That Time of Year? Or That Time of Me

    Busy, busy, busy. Lots on the go, not enough hours in the day, etc.... That seems to be the motto right now for most, me included. And yet, I managed to take a step back, briefly, over the last while and savor what made me so busy. The idea of "where am I and what am I doing" being forefront in my mind helps me accomplish that. 

   Example 1; I'm at the Kwoon helping with Reno week, lots to do, little time to do it, but look at my teammates work, Look at them laugh with each other, look at them make connections that will last a lifetime. Magnificent!

   Example 2; I am cutting various lawns (3), I am sweaty, I am tired and sneezy, but look at those lawns. I love the look, smell and feel of a nicely cut lawn. Fulfilling!!

   Example 3; We are at the football game. The crowd is losing it, we win!! The energy of the stadium is unreal, THIS is why I have season tickets. No TV can even come close to this. Surreal!!!

   I could go on and on, but I won't except to say that Kung Fu has taught me the value of each of these life experiences, to live in the moment, to just enjoy. So I do.

The Furnace is on!?

    It's that time of year, fall is nippin at our heels. As I write this blog, it is 4c in my back yard and the furnace is on, really Mother Nature, must you so soon? That means several very important events in my Kung Fu are just around the corner. One a little farther away is the board break week, I love that week, awesomeness is everywhere. But right over the horizon is "back to school week". 

    With "B2SW (back to school week) upon me, I take that week off work so I can be fully involved in the happenings at our school. Every time I walk through that front door, every time I set foot on the mats, converse with classmates and instructors, clean, build, create, all of it, I feel it weave it's way into who I am as a martial artist. It feels (to me) as important as any requirement, as any test, can or ever will be. So I treat it as such. I drink it in, I savor, I enjoy, I work hard, I am proud to be part of Silent River Kung Fu. It has given me so much, the least I can do is give a little back.

    This is a time of year that is a looking glass for me, about half our year is done and that means about half is still to come. So I ask myself, what have I done, what have I learned, am I better than yesterday? Where do I want to go, what do I need to work on (EVERYTHING!!). While it has been a great learning year in most aspects, I realize that I have only explored the base of the mountain in front of me. The path I choose to proceed on will have challenges, of that I have no doubt, but I get goosebumps just thinking about the glorious wonder that awaits me on this journey.

Out of Whack With a Side of Stack

    For the first time in a few years, I missed my Sunday morning blog. We were of camping(wedding) and time tends to slip a little when you are not paying attention. When I finally realized why I felt "off", we were in the thick of packing and such. That made me realize I had missed out on something incredibly important to me, blogging.

   It is a release for me to blog. It helps to clear me mentally and physically. My weekly review of events highlights the highs and lows I experienced during the week. It brings me smiles and contemplation, and by missing it this last Sunday, my week faded into a fog, all of that learning possibly gone, forever. It cemented the importance of blogging to me. 

   Thankfully I am only off by one day, so I can still review the last week with some clarity, but if I had waited till after class tonight, yikes. 

   So my week, so much happened, so much I could talk about, but the standout of the week is the stacking we are doing in the Black Belt class. It is pointing every finger I have at my stances. Good, bad or ugly, there is no hiding while doing this, it is either perfect or it is a total failure. All the muscle in the world can't hide when I have screwed this up. Awesome!! Exhausting and exhilarating, that is the only way I can describe this. Without giving to much away, I will end by saying how much I am enjoying doing this. 

   There, I feel better, I have blogged, I have reviewed my week, I have enjoyed the highs (I "enjoy" the lows later), and I am ready for a new week to start. 

Positive Results

   My last post was a "just do it" post. And I have, and I am starting to reap the benefits. My plumbing issue is basically resolved, I still have odds and ends clean up and beautifying happening but the completion of this task is in sight, unless my wife adds to it 😁. 

   Then there is the Kung Fu aspect. This last week I have stopped over thinking and started "over" doing. By over doing I mean I am acting quicker and analyzing on the go instead of stopping to analyze to the point of inaction and missing valuable real life repetitions. Thursday's IHC class was a great example because of this. Sifu Hayes had us doing a sticky hands move with an outside crescent kick. Usually I would fall into inaction as I thought about how to do this, but this time I kept going until my body told me two things. I see where this is going (I think) and I have a ton of work to do till I get this right. Okay it was three things, it (my body) was exhausted. 

   As I found old habits creeping in (inaction), I would kick start my mojo and do more reps. By doing this it allowed me to find all sorts of cracks in need of repair. My left and right sides were doing two entirely different moves, my flexibility was horrible, my point of impact of my crescent kick was different with each kick, and so on. Disheartening but necessary. If I don't see what I am doing wrong I can't fix it. By doing more Kung Fu, I saw these ego traps like a neon sign screaming "fix me!".  I know these wont be quick fixes, but they will take even longer if I don't get up and do something about it.

   So I am going to do some Kung Fu now instead of taking (writing) about it.