Lion dance opportunity

I have to say I was physically drained today. The last number of months have been such a huge learning curve.  I was very indifferent when I began learning to do the lion dance. I didn't discuss this with anyone because we were a team and I was needed to do my part.  I am not sure where my indifference came from. I have seen lion dances a number of times since I began learning Kung Fu: every time I was impressed by the skill and the effort that went into the dance.

There was a point in the training that I realized I was going to be in the lion dance for Chinese New Years. First there was panic. I shouldn't be doing this I don't have the skill set.  My thinking was this should be for people more senior than me who had much more training.

That thought then left my head and I focused on not letting my team mates down. Many times during the practices I felt I was doing a terrible job.  I was not at the level I needed to be.  I had to get my skill level up to theirs and ensure that I wouldn't disappoint my team with my performance. 

I hope I accomplished this for my team mates.

Where am I now.  In a short period of time I went from not wanting to do the Lion dance to wanting to continue to Lion dance and to learn more about this part of Kung Fu. I have watched 5 or 6 Lion  dances online today and I have been very impressed at how some dancers can really show personality in a Lion. That is where I want to go and what I want to do.

Opportunity is not always there but when it is take it.

Da mu hsing

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca/2012/08/da-mu-hsing.html


For review

Be empathitic but dont offer advice

Ten years ago my son was not feeling well.  He was not eating much and he was constantly thirsty and going to the washroom.  This went on for 5 days.  My wife did some research and the symptoms appeared to be consistent with Diabetes.  We took him into the Stony Plain Hospital.  They immediately checked his blood glucose level and rushed him into the Diabetes Centre at the Stollery Hospital in Edmonton.  He was immediately diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

My family has now been dealing with this disease for over 10 years.  My son has to constantly check his blood glucose levels: 5 to 7 times a day.  He has to take Insulin injections: 3 to 5 times a day.  This is an ongoing vigilant process managing this disease.  Whenever his blood glucose either spikes (high glucose level) or crashes (low glucose level) it is causing damage to his body.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and kills the beta cells of the pancreas. No, or very little, insulin is released into the body. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood instead of being used as energy.

The reason I bring this up is I have had many conversations with people over the years who do not know about this disease but think they can offer advice.  I might have been the same way if I didn't live with it day in and day out.  I guess my point is what I can learn from my encounters with other people with a disease or issue they are dealing with, it is best to be empathetic but don't offer advice on something I don't know anything about.

Makes sense

i guess this sums it up quite well

My Year of the Horse

I began logging last year for year of the horse  on February 1. This gives me a full year to January 31. They're were some requirements that I did not make they as follows.:

I did not memorize Mastery I read it many times and have recorded it and listen to it but did not memorize it

Tiger challenge. I did not participate in the tournament but I did score keep.  This was a fail

1000 rounds of sparing. I only recorded 779 this was a fail

Perform an act of kindness for a fellow team mate.  I worked hard on this and tried everything I could to do a certain act of kindness after I found out what this team mate was hoping to do.  I was not able to do this so a fail

One of my personal goals was to do an hour a week of exercise with my wife.  I failed on this one as we missed many weeks due to other commitments.  A fail. ( I think in the future a goal has to be something totally in my control.). Having said that is was not my wife that failed it was me.

Things that I did achieve


1009 acts of kindness logged. This is one I suggest you log everyday. It is difficult to remember these after a few days

52210 push-ups

52290 sit ups

1004 reps of long

1015 reps of stick 1 and 2

2244.9 km

I met or exceeded  4 of the personal goals I setfor myself


I was able to mend a very important relationship in my life. I fell the best about this accomplishment

The rest of the requirements is up to the team to decide if I met them

What did I learn

I learned this year that I have always had limiting thoughts in my head.  I have turned these thoughts around. I am at a point where Physically I know I can do more that I thought I just have to work consistently to achieve what I want.

I have a better concept about living in the moment means. I am continually working at actually living in the moment.   I think this will be an ongoing work in progress.

Characteristics of a great team

I was doing some research tonight and came across this article   It talks about what makes a great team.  One is equal contribution by all team members and emotional intelligence by the team members.

http://tomtunguz.com/emotional_intelligence/?utm_source=FullContact%20Weekly%20Playbook&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FullContact%20Weekly%20Playbook

The first, as the article stats makes sense: if all members contribute relatively equal then you should have a strong team. The second needs a little explanation.

Here is a definition of emotional intelligence

1. Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to useemotional information to guide thinking and behavior.
   
   
   I think, putting this in perspective, it is understanding your own emotions while understanding those of your team mates and to use that understanding to help guide your team mates and your own.
   
   
   
   
   Make sense to me