Tea or not

I have read this quote and find it incredibly intriguing.  What does it mean? I have thought long and hard. Keeping your doors open to me means have an open mind and listen and allow thoughts without prejudice.  That would allow for you to be a free thinker without a pre-conceived direction for the thought.  Does the last part mean to not hold onto an idea or maybe to not spend too much time on one thought?  Or maybe not to over indulge in a thought?

I would really like if some of you could give me your perspective and thoughts on the quote.

Chinese New Year

I knew this might be coming and I was hoping that I could avoid it but alas I can't.  Because of work I will be away from the kwoon for Chinese New Year and the week before.  It can be frustrating sometimes that work can get in the way of things, but that is what happens.  I can be angry about it or I can find something positive in it.  I am looking to the positive and I know that it is there.

At this point all I can say is enjoy the night and have fun.

A really Canadian Moment

I had a moment on saturday that tells me I am living in the moment more and more.  This has been a challenge for me,  but when I see things and are able to reflect on them at the moment I see them, I know I am in the moment.

I had got tickets for the Battle of Alberta Game on Saturday night for my youngest son.  He is a Calgary Fan and my older son is an Edmonton Fan.  As a family we all decided to go to the game together.  Before going to the game, we had to stop to pick up some hockey equipment for my younger son who had grown out of some of his equipment. (this is nothing new to people who have kids in sports)

We stopped in at Pro Hockey life and were talking with a few of the sales reps and getting the sizing right.   I saw over in the skate section an older gentleman in his 70's and was curious so I took a closer look.  This gentleman was in the store with his wife and they were buying her a new pair of skates.  Most times I would be wrapped up in my own world and would miss the beauty of this moment.

I thought what an awesome thing, as I imagined the two people out skating together on a rink or pond somewhere out in the country.  These are two older people who are enjoying life, and in their 70's, are buying new skates to enjoy time together.

I reflected a little more on what I saw and decided I am going to buy my wife a new pair of skates for her seventieth birthday.

Today's Thought

I  have taken some time off between Christmas and this past weekend.  I am glad to see that my shoulder seems to be behaving better although my knee still does not feel to be 100%.

I keep plugging away at 20 pushups at a time and my shoulder seems to think that is OK.  I will keep it up for another week then start increasing reps.

What I am beginning to understand is there is no end to training, so I cant guide my training to a point in time.  I have to see it as an improvement over what I did yesterday.  If I am better today than I was yesterday then I am getting to my goals and moving towards mastery.

Not playing with the Monkey

I have been quite lucky.  Since I began training at SRKF. My body has been quite healthy. A few years ago I had a small tear in my hamstring that took a bit to heal but relatively healthy. That is until the last two months. Something is wrong in my shoulder and in my knee, both on my right side.

Way back when I played hockey and skied daily I was always healthy. Because of the I never had to modify anything in my training. What I am happy about is even though I am compensating for the soreness my training has never been at this level. I feel that because I have to compensate I am thinking more about training and areas that I need work on(by the way it is a lot).

I have to equate this level of training to being fortunate enough to be in I Ho  Chuan. What I have received out of I Ho Chuan cannot be underestimated.

Having said the above, I have made the choice this year not to join the monkey team.  One reason is I will be tied up in a project this summer that will take a great deal of my time.  But the more important reason is;  I want to know that what I have learned in I Ho Chuan, I will continue on in my day to day life. Have I picked up and permanently changed my behaviours so that I am continually working towards mastery? This year will be my test. I am eagerly looking forward too it but know I will miss being on the monkey team

Rest assured I will be back for the Rooster team.

Playing with the pencils

As we were working on the dragon dance on Saturday I personally had  number of moments of confusion  I believe it was due to a few changes that were made to the dance in the past week.  As I was not there for those practices I felt a little lost. 

But I was enjoying what was going on as everyone around me was enjoying themselves as we worked through the dance.  I almost burst out laughing as a line from Alro Guthries song Alice's Restaurant came into my head:

But we had fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there.

Perspective

I have been contemplating. We all have goals in life.  I have discovered in the past year that my main goal is to be happy.  Sounds simple but is is.  Maybe for some it is, but not for me.  It does not take long sometimes to forget my goal and begin worrying about lesser things that don't get me to my goal.

As a team we have been talking about this all year.  How do we stay engaged.  Being happy in my life means I have to be engaged at all times and focused on what i want.  Happiness.


I helped out one of my employees today.  She is a very good natured person who is always a pleasure to be around.  She had some problems with a customer who was treating her quite bad.  She was upset and after she explained to me the situation, I asked her, "If you get upset with what happened are you not the one who looses?"  She immediately got a smile on her face and said "yes".  I was able to put someone else's poor behavior in perspective for her.  (I won't lie,  seeing her smile made my day)