Trust can be easily broken but takes years to build.
If someone at work is breaking my trust, it will be very hard to repair the damage. Maybe even impossible.
In closer circles like in Kung Fu, both sides need to work on building the trust. I think it is easier to rebuild as both parties have the same goals and agenda. Most of the times anyway.
It is never fun to make mistakes. Especially when you never intended to make them.
Last class we were working with the lions and because we did not have lions for all students, we had to swithc the lions around. We did that without sanitizing the lions in between.
It is not fail proof- to sanitize the lions and we can not do it 100 percent safe. But we definitely need to make it as safe as possible.
So while it is never fun to make mistakes, we need to acknowledge them and learn from them. I believe we are better prepared for the next time we will do the lion dance.
The evolution in missile warfare has been amazingly progressing in the last 100 years.
(1) From firing shells with almost no accuracy. You shoot, you have no idea were it is going to land. Sometimes it explodes in your face.
(2) Through the more accurate but very static missiles - you shoot, and it is going to hit in the proximity of your target (but if your target moves, the missile will not follow it).
(3) Then came the shoot and have the ability to control and adjust where the missile is going to hit. So as the person shooting the missile, you have some control on directing where you are hitting.
(4) Then came the "shoot and forget". This is where you aim on a target and the missile is smart enough to follow the target even if it moves without the need for you to direct it.
(5) In the near future, we will have missiles that decide on the target using AI without any human direction (these actually already exist and operational but shh - don't tell anyone).
My blogs are evolving in a similar way... I think I am in stage (2). I write and it is hitting in the proximity of where I am aiming. Sometime it is a direct hit and sometimes it is not. I rarely get to stage (3) where I write the blog and then reflect on it and edit it before I send it. This is where I think I should be at as I am not sure about stage (4) or stage (5) - getting blogger to modify and improve my blog? getting an AI to write my blog?
So I am going to challenge myself to start writing my blogs but not submit them till few days after so I can have the chance to fix and make them better...
I heard a podcast about the fact that negativity bias was/is an integral part of our survival as a species. It is to do with the fact that we need to be alert to the bad things around us in order to be able to act and defend ourselves.
So unfortunately we are going to see and remember more of the negativity around us and less of the positivity that is out there.
This makes it hard to maintain a healthy balance and to be able to see the half cup that is full... but it can also push us to innovate and get better.
"Imagine you went on a beautiful hike and along the trail you encountered a rattlesnake. ... Most people will remember the rattlesnake incident better, because negative experiences tend to affect them much more than positive ones."
We use the 20-80 - at work, in Kung fu, in life. The rule basically says that 20% of your input is responsible for 80% of your output. So it is a way to focus on what is important.
The 10-90 rule is different. This is where as instructors we provide 10% of the student growth while the student is responsible for the 90%.
The fascinating thing here is that the 10% will be bigger in the same proportion the 90% is. Meaning that the more a student is putting into their training, the more an instructor can help them.
Are we more divided than we were in the last or is it just the ability to hear and see anything anyone is putting out there on the web that makes us think that way?
I was looking into the history of wars and I was amazed to see how many wars humanity had in the last 2000 years. And how many people died in these wars.
Conflicts existed in the past and many many lives paid the price. Conflicts exists around the world now and many people are still paying the ultimate price.
Here in Canada we are somewhat protected from all the bloodshed. So while it will be nice if we had no conflicts, a little bit of left vs. right or yes or no for vaccinations, is not to bad…
I’ve been going early to work and listen to CBC radio in the morning. At 5:30, there is always a guy saying “…this is Jeff Goodes. Have a good day. “
And I always reply- I am going to have a Goodes day!
I hurt my right knee Wednesday evening and I found it challenge to exercise on Thursday. Especially going up and down stairs was hard.
So I decided I’m not going to come to IHC class. Made sense to me. I’m hurt. I need to rest my leg. I had a hard long day at work. So at least I can go and watch the class.
Obviously entering the Kwoon changes everything. Ok, I’ll join the class and do what I can. Warm up? Sure - do the best I can. Dig deep and make the most of it. Forms - do the best I can and try to improve every time.
So yes - I sometimes think of taking a break and missing a class but I just can’t do it. And I never regret going on the mats.
I recently had an incident at work that made me think about how people learn and the question if they even want to learn from the experience of others rather than repeat the same mistakes others did in the past.
