Today's thoughts

We are three and a bit weeks away to the shortest day of the year.  I for one am upbeat about this because then the days start to get longer again.  This year in I Ho Chuan has been challenging.  I have had a harder time this year than last year with the physical requirements we need to accomplish. Having said that, from a mental or spiritual perspective I don't think I have been more alive in my life.

I am spending more time in thought.  And I mean true thought.  Challenging my preconceived view of the world.  Has the body of knowledge I have accumulated over my lifetime served me well?  Am I interpreting things around me from preconceived thoughts or am I critically looking at things and formulating opinions and my thought processes on true knowledge?  I am not sure I have a factual answer, but because I am challenging my own though process, I am headed in the right direction.

I have found that with true deep thinking that i am drawn closer to and stay in the moment. Happiness is believed to be found in the moment, and my overriding goal in life is to be happy, so being in the moment is where I need to be.

Paddle Board the Atlantic?

OK we all look at the world around us and define challenges in our own frame of reference.  That is good but we have to be careful not to limit that challenge to our frame of reference.

The reason I say this is because last week I read a story of something I thought would be impossible.  Nicolas Jarossay is planning on Paddle Boarding across the Atlantic.  He is planning on leaving  Cape Verde in early January and will be aiming to make landfall in the Caribbean.  He expects this to take approximately 3 months.  He has built a specially designed paddle board when he has a cone on the front where he will sleep.  He is doing this crossing unsupported and has to bring all his supplies with him.

Now to me, this raises the bar when I am looking at a challenge.  We are only limited by our thoughts and the constraints that we impose upon ourselves. 

I wish Nicolas a safe journey.

Strength of resolve

At what point does someone simply say I can't figure this out so I an going to stop trying?  Or at what point does someone say I still don't get this so I have to keep trying till I do?

Both ways are looking at a problem but the difference is the outcome and how you see yourself in the world.  Being a grinder and problem solver I have tended to take the second approach.  Many times I have encountered what appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle in front of my progress.  It can be intimidating.  It can be demoralizing.  But it should not be defeating.  Even if I have to stop, walk away from it, then turn back and try, try, try again.  Every time I try I win. Even if I don't succeed and over come the obstacle, by trying, I am able to make my spirit stronger than the obstacle.

Strength of resolve will win out over any obstacle.

What has Kung Fu done for me

I have been thinking hard the past month about what Kung Fu is doing for me.  To me there is the obvious of going to class.  Class provides a point of new knowledge.  There is always something new to learn and to understand.  This is a physical reward, as I am able to apply new techniques to my expanding  repertoire of Kung Fu skills. This is the physical learning of Kung Fu.

What about the mental aspects of the Art?  This is something that is ongoing.  As I train more, mentally I am becoming stronger.  Meaning that as situations come up in life I approach them from a state of calmness and not from a state of aggressiveness.  This to me is one of the great benefits of learning Kung Fu.  Calmness cannot be over rated.  It puts a person in the position of strength.  Decisions are made with a calm mind not and aggressive cluttered mind.

 

Then there is the outward dimension of leaning Kung Fu.  What do others see in me?  My wife commented to me that Kung Fu has changed me.  She said that the training has me more focused, calmer, and more caring about my self and the people around me.  She told me it has made me a better person.  If nothing else, to have someone who I care for immensely to say it has made me a better person is definitely worth the long hours of training.  

Books

When I was in my teen years there were two thing that truly terrified me.  One was public speaking and the other was reading books. Public speaking is not that unusual many people have this issue. When I began university and decided I wanted to have a career in business and because of that I made a choice that to be get over my fear of public speaking I had to do public speaking.  I consciously put myself in situations where I would have to talk in front of people.  As time went on the natural fear I had of public speaking became a motivator.  I am not sure the actual feeling I have when I have to public speak is differ from my teen years but the motivation is different. That feeling now registers as excitement.

The other fear, I now realize, was totally irrational. I was a lucky person in school that grades came easy to me but I read as little as possible to get by. To this day I don't understand why I had this fear. I was about 22 when I was about to begin university (I started later than most people because I didn't have the means to go to university out of high school).  Again I realized if I was to succeed at university I had to read.

So I began to read. It was hard at first because I had never just sat for an hour and turned pages. I began by reading Louis Lamour, a western novelist.  Westerns were always an interest for me so I thought this was a great way to start.  Very soon after I branched out and was reading history which to this day is one of my greatest interests.

Both fears in hindsight were both irrational.  They were senseless, I had no bases to be afraid.

The most interesting thing is that nowadays both public speaking and reading give me some of the most pleasure in my life.  I am lucky to have a great partner and Wife that understands this.  My house has books all over the place and there is not a room where there are not books. She understands my passion for books and is supportive.  To the point where she tolerates books everywhere.

What is my point here.  It is a simple lesson.  The next time I have an irrational fear I need to engage that fear and not ignore it.