Every fighter needs a good sparring partner. A sparring partner is one who gets into the ring with you and helps you prepare for a fight. A sparring partner will attack and expose your weaknesses so that you can become strengthened in those areas. The hits of a good sparring partner are not fatal because their goal in not to defeat you. Sometimes in life we fight against our sparring partners as though they were our real opponents. Sometimes we forget that we are sparring partners for others and attack them as if they were our enemies.
The wounds that cause breakups, divorces, betrayal, and murder are often rendered by those who once loved or befriended one another. If I am a good sparring partner, I will applaud your strengths, point out your weaknesses, and constantly remind you and myself that we are on the same team. If my friend, partner, spouse, or anyone else whom I consider close to me, never tells me of my weaknesses, and only applauds me for my strengths, I am left vulnerable to any opponent to take advantage of my weaknesses. If we are going to be disciplined for success, we must have honest sparring partners who applaud our strengths and reveal our weaknesses.
Remember that you and your sparring partner are on the same side, even if they land a blow that hurts. The wise fighter will be grateful that the weakness has been exposed in training, because if exposed on the battlefield, in the ring, or in the conflicts to be faced in life, it could prove to be fatal. We must discipline ourselves to always distinguish between our adversaries and our sparring partners. Greater wisdom may be found outside of the ring, when both our sparring partners and our adversaries can become our friends.