So as I was thinking about it I realized that there are 3 types of people.
The first doesn’t accept any feedback and basically is going to struggle their way while making mistakes. But they will eventually learn from their mistakes.
The second listen to feedback but is not following through ending up making mistakes.
The third is listening to feedback and use it to their advantage. Yes, they might make mistakes as well but not as many as the other two.
We are easily distracted by the next shiny thing or something that will help up procrastinate from what we need/want to do.
As martial artist we should know what is our plan and then minimize the distractions.
If you have a goal to get a black belt you need to focus on what serves your goal and avoid the distractions that lead you away from your goal or slow you down.
Ask your self constantly what am I doing and how is it serving my goal.
In black belt class we discussed on how to improve our forms. My focus right now is on intensity. I think I always had good eye contact with my opponent. This look in my eyes that says I mean business. 😄
But now I am also focusing on acquiring my opponent before I turn towards them in order to block, punch or kick. Da Mu Hsing 1 is great for this. Lots of opponents all around me. Once I make it second nature for this form, it should be the norm for all forms.
When going full force. Putting 100% at something, you will be neglecting other aspects of your work, life, Kung fu.
For me balance is important, sustainability is crucial. Everything I do need to be sustainable. But not every little thing. I can do extra at times to focus on an area I need to. But the I also need to figure out how to add it to my sustainable routine.
Aiming for 95%!in everything- I heard that recently and it was explained that if you are not going after 100% you will have the time for other things. And you will be able to go after 95% in other aspects of your life.
Obviously this is not 95% of your time but how perfect you want to be in something. So while I would prefer to be 100% in many things. It is probably not possible.
But I’m trying. Maybe 99%?!
Last weekend I was driving behind a group of motorcycles. Every time the riders passed another group of motorcycles they would signal to them with this special hand wave.
This made me think about how as people we want to be part of a group. And also how dangerous this can be when we use this power against others who are not in our group.
I always try to make sure I do not discriminate someone just because they are not in "my group". Or miss-treat someone because they are not the same as me (yes - even these karate guys 😀).
As a black belt, I also try to make sure I am approachable and that I am respectful to all students. There are no black and white distinctions in my mind and non-black belt students might be even doing a technique better than I am.
Respecting others, learning from others - this is always in front of me.
You probably heard it before. But I’m not sure if you actually understand it. I definitely did not understand it the way I do now.
You need to have a plan on how you get there and you need to start your journey yesterday/as a white belt. Not a year before your black belt grading.
Sifu Brinker talks about the journey to Jasper an how some people find themselves in Toefield on the way to Saskatchewan. Now - there is nothing wrong with Saskatchewan if that is where you want to go but if your path leads you to Jasper, you should plan to get there. Not necessarily in a straight line. That will mean bushwalking a lot. Use the paths other paved before. Use the directions and signs others are giving you along the way. And use the tools that were proven to work before.
It is hard to remember the first time I walked into the matts with you, running around the Kwoon in the lil-leopards class.
You were scared and shy and so I was.
Today you turn 18 and I am so proud of what you have accomplished and of who you are. You are a diligent, disciplined person, you have earned your blah belt as a young teenager but never stopped and continued to earn you second degree. You keep inspiring me and you also helped with my own Kung Fu journey.
I’m so proud of you Kobe! Happy birthday!
Who am I doing this for? Do I need to prove anything to anyone? Group settings are helpful to keep you accountable. The interest from the team members and the once in awhile push is important. But at the end I'm proving I can do it. I'm proving I am getting better. And I only need to prove it to myself. And all I am looking for is to be improving. And when I say improving, I mean in every aspect of my life!
This has been a challenging year for me. Many things I was aiming for did not turn out as I was hoping.
But all I can do is re-focus adjust and learn from my failures.
I was always direct with my feedback, saying what I think (in a nice way) and not hiding my thoughts. This also how I like to get feedback. Direct, to the point without any mixed messages.
I will tell you what I think about you. Please tell me what you think about me.
There are lots of thing I like doing in Kung Fu. But I think what I like the most is joint manipulation. Simple but powerful. Utilize common sense, physics and mental all together.
With my back issues, my biggest challenge has always been takedowns and shoulder rolls.
I can do one or two but more than that is a recipe for disaster.
So I have to be smart with my training an mentally practice what physically I cannot.
My favourite time of the day is mornings. This has changed from the past where I liked evenings better.
