Frustration

 One of the great rewards of teaching and mentoring is seeking the growth of your students. But it can be very frustrating when they don’t listen or even when the listen but then do it the wrong way. 

With teaching one need to understand that not all you are saying is clear to the students as it is to you. Sometimes it takes years to get things across and sometimes all it takes is someone else explaining it in a different way. 

While it can be very frustrating to see the “resistance” in one’s growth, it is part of the teaching experience. 

Missed Opportunities

We often talk about missed opportunities. How we, because of fear, work, time, money, miss these opportunities that can transform  our lives.

After I visited Dharamshala, India - I knew that I missed an opportunity to of a life time - to meet the Dalai Lama. In order to do this, I had to register and then wait  few more  weeks. But I was in a rush to  move on. And later  regretted that.

I got to know Thich Nhat Hanh only after I moved to Canada. Somewhere around 2005. I was  listening  to his books and audio podcasts once in a while. I always thought it will be great to meet  someone like him in person and had  thoughts of  going to a retreat in Plum Village. Unfortunately, this opportunity is now also gone.  Thich Nhat Hanh has died yesterday at the age of 95. He is leaving a void I really hope someone will be able to fill.

"In the  here, in the now - I have arrived, I am home."

Ultimate Goal

 My ultimate goal is not to die young and to be able to be active when I’m older. 

Currently I have few goals that are supposed to support the ultimate goal. 

As mentioned in my last blog I have not been doing great with these goals this year. 

Goal 1 was to improve my cardio. Although there is some improvement, I still finding myself breathing heavily more often than I would like. I’m adjusting my plan to incorporate interval training but I’ve been having hard time to get consistent as of yet. 

Goal 2 was to improve my flexibility. This area had lots of improvement in the last 2 years but I still feel way too stiff. Recently I stated a routine the was good for me in the past and I’m also planning a new hamstring routine that I hope to share in the next few weeks. 

The 3 goal was to get to a healthy weight. I met with a dietitian, I tried intermittent fasting which I liked but I had few obstacles doing it properly. I’m definitely not where I wanted to be. I’m going to try intermittent fasting again and remove the obstacles I had before. And with that drink more and more water. 

Re-engage. 

Eluding Goal

Why this year is going to be different from any of the (about) 10 last years?

They all start the same - there is a goal. Very obvious goal. And there is a plan. Similar plan every year. Sometimes there is even good progress for awhile but a lack of finishing commitment has prevented me from achieving the goal. 

I tend to adjust the plan based on what is happening with life but sometimes it leads to the plan not supporting the goal. 😞

Trust

 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. 

Growing from mistakes

 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. 

Shoot and Forget

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...