In the present

Along all paths there is a beginning, the journey and the end.  But where should a person focus their effort. For myself I tend to look at the end or the destination.  My thought process has been flawed. The reason being is if I focus on the destination I don't enjoy or truly participate in the journey.

I have wrote in the past that I was frustrated and had thoughts of quitting kung fu.  I now have taken a new thought perspective on what I am doing with my kung fu training.  Situ Brinker has told us to focus our minds always in the present.   With my focus on the destination I couldn't keep my mind in the present and this was the source of my frustration with my training

I have now started focussing on the present so little victories in my training is my new motivation. I had a few of these little victories or epiphanies  this week.  It was, for me, cathartic.  It reinforced in me the need to keep my mind focused on the present when I am training.. If I do this I should continue to improve and the little victories will take care of getting me to my overall goal or destination.

trying

I have been pulled away with work so much lately I am finding it hard to keep up with training I am going to have to miss training again tonight as work is taking over.  I am still doing ok with my requirements but it is getting harder.  I hate that I have to miss The tournament this weekend.

Connecting the dots

My last Blog came from a point of reflection and frustration.  I could not reconcile the fact that I was working harder but not getting better with my classes, but felt good about my accomplishments in I Ho Chuan.

I found this today and it brought things back into perspective. I am a beginner and I need to fail more before I can progress. It was a good proverbial kick in the rear end

Duality of Consciousness

Engagement

Engagement is what is truly helping me with my I Ho Chuan.  Work is keeping me  busy and Hockey and Football season are under way.  Doing push ups and sit ups is what keeps me going and focusing my mind on I Ho Chuan when there is so much of everything else going on.  If I didn't do my requirements 2 or 3 minutes at a time I know for sure I would be failing in this area.

The guy I work for thinks I am nuts doing push ups in my office throughout the day.  That's ok I don't think I was ever really normal anyway. 

But at the end of the day to do a few reps of Long or Stick feels good as my other requirements are up to date.  

I am now at Approx. 1,050 miles.  This I feel good about.  I have done it by running, walking, yondering (most people call this hiking), biking, paddle boarding, kayaking, and canoeing.

Enjoying classes

Work has been a whirlwind again so not much to write about as most of my thoughts have been focused here .   I will say that I have been enjoying classes as I have missed a few throughout the summer months.

I am constantly amazed at what I learn from the curriculum even though I have done some of the things many times.   Every time we practice in class there are things that are brought up that make so much sense to me, but until they are pointed out I didn't have a clue.  

I guess that is why we need:  repeat, learn, repeat, learn, repeat, learn, ........................................

Forms

I need to focus my thinking on the task at hand.  For me that is still to improve on my forms.  I felt I had progress up to July but am now let confident that I am moving ahead.  I feel that I am regressing. 

I am finding myself being more self critical and I think that is a good thing.   I hope buy the end of October I can have 300 more reps on each of my forms and feel more confident in how they look.  This is my short term goal for the next month and a half and I hope to make sure I accomplish it.