Now I like the energy and motivation I usually have in the morning. But what is crucial for me is to get enough sleep hours.
Dogs. Dogs. Dogs.
Endless love. And great for active life style. Being with dogs makes me relaxed. So much fun playing and being with dogs.
What was the other thing?
Another wave, another coming back to the Kwoon. This one was one I was waiting for.
I had enough with training and teaching from home. First few classes this week at the Kwoon and it feels so much better.
I like teaching and helping others learn.
My favourite spot at home is outside on a nice day where I can see the trees, listen to the birds and hopefully see some wildlife- mostly squirrels…
Few years back I made my "100" bucket list. Things I wanted to do and things I wanted to have. I ended up having less than 20 - could not think of other things I wanted. And I actually did or got most of these... So I guess I am pretty lucky and happy with what I accomplished and got.
Last weekend my project had a major go live. Months of work all funnelled into one point of time. Hours of preparation was put into this and for the most part it was successful.
But we somehow forgot or maybe she’d something that we shouldn’t have. It was and still is mitigated so it will be fine but it wasn’t perfect.
In the days after I kept asking myself how did we miss it. Why couldn’t we catch it all before the go live.
And then last Thursday a student asked me - how do you fit everything in your training? And the answer was simple. I don’t. It is impossible to train 24x7. And it is impossible to fit it all in a week or even a month.
Focusing on the important staff and applying knowledge from one aspect of training to another is key. Staying engaged. Focused. Motivated.
We make choices all the time. Some choices, maybe most choices are going to be based on our attitude.
Am I going to read this book? Am I going to workout? Am I going to complete my tasks?
But these are not all we need to ask ourselves and these are not just simple choices.
We need to ask ourselves- am I going to read this book mindfully and follow thorough in a way that benefits the mind and my growth? Am I going to workout in a way the truly makes an impact and will benefit my body and mental being? Am I completing my tasks in the best way I can?
We have lots of work to do and at times it seems impossible. But instead of digging deep into your own and not understanding others, it is important to keep the dialogue open and to keep our minds open.
https://fb.watch/5zCxalkZpL/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORp3q1Oaezw
Work, life, work again, and again. Time passes and I was falling into the work routine. Multiple high demand projects. Covering up for others. Nearing Go Lives. Un-happy clients.
And sore back. All led me to train less.
But let's rewind a bit. Let's go few months back. Work was still busy. My back was doing pretty good. I was doing a flexibility program that really improved my flexibility (surprising eh?). I was running more. Practicing lots. And then I said to myself - "it works so good, I should do more stuff". Well that led me to do less staff. My routine changed and I stopped doing the things that worked for me.
I am still trying to find my new routine but I have decided to train smarter. I need to do what works for me. And at this point of my training, I need to get better in how I do things. Well - we always need to do this. But I feel I need to master the little details rather than the whole thing.
So I am still going to work on cardio, flexibility, etc. But I am going to train smarter and focus on specific parts of my Kung Fu training and analyze them deeper than ever.
It has been long time since I hurt my back and things are still not back to normal. I can do more things but my back will hurt after a short while.
One of the hardest things for me right now is to re-establish my routine of waking up early and working out.
Routine is hard to attain but easy to lose.
In the many years I’ve been in Kung Fu I never had to take such a long break from training. I still came to classes but was not able to do much. My daily routine was demolished and for more than 2 weeks I was not able to train.
In the last 2 days I finally started to feel I could start again but I decided to wait till Monday and make sure I’m healing properly.
For the next few weeks I’ll have to be very careful with my training as I do not want to make it worse. But I’m excited about starting to train again.
Back issues are not new for me. I had to deal with back pain for over 15 years. But I really thought I am making progress. In the last year I’ve been working on my flexibility and my back was feeling much better.
Then I really hurt my back. This was as bad and even worse than what happened 15 years ago. I could hardly walk for 3-4 days and for the last 10 days there was constant pain that made it hard to do anything. I have more understanding of my physiology now and I’ve been working on stretches as much as I can but until I recover, I will have to be very careful with what I do.
There are many events in my past that I wished I handled differently but 1. I can’t change it. 2. This is what made me who I am.
So all I can do is learn from the past, act in the present in order to shape my future.
Ants have the special ability to help me think and remember but they also tense me up, making me move in a condensed way.
Spiders are opening me up but at the same time make me dizzy and in protected.
