compassion for yourself andwhere you are at your journey,
(21:57):
and realize that you never quiteknow how it's all gonna work out
until it's working out. So youmight as well just accept that
it's working out and that you'rethe best around nothing's ever
gonna keep you down. Oh man, Ican't believe I actually was
singing that song. So with that,thank you, and let me know what
(22:19):
you think, if you got anythoughts on the Karate Kid, or
what you might be in trainingfor, or any other interesting
things of you know, used to belike that in the 80s, and now
it's a little different. Some ofit's good, some of it's better,
some of it's worse. Whatever itis, I'd love to hear it. So with
that, thank you, and that's funchatting up the Karate Kid and
(22:41):
how you have been in trainingfor the big the big event that's
still to come. And with that,take care and good day.
Thanksfor tuning in to engineering
emotions and energy with JustinWenck PhD. Today's episode
resonated with you. Pleasesubscribe and leave a five star
review. Your feedback not onlysupports the show, but also
(23:02):
helps others find us and starttheir journey of emotional and
energetic mastery. You can alsohelp by sharing this podcast
with someone you think will loveit just as much as you do.
Together, we're engineering moreamazing lives you
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