The Five Principles of the CTI

 By Caiden Murphy, 1st dan

The 5 principles of CTI are integrity, courtesy, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit which apply to Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo in many ways. Courtesy is an important aspect in Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo and in regular world experiences because respect and politeness are important. In MSK Taekwondo courtesy is shown by the way we address black belts as sir or ma'am to respect the hard work they have put into their art. In CTI classes, courtesy is shown by calling teachers Mr or Ms to respect the hard work that they put in to get there and the knowledge they share. These examples also show ways of being polite because you are respecting them.

Integrity is important in many ways because you should always be truthful and stick to your moral principles. This is because sticking to your moral principles shows who you truly are and lying will cover your true self up and make you not who you truly are. Moral principles are an important part of life because they help us decide things on how we truly want to so we can live the best life we can.

Perseverance is an important part of MSK Taekwondo and real life because being able to go through hard times and get stronger from them is a very good quality. An example of perseverance in the Colorado Taekwondo Institute is getting to your black belt. This shows that you have patience because of the long wait, and that you can persevere through the hard times throughout that journey. In real life perseverance is important because if you want to reach any long term goal of yours then it's not going to be easy and you will have to persevere through the hardships of reaching your goal. When you persevere and reach whatever goal you might have then you will feel very relieved and good about yourself because you persevered.

Self-Control is a very important part of Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo and life because controlling yourself from doing things can help you make less bad decisions. This applies even more to people that know self-defense because you know ways to hurt people and not doing so requires self-control. This also applies to real life because lets say that you are on a diet and you really want to stick to it but you have been tempted by so many things but you still stick to it. This is an example of self-control because you are controlling yourself to not do things that are tempting but you don't want to do.

Indomitable Spirit is the prospect of having an unbreakable spirit, and this would include being positive and not letting things get you down. In MSK Taekwondo this is relevant  because you get constructive criticism and you don't want to take it the wrong way because everyone is just trying to make you better. This applies to real life because if you have indomitable spirit you can literally do anything you want to do because you will not get broken or give up halfway through. This is also important because giving up is a main reason that people don't reach their goals but if you have indomitable spirit, that won't be a problem. This is why the 5 principles of MSK Taekwondo are very important aspects of life and we should all try to implement them into our everyday lives.