In The Presence of Masters

Last nights Black Belt class was pretty amazing for me, like platinum awesomeness! I seen some faces I hadn't seen in a while and it was great to see and hear they are doing so well. I also had the opportunity to see a Sifu that was one of my teachers from white belt and I also was fortunate enough to be partnered up with him as well, so that was cool. Then Master MacDonald led the class, that's a pretty big deal and I'm very grateful to have been able to learn from him and hear his insights. Then we were applying the lessons that the class was shown and I was working together on the heavy bag with the Sifu I had mentioned, Sifu Hayes, and Sifu Dennis. Now to some this might not be such a big deal but to me it was a golden opportunity. One that I am also grateful for and I will cherish very much as these things don't line up very often.  It's so good to be back in class again.

Things are moving along well for me as I am letting the requirements do the driving, not thinking too much and just trying to get those tight muscles loose again and get my conditioning and form work back up to speed. The only thing I am going to do is change up a lot of the ways I do my push ups and ab work, there's a lot of muscle groups there to balance out and I was was never one for just concentrating on one. So things are moving along there well.

 I dusted off my Sais and went through the motions of familiarizing with them again and only stuck my foot a couple of times. I'm trying to recall my original form and most of it has come back so I will revise and build it from there by adding some different kicks and transitions.

That's about all I have this week, see you at the Kwoon.

Returning to the Path

It's easy to assume the infamous thought of "That won't happen to me". Anything can throw a person off no matter how solid or how committed we think we are. If you begin to take the situation for granted and fail to uphold the discipline, next thing you know your standing there like a jerk on the side of your path wondering what just happened and a key component has dissipated. A few weeks turns into a few months, a few months turn into a year etc.

This has happened to me and I never thought it would, but it did, and now I need to do something about it. I recognized that a big part of my life took a back seat to priorities that came about and for some reason I was okay with that...at the time anyway. Now I'm not okay with it because my Kung Fu is a big part of my mental and physical well being that gives me that escape, to turn all the other stuff off and take that time for me. I'm not as efficient as I usually am and my patience and tolerance is challenged, as is my physical abilities. This effect has become obvious to myself and others close to me, it's time for a restoration and a quest for balance.

That being said I need to remind myself that it can't be all or nothing. It can't be some intricate plan laid out that spikes and drops and fails to coincide with whatever comes at me. As it's always mentioned sustainability is critical. All or nothing or hammer the drive solely on the plan doesn't work and is not sustainable especially with how my work schedules tend to work out. One day at a time and keep it simple stupid will be my plan for the year of the pig and restore a very important piece of me that has been neglected, but not forgotten.

I can't even really describe how good it felt being back on the mats and working towards the restoration of Kung Fu awesomeness.  I woke up really happy and really surprised I'm not as stiff today as I thought I might be but there is no denying the gears of excellence are a bit rusty and I need a performance upgrade and a good solid review of my forms. This is a good thing.

It can very intimidating walking into the kwoon after a long absence but fortunately for me I was met with warm greetings and a lot of smiling faces, and that was really cool as it humbled me quite a bit to know I was missed and the influence my presence has on people. For that I am very grateful and wish you all a successful year. See you at the kwoon.

A Good Place

Being in the presence of expertise in multiple fields is a great place to be and one that should be respected and embraced if your destination is mastery. Regardless of what that interest might pertain to holds no relevance if the mindset is of self improvement and excellence. It can be anything and if your serious about what you have your sights on this needs to be remembered. One of the key necessities to all of this is mentors and examples of others.

For example, my new boss is a pretty cool guy and very intelligent. He is a straight up cat that tells it like it is, how it is, but shows nothing but respect. Now to me working and training under someone that is so full of confidence and puts so much faith in the talents he sees in people that they don't recognize, is something unique and tells me that I'm in a good place. Nothing is watered down here and as one of my personal goals to change up career and take on a difficult challenge is happening. I am in a huge sphere of awesomeness. He has a set standard for how he wants things done and maintained through out the company and he wants that followed. But he also wants his employees to put their own signature on it and evolve from this standard. He encourages being unique and to embrace the challenge, but be yourself and run with with those talents you don't even recognize yet. You don't see this much as some bosses are content with surrounding themselves with brown nosers and feel threatened by the unique or someone that thinks outside of the box. This is sad really and I don't last long in these environments as I just don't have time for it anymore. I guess that was a really long answer to, " Hows the new job going!?!?"

