This weekend was exactly what I needed. Filled with friends, family, good times and of course, Kung Fu. The Pandamonium, our annual celebration of the charities we support, was vastly different than all the ones I have been to previously. The main difference was that it was not a 24 hour event, an endurance challenge of Kung Fu, especially for those of us who have dared to stay the entire time. I made a joke to Sifu Randy Langner when we got there that we were already 8 hours in at that point in the day last year.
I am happy for the change, with the shorter time period, we didn't seem so thinly stretched. We could enjoy the day for what it really is, a chance to meet and get to know those involved in the charities we support. This year I also took it upon myself to organize the food prep. A huge thanks to the awesome Sifu's who guided this whole thing along. I learned so much about how to prepare for cooking for a large group of people. I had a great time and am confident I will take what I learned and apply it next year.
This month came and went so fast. It has been a busy one with many hard lessons about who I am and what I am about. Where I am going with my life and why. During the Pandamonium, my brain seemed be only half working. I tried to be fully present, but it was very difficult. One thing is for certain, my training has been the most integral part in remaining calm and taking things as they come, one step at a time. Well, second only to my wife, who has been incredibly supportive in this interesting time.
I believe the events that occurred this month have been indicating a change in my life. There is something important I need to change, when and how I do it is still up in the air, but the change must come. Change is not bad, in fact I welcome it.
Sunday, 27 May 2018
Sunday, 20 May 2018
Shhh....
This week I believe I found inspiration to further improve my communication skills. Specifically, the skill of knowing when not to speak. We all have our own opinion and we of course feel entitled to said opinion. Some of our opinions do not jive well with others. This creates tension between people and can even lead to conflict in one form or another eventually.
There are instances where I don't necessarily agree with other people's point of view. Sometimes I voice my concerns, especially when I feel it affects mine or someone else's well being. I don't approach aggressively, but I want to make my point clear to eliminate any confusion on either end of the conversation. This is not always met with open arms, some people don't like being questioned too much or at all. It challenges what they know and forces them to re-evaluate.
Realizing this, I have been making conscious attempts to really gauge whether or not a subject should be brought up. Is this an issue I can truly not live with? Is this a figurative hill worth dying on? Will this do more harm than good. Sometimes it is just better to let things go and deal with them at a more appropriate time.
I feel this compliments my training greatly in the sense that not only will this help me resolve conflicts, but prevent them from occurring in the first place.
There are instances where I don't necessarily agree with other people's point of view. Sometimes I voice my concerns, especially when I feel it affects mine or someone else's well being. I don't approach aggressively, but I want to make my point clear to eliminate any confusion on either end of the conversation. This is not always met with open arms, some people don't like being questioned too much or at all. It challenges what they know and forces them to re-evaluate.
Realizing this, I have been making conscious attempts to really gauge whether or not a subject should be brought up. Is this an issue I can truly not live with? Is this a figurative hill worth dying on? Will this do more harm than good. Sometimes it is just better to let things go and deal with them at a more appropriate time.
I feel this compliments my training greatly in the sense that not only will this help me resolve conflicts, but prevent them from occurring in the first place.
Sunday, 13 May 2018
Humble Pie
It seems I needed another weeks worth of lessons in the art of correction. This week will be one that I will remember in detail for a long time, quite possibly the rest of my life. The short version is I ate an incredible amount of humble pie, now I am tired and need to sleep off this giant mental pastry I just consumed and think about what I did, The End. Now here is the long version:
I started the week with my mind basically in an auto pilot lull. The plan was to ride the motorbike to work and enjoy it immensely (it was a beautiful cloudless spring/summer morning), then just do what I needed to at work to make the day go by so I can continue to enjoy this incredible weather. Well a funny thing happened on the way, it came in the form of a motorist making a left turn in front of me. I did not hit them, but in the process I high sided off the bike, damaging both it and myself. Thankfully I sustained no serious injury. This is why you use full gear on a motorcycle, kids! I believe the bike is salvageable, but won't know for sure until insurance is dealt with. This was the crust of my pie.
This incident left me a little frazzled and I took the next day to recover, going to the Kwoon on Tuesday night was just what I needed mentally. That place has the uncanny ability to bring your mind back to the present in a hurry. This took the pressure off me slightly.
The filling of the pie came on Thursday. My supervisor sat me down for a bit of an intervention, a coaching session of sorts regarding prioritizing and time management. He had some concerns about my ability to get things done and did have some good points to back them up. I was struck, I thought I had it all together, but when he told me about his concerns it was obvious that I did not. This was an eye opener if I ever had one. Seems I need to get myself sorted out.
To be honest, I feel grateful for the events of this week. It reminded me just how sneaky complacency can be and how much was present in my life. From my skill as a motorcyclist to my aptitude in my job, complacency has made a cozy home in everything I do. This is discouraging, but instead of concentrating on this problem, I will focus on the solution.
