Narrow it Down

Many of us find it difficult to find something to write about week after week. In fact, I'm sure it happens to us all from time to time. You might even have a subject you have in mind, but are unsure of how to articulate it properly. The image is there, but the words describing it are lost. 

When this happens, you need to recognize that the subject you want to write about may be too general. If it is in fact to general you need to narrow down your focus. For instance, it is easier to describe a building one brick at a time, describing each individual brick, than it is to attempt to just describe the building. Details become easier to describe if you approach it that way.

It is all about what you intend to convey to the reader, your thoughts or opinions. Sometimes, even if you do figure it out and start writing, it does not turn out the way you had intended. This happens, it is part of having a weekly blog. Don't become discouraged, just narrow down on something else next week and try again.

Food Journal

I have participated in the SRKF food journal for 10 day now. The results are eye opening. Overall, I am not eating particularly unhealthy, but it is difficult to gauge when you have 3 Thanksgiving dinners over 2 weekends. I am not one who will let food go to waste, ever. Energy was used, animals died and good people put effort into preparing the food I ate. My eating will balance out again soon, again, I take the left overs to ensure that no food is wasted, food waste is an incredibly annoying pet peeve for me.

One major benefit of the food journal is the public accountability. I can't just stuff myself, healthy food or not, and pretend the whole thing didn't happen. Of course, not without cheating myself by omitting it in my log. That would defeat the whole purpose of the whole journal project, creating a waste of time, mine for writing an untruth and the readers for reading it.

Another benefit I have noticed is my consumption of water. In the past I have not always been the best at hydrating myself properly. I favored coffee, black tea and cocoa's over just a hot water. There is water in all those beverages, but it is not pure, plus the caffeine doesn't help. Our bodies are mostly water, so it only makes sense for me to supply mine with water that it does not have to be filtered through other things to get to. Will I still drink these beverages? Yes, but mindfully and with much more moderation, ensuring that I still drink my required amount of water. Water comes first, the others are just extra.

I am enjoying this food journal and feel that the mindfulness from it will spread to more aspects of my life, only if I remain consistent. 

Spirit

What is spirit? This is a question we were asked tonight in class. Spirit is who you are, what you are willing to do or go through. It is your character, your morals, the drive behind what you do or what you wish to do.

When you are harmonizing your spirit with your intent, you need to ensure that what you intend to do is something you are willing to go through with morally. If your spirit is not in harmony with your intent, you are in for some trouble.

The example of defending yourself against a knife attacker was used.  If someone attacks you with a knife and you defend yourself in such a way that you are in a position to use the knife to kill them, are you willing to do that?  Does the intent of the defense you have in mind compatible with your character?  This is not something to figure out in the last minute, when the blade is already in your hand.

Obviously this is just one scenario, but it did get me thinking about my own spirit.  How driven am I to achieve my goals?  What do I find most value in?  What am I willing to do to get what I want in life?

Pressure

Thanksgiving weekend. 47 days until the grading. This is what is primarily on my mind. I will be honest, I can feel the pressure building. I am going through what I know, doing my best to ensure I not only know it, but have the skill developed to execute it at a level that is sufficient. So why I am letting this pressure build? It is an important day, but remaining calm is my best bet.

Remaining calm AND having a laser focus. It is difficult to get anything accomplished if I try to do too many things at once. If I try to go over everything I know at one time, I will just be maintaining them all, nothing will be improved. However, I am making an effort to take one concept, focus on what I can improve and take time to reflect on what it is I just did. Afterwards, moving on to the next one, focussing solely on it.

I know this is a topic I write about a lot, but as I said, this is always in the front of my mind currently.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ordinariness

I think I finally realize what the purpose of the 2nd degree class is. It is a class for us to work on specific concepts. When I say specific, I mean specific to us individually.

The normal classes are required to continue to work on the broad range of our knowledge base and skill base. The Tuesday class is our chance to narrow it down and really get a feel for what we need to be successful during our final test for black belt.

We need to make this class OUR class. It is not just another class, another hoop to jump. It is a tool, one that I know I have not utilized to its full potential.

Tonight, we were asked to think about what we are least confident with. I knew right away, but have been trying to figure it out as quietly as I could. I did not want people thinking I was not ready for the grading. This hindered my progress.

"A master, rather than condemning himself for his "ordinariness", will embrace his ordinariness and use it as a foundation for building the extraordinary." This sentence in "Mastery" has been stuck in my head a lot lately and is quite relevant to this topic.

Openly facing my lack of confidence in "one steps" allowed me to essentially determine what we covered in class and I got much out of this class because of it.

For instance, the main rational I took from it was no matter what technique or defense you execute, as long as you keep your intent pure to your spirit and the situation, you will find success, one way or another. Think about what is in front of you, not a step by step algorithm that has been pre-determined.

Having a set of pre-determined techniques does have its benefits, it does give us an equal base to work from and build upon. I just need to relax and let my own creativity draw from them, rather than simply get married to them and miss out.

Mindful Decisions

As mentioned in the meeting. I am now working full time, Monday to Friday with set hours. I have not had this in over a year. Now although the schedule is more consistent, I will be taking home less money. I realized that the money is not as important as my time or sanity. We can always reduce our expenses if we look hard enough. 

Too many people literally kill themselves chasing more and more money and I found myself slowly moving toward that path. I was racking my brain for months over the pros and cons of continuing on the path I was on and the one I finally chose, just ask Mel. In the end if reasoned that the balance has to be maintained between wealth and well-being.  This will also be a great benefit to my kung fu, with less distractions, attempting to learn and remember procedures from 3 different jobs, I can put more mental energy into my grading.

Having a public journal will help reduce cost from a food aspect. I can easily eat more than I need in one sitting. Besides, not all the food I eat is what one would consider clean eating. Having what I eat out there for not only myself, but all to see, will be motivation to be more mindful of what I am eating and how much. 

This also increases mindfulness in other aspects of  life. Much like how mediocrity seeps from one part of life to another, mindfulness can do the same thing. It is more difficult as it requires effort, but the effort seems easier as the mindfulness spreads. It starts with food, the main energy source. Mindful eating creates mindful purchasing which creates mindful lifestyle, mindful training, mindful living.