Year of the Sheep

I am some what overwhelmed by what is in front of me for year of the sheep.  I look at what the team has accomplished and what I have accomplished and I feel good about that.  But with everything we should continually get better and improve so I am looking at the year of the sheep and saying I have to do better than I did this year, other wise I will not have seen any improvement year over year.

I do have to remember to do things on a day to day basis and not look at the whole year and what needs to be accomplished.

Puppy and Porcupine

 I came home last night and my two dogs were sitting by the door as normal.  The older dog came to greet me but the younger one stayed out in the distance.  This is very unusual for her as she usually almost jumps in my truck.  I went into the house and the dogs followed.  It wasn't until a few minutes late that I realized what was wrong.  The younger dog had her first encounter with a porcupine. 

I have been taking quills out of dogs for a long time but with a younger dog it is the headlights in the eyes look when they first encounter the porcupine.  After a small wrestling match, a spilled glass of wine and almost knocking over the Christmas tree, I had the quills out and had a very happy and humbled young dog.

There is no point to this story except that I though it was funny.

Coughing and falling

This past week I missed a few classes. Not all but a few. Friday night I pushed hard to make it through the lion dance. I was in a lot of pain but I knew it was not doing any damage. Why?

Well I caught a cold and have barely Been able to sleep because of congestion and coughing.  Wednesday night I took a spill on the ice and fell directly on my back. Fortunately nothing wrong with my back but bruising in the muscles and a lot of pain.

I am not looking for sympathy here,  but in my past I would would stop and wait till everything was better.   Or as we say an excuses.  My thought process has changed.  I need to get to class to continue to learn and I have to get to I Ho Chuan because of the commitment I made to my self  and my team.

The body will heal but the opportunities will not always be there.

Past present and future

One of my mentors told me something a number of years ago.  He said don't dwell on the past it is gone and any thought or worry about it will not change the past. He also said do not worry about the future as it has not happened and what you do today will create the future you want if you focus on today.

So whatever you want in the future will be there, depending on what you do today.

Shaolin Fitness

What a day.  I have not been able to get to Shaolin fitness for two weeks due to work and having to work at my son's hockey tournament. Today we worked on abs. And did we work on abs.   By the end of the class I knew I worked hard.  But what an incredible feeling to work that hard with a great group of people and have a feeling of accomplishment at the end of class.

This class takes my training to a whole new level.  It is unlike any fitness class I have ever taken. Each class is new and completely different from the last. I like all my training but this class really takes my Kung fu experience to a whole other level.

I would like to send a welcome out to other students to come out and give this class a try.  The only thing this class is missing is more people

Mr. Sand
Green Belt

Wow how much I learn

I have been focusing lately on getting my forms stripe for my green belt.  I thought this would be easy seeing I have done Long over 800 times in the last 10 months.  Every time I do it in front of a Sifu I am given feed back on many, many things that are really wrong with my form or small things that need tweeking.

In my past I would get frustrated because after so many times I would think I should have it perfect.  I now think of it as making those small steps towards mastery. 

Continuing to practice and a clear vision will get me to where I want to go.