I started the week with my mind basically in an auto pilot lull. The plan was to ride the motorbike to work and enjoy it immensely (it was a beautiful cloudless spring/summer morning), then just do what I needed to at work to make the day go by so I can continue to enjoy this incredible weather. Well a funny thing happened on the way, it came in the form of a motorist making a left turn in front of me. I did not hit them, but in the process I high sided off the bike, damaging both it and myself. Thankfully I sustained no serious injury. This is why you use full gear on a motorcycle, kids! I believe the bike is salvageable, but won't know for sure until insurance is dealt with. This was the crust of my pie.
This incident left me a little frazzled and I took the next day to recover, going to the Kwoon on Tuesday night was just what I needed mentally. That place has the uncanny ability to bring your mind back to the present in a hurry. This took the pressure off me slightly.
The filling of the pie came on Thursday. My supervisor sat me down for a bit of an intervention, a coaching session of sorts regarding prioritizing and time management. He had some concerns about my ability to get things done and did have some good points to back them up. I was struck, I thought I had it all together, but when he told me about his concerns it was obvious that I did not. This was an eye opener if I ever had one. Seems I need to get myself sorted out.
To be honest, I feel grateful for the events of this week. It reminded me just how sneaky complacency can be and how much was present in my life. From my skill as a motorcyclist to my aptitude in my job, complacency has made a cozy home in everything I do. This is discouraging, but instead of concentrating on this problem, I will focus on the solution.
Sunday, 6 May 2018
Correction
This week I had a couple chances to practice mastery, particularly the aspect regarding correcting and improving myself.
First off, I was preparing supper with our food processor and decided it was a good idea to use our blender plunger to push the food down, while it was still on... You can imagine the outcome. SMASH! It could have been much worse, the only thing that broke was the processor blade stem, but without this piece, the processor is now useless. For the first while I was quite angry with myself, who wouldn't be? What compelled me to believe that it would actually work? What was I thinking?? I eventually calmed down, realizing that there is nothing I can do about it. Everyone has a brain-fart once in a while and I am just fortunate it was only the food processor that was lost. Lesson learned, move on.
The next lesson was being patient with myself installing drywall. Just so you all know, I am terrible at it, so I probably wouldn't be the best person to call to help sheet your house. I was compelled to finally take the plunge and do some drywall work for my job. We are short staffed, but the projects must go on. I started to laugh, something that seems so simple and rudimentary was incredibly hard to do, it is not like I was putting up full sheets either. I became flustered, it was not pretty and it took a LONG time to do. However, you can't be perfect on your first try, do your best and learn from the experience so you may have better quality next time.
I realized that these experiences are not unlike what it is to learn kung fu. For example, the quality of your kicks as a white or yellow belt is no where near the same as a blue or brown belt. With experience and practice, you get better and your confidence rises. Only with consistent practice will you learn the lesson. Let's just hope I will not need to continue the practice of putting random objects in a blender to learn that it does not work that way..
Goal count for this year:
Distance 957.7/1609 km
Acts of Kindness 286/1000 acts
Long Hua Jian 219/1000 reps
Lao Gar 219/1000 reps
Meditation 321/1500 minutes
Journal 79/355 days
Situps 11180/50000 reps
Pushups 11180/50000 reps
Sparring 253/1000 rounds
Books Finished 3/20 books
First off, I was preparing supper with our food processor and decided it was a good idea to use our blender plunger to push the food down, while it was still on... You can imagine the outcome. SMASH! It could have been much worse, the only thing that broke was the processor blade stem, but without this piece, the processor is now useless. For the first while I was quite angry with myself, who wouldn't be? What compelled me to believe that it would actually work? What was I thinking?? I eventually calmed down, realizing that there is nothing I can do about it. Everyone has a brain-fart once in a while and I am just fortunate it was only the food processor that was lost. Lesson learned, move on.
The next lesson was being patient with myself installing drywall. Just so you all know, I am terrible at it, so I probably wouldn't be the best person to call to help sheet your house. I was compelled to finally take the plunge and do some drywall work for my job. We are short staffed, but the projects must go on. I started to laugh, something that seems so simple and rudimentary was incredibly hard to do, it is not like I was putting up full sheets either. I became flustered, it was not pretty and it took a LONG time to do. However, you can't be perfect on your first try, do your best and learn from the experience so you may have better quality next time.
I realized that these experiences are not unlike what it is to learn kung fu. For example, the quality of your kicks as a white or yellow belt is no where near the same as a blue or brown belt. With experience and practice, you get better and your confidence rises. Only with consistent practice will you learn the lesson. Let's just hope I will not need to continue the practice of putting random objects in a blender to learn that it does not work that way..
Goal count for this year:
Distance 957.7/1609 km
Acts of Kindness 286/1000 acts
Long Hua Jian 219/1000 reps
Lao Gar 219/1000 reps
Meditation 321/1500 minutes
Journal 79/355 days
Situps 11180/50000 reps
Pushups 11180/50000 reps
Sparring 253/1000 rounds
Books Finished 3/20 books
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