Canada Day is just around the corner, the most important demo of the year, and man do I have work to do. At this point our forms should be looking pretty damn good, I lost some valuable time here with work and trying to slice my finger off but that's life and I need to step up and get it done and done right. I missed two or three events already and the one that bothers me the most is missing the parade. I love jumping into the lion and freaking out the kids and bringing a smile to the old people....and maybe "accidentally" kicking the odd brat...lightly of course. But then we all scramble to some destination and pull off a demo,  that's just cool stuff you never forget. It sounds like I missed out on some Dog team awesomeness and it sucks to be me, for what it matters guy's my apologies and thanks for all your hard work. I'll just have to make up for it when I show up to swing the axe of death around and hang with the dogs on this great countries birthday. See you at the Kwoon and we'll see you soon!

Keep the Sights On It

Moving forward on an investment of awesomeness is always a good feeling and that should be our go to when we get frustrated or disappointed on our journeys. This would keep us on track and moving ahead in a efficient way. We seem to go the other way most of the time though. I've been there a bit lately as my training has taken a few deviations not really for the better that I must adapt to. But you can't lose sight of what you set out to do and a person needs to remember that it takes time to build a pyramid, one level at a time.

 I've learned over the while to always go back to the point of when the gears of excellence were singing a tune cranked to 11, and build off of what you have. That is a solid base that has been built through trial and error that's always raising. So why smash it all down and try to start again. Just keep building your pyramid. Easy enough to say but not always to do. It takes time and a person needs to remember that and have fun with it, make it solid. I didn't earn my Black Belt in a year, it took a few actually, but I did it and the circumstances were no different then than they are now. Long hours, life, injury, the list could go on if I let it. Excuses and skewed perceptions are very hazardous to reaching goals, and that's because they are the easiest thing to obtain and use. We can justify anything, just ask us.

As far as my planning and training is going, at the moment it needs work. Work takes up a lot of time right now but the more I learn now the more I will know down the road. I'm trying to keep the focus on the target and working towards a better balance. I'm running just on the basics, push ups and sit ups and the Great Mother Form, aka Dah Mu Hsin. This is the hardest form in the school to master because it's all of our main stances and techniques, and everything else starts from here. Aside from always working on the base, it's a short form that can be done in tight quarters when crunched for time and space. So right now this works. 

My fingers healing up well and I have to get that axe swinging again as Canada Day is weeks away. I already booked it off a few weeks ago, so I'll be there. My work is definitely cut out for me over the next while, but I think this is the part of the year where things are going to come together well.  Cool stuff just takes time and once another layer is built the gears will sing!! See you at the Kwoon.   

Thought Triggers

It's interesting how an event can trigger all kinds of thoughts and clarity. Especially when that clarity leaves a mark that let's everyone know, yes, your human and also an idiot. Nobody likes to wear a scar as a scoreboard for all your stupid moments...I'm covered in them.

My newest scar count comes in the form of my first ever cut to the bone.... I know because I could see it perfectly. It was like a sectional view of your finger. When it happened I was so mad, not for being cut, but the complacency of not respecting events that can have life altering change that could have been prevented. Of course accidents happen, but that's not the point or what made me realize I had way too many things going on in the mind at once. I mean we do this all the time as humans, but I think we get too wrapped up in too many things and really don't respect the moment when our actions can have permanent or lasting effects on ourselves and others. That being said, you also can't forget the knowledge and lessons that we take for granted everyday.

The first thing that went through my mind was @#$%#$#%%^&&(*^%$%%$!!!!!, and then I thought I cut the tendons. Checked, and finger moves the same as before....it's just really red and I think I need stitches. I was really lucky, stitches are a cake walk, permanent damage isn't.