The success is where they meet. A battle between the spiders and the ants has began. I feel it is working well for me as long as the spiders are winning but the ant are not giving up.
I saw this quote and it made me sad. Sad that there has to be darkness for the stars to shine.
There is no light without darkness.
There is no mastery without mediocrity.
There is no success without failure.
There is no growth without decline.
There is no life without death.
There is no happiness without sadness.
I was tagged as the most organized person ever. And it was not the first time. But in the last few years I've been trying to be less organized. Well not exactly but I learned to be open to change and expect the unexpected. This allows me to be better prepared for the unknown and adapt faster to new situations. I have to say that adjusting to the ever changing COVID scenarios were not that hard for me but I do admit that I plan less and more often say - we will see what will happen.
We keep saying that mastery is a journey not a destination. So why is being promoted to black belt is so important? Why is promotion day is so special?
In my opinion it is a combination of 2 things. One, it is a measurement and recognition of the process that has been taken thus far. It is an acknowledgement that you have progressed and improved.
Second, it is a test. Will you reach this peak and then let go? Or will you continue with your journey to better yourself. Will you continue the path to mastery.
The year of the rat was just like any other year. Some good things and some not so good things happened this year. But there was definitely growth.
COVID19 made this year different. There were few major changes in terms of my Kung Fu.
I stopped teaching the morning class. More accurately the morning class seized to exist. I miss these classes
I had the opportunity to work closely with sifu Brinker, sifu Rybak, sifu Vantuil and sifu Csillag K on the livestream videos and online classes. This was such valuable time.
I started teaching one on one classes online. The was and still is an interesting experience. Very challenging.
I was able to watch and evaluate the black belt candidates as they are grading for black belt. Humbling experience that has lots of importance to me.
I helped organizing the Tiger Challenge online version. That was fun.
I hope the year of the Ox will have as much growth as this past year had.
Happy new year!
As we progress with our training we learn more and more about the 6 physical harmonies. Shoulders-Hips, Elbows-Knees, Hands-Feet. Working on connecting upper body with lower body, left side with right side. Along the years, I was able to get better with hips and shoulders connectivity. With hands and feet (mostly hand rotation and foot placement) and I was also able to include my elbows in conjunction with the other parts in certain techniques.
I never focused on the knee. This one is harder to figure out. But while experimenting last night, I found that I probably was without thinking about it too much. Now focusing on it will get higher level of understanding and better harmony between the knees and the rest of the harmonies.
I’ve been on the path for better. Working a lot on my muscle balance and flexibility. It was good to be able to do things without the constant pain. Not that it was gone but it was much more manageable. The place I noticed it the most was when squatting. It was much easier to do that.
Last week with the cold weather and with a wrong move I felt what would have been a disaster. But it was not as bad as it was in the past.
At the same time I felt something that I did not realize before- when my back hurts, the disconnect between my upper body and lower body is much more significant.
Now I need to get my back where it should be so I can get the connection back to where it should be.
I keep hearing this - measure what you do. So why do we need to do so? Why is it helping to write it down?
If you don't - how do you know where you are?
If you don't - how can you check if you reached your goal?
If you do - you have a sense of accomplishment or you know you need to work harder...
We only have a short time on this planet. You want to become the person that you were born to be. Don’t waste your time on all the junk of life. Spend your precious hours doing what will bring out the real you. The brilliant passionate you, that’s ready to contribute to something meaningful into this world. –Joe
That was one of the quotes in a movie we just watched.
Trying to think about my Kung Fu training and what brings me joy? what brings my passionate me? Teaching Kung fu and helping others grow is at the top of the list.
There is a lot of satisfaction and at the same time I get to learn so much personally.
I was talking with someone at work about retirement and said that the only way for me to retire now is either winning the lottery or building a time machine so I can invest in the stock market. He said (and he is only 24...) that he will come along with me and just convince his past self to not buy that pizza with the bitcoins he had. Back then it what he had was worth a pizza and now it would have been 500k.
As a black belt we often use a time machine but not to the past. We are travelling to the future. We know what our intent is, where we want to be and then we are back to present and setting course to get to our target.
This can be utilized while sparing but also in goal setting. Some people call it visualization, "the Secret", "the Law of Attraction", etc. It is very powerful and can improve your life.
Disclaimer - I am not talking about "I dream about winning the lottery and I do...". I am talking about talking about "I am successful, and there for I get things done successfully".
