was in a coaching supervision session earlier this week, and we closed by reflecting on the importance of being grounded and if you’re grounded nothing can uproot you. This made me think of a scene in Karate Kid III.

I know, Karate Kid III is hardly a classic, and is the poor relative to the first Karate Kid movie. But it still has Mr Miyagi who is a fountain of wisdom!

There is a particular bonsai tree in the movie which is used as a metaphor for Daniel – Daniel is manipulated and bullied by the antagonists Terry Silver and Mike Barnes. He temporarily loses his way on the Miyagi path, becoming aggressive and violent before starting on the path back when Mike deliberately breaks this bonsai tree, which makes Daniel distraught as this was great significance to Mr Miyagi. 

Mr Miyagi replants the tree so it may heal just as Daniel must heal, and just before the final fight scene, he takes Daniel to show him how the tree is doing. Daniel can see the tree is going to make it, and Mr Miyagi explains:

👉 “Make it because have strong root. Just like you, Daniel-san. Inside you have strong root. No need nothing except what inside you to grow.”

Just beautiful.