For me it was a lesson in keeping your thoughts organized and keeping respect to your core values and actions, not to mention the shared knowledge and respect of others. I think just how a person needs to be aware of your surroundings at all times. It reminded me of valuable knife defence techniques and attacks are part of my training and the theory behind them.  It made me feel very grateful for my training. After I saw what my knife did to me in a short distance, imagine what full power would do. It made me realize how valuable those really cool things we do all the time but take for granted. Like buttoning up your clothes, being able to wash yourself, push ups, swinging a weapon etc. It gave me a little reminder of what life would be like with a part of your body that no longer works. Even if it was only a bad cut, I realize that life is good and being able to do things on our own and with our loved ones, can disappear in a flash for one mindless event. See you at the kwoon. 

Technical Difficulties

So I had some technical difficulties the last couple of days which in turn made my latest post.... well... late. Better late than never I guess. It's been a challenge this last while to get in some training but at least it's happening. I've been so engaged this last while in all the material I need to cover and long hours to add to it. But I am stepping away for a while everynight to train and shift my focus to Kung Fu. Hopefully after a few more weeks I can crank my demon traing mode up to 11! It hasn't been easy though, I'll admit, but working towards absolute awesomeness never is. But I am slowly working my plan to become routine and I honestly think I'll get there. I'm in my absolute glory right now dropped into this madness and my Kung Fu with me. It's just better.

I did however miss my 2 hours of training on Sunday though. But I had the best day with my girl as we celebrated my birthday and mothers day together. My not so little one was away for the day so we took full advantage of that. Later on we were all together and I just cherished the moment. It's no secret that my girls are everything to me. The only thing that would have made it better was to have my oldest daughter there, but oh well, you can't have it all. I talked to my awesome Mom and closed off one of the better days I've had in a while. My Kung Fu is coming along well, but not quite where I want it to be. Rather than be discouraged about it though, I embrace what I can get done and up to this point things are slowly coming together as my plan yields tools that will lead me done the path of absolute awesomeness!

I'll leave off here for now but I just want to wish all the Mothers and future Mothers at the Kwoon a happy belated Mothers day! Your all awesome ladies! See you at the kwoon

May Mayhem

This post will have to be short and to the point as things tend to start very early these days and carry on later than usual. My work is coming along well and the action really opens up full throttle tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, the challenge will definitely be there and the mindset of mastery shall be front and centre. I'm going to be on my own again for a bit. This is nothing new and as I stated before this has served me well in some instances, but in others cases it didn't. I don't want to go down this road again, and fortunately I have been through enough of the trial and errors to recognize this, so I know what not to do.

I spoke of a plan last week that I was going to put forward to maintain and advance my Kung Fu while under an aggressive work schedule. It's not really overly complicated as I am running this year on keeping the mindset of "keep it simple stupid", because it works. Just freakin' do it. But one thing that is going to be part of it is demon training. It has to be done right now to load things up in order to maintain a consistent and even flow. There has to be a quick acceleration here in order to do it. Now one could look at this and say, this is a recipe to burn out and possibly entice a disasterous outcome because it may become unsustainable. But as I spoke before, this is a an investment and an investment requires extra effort and work. You just don't parachute into mastery, that's a fact.

So in order for this to happen what I have planned to do, is no matter what the circumstances, I will take 1 hour a day on focused and intense Kung Fu training. I am scheduled to have one day off a week. So on this day I will take 2 hours to myself and Kung Fu. I'm on 12 hour days, but if I'm off early for some reason or don't have to work, I head to the kwoon. If I feel like this isn't working than I'll have to change it. If I start to get pissed off, I will contact my go to people for advice and some direction. The biggest part for me will be to avoid the isolation in this particular case. I'm not good at asking for help, and it's my problem, people have their own stuff to deal with. But you see it's this mindset that will throw a whole year of investment down the drain. It's this mindset that will remove the focus of my goals and my intent. This is part of change, part of being on a team, part of reaching your goals and most importantly, part of becoming a better person by sharing those moments to strengthen yourself and others through example. I guess we'll see. See you at the Kwoon