Appreciation

This week I had 2 topics I wanted to blog about. I didn’t want to leave one of them to next week and I was going to blog twice. Then I figured both are different but the same.

I was a single parent this weekend. Starting Thursday I was on my own. Taking the kids to their classes and teaching in the kids classes, sending them to school, meals, birthday party, more Kung Fu classes, working in the garden, bike rides, building forts, more meals, more classes, even managed to complete a project I had on my list for few months (when the kids were at school).

When I had some time to think about all I was doing I had appreciation to single parents, managing to juggle life by themselves. I also appreciate my wife who is doing the lion share of this work on a regular basis.

Today is also the Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel. I remember stories my dad used to tell me about days without food. The fear of being taken to the death camps. All these memories came back today and I am so thankful to be living were I am. Having a house, food, security.

We really need to appreciate all that is around us. The people that surround us and the environment we live in.

168 hours

Most of us complain about the lack of time. We have 168 hours a week to do everything we want. It all depends on our priorities. What is most important for us? If it is important we will find the time for it. Of course we have to sleep, eat, work…

Considering 7 hours of sleep (every night), 46 hours at work (including commuting), about 5 hours for eating – that leaves 68 hours. Now it doesn’t look so good but this is almost full 3 days!!!

Trying to avoid the down time when I’m staring at the computer not understanding what I’m doing and why I’m not doing what is important to me. Well, step one is to determine what is important. Step two is to plan what you do and step three is to act on it.

Can I plan my week to the minute? Is it overkill? Probably it is but if I keep reminding myself what is important to me, I’m sure I will find the time to do it.

Back pain - again?

Today I bought my personal massage therapist. The one the is always there for you. Although limited to the back, I think it will be a great companion to my chiro visits.

This weekend was lots of fun - on Friday we had Dragon practice, Lion dance practice, presentation of our demo forms. Then for my anniverssary date we went on for a nice vietnamese restaurant. Saturday we spent some more time at the kwoon and in afternoon we went swimming. Today we went bike riding and later in the evening we went for an early Easter meal.

Now time to go, relax and get my back massage....

To sleep or not to sleep

The obvious answer is to sleep. The past week I was soooo tired.

Going to bed in a decent hour is becoming harder as there are so many things to do. I hardly drag myself out of bed and go to work, to the gym. I think it might be dangerous to drive in this state. I thought need to take a day off and catch up with some sleep but now I realize that this wont help. I need to go to bed on time no matter what and get 7-8 hours of sleep.

Speed

On Friday we had a sparring class and we focused on speed. If you have good foot work and you are fast, you can hit like a lightning and avoid being hit. But you have to have the endurance to do so. Last year I watched a video of a Karate black belt fighting with a "street fighter". I remembered how fast she was and wanted to watch that video again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3OgpLmtQuE

Snapshot:
Push-ups - 1,500 (8,000/50,000)
Sit-ups - 1,500 (8,000/50,000)
Nunchucks - 22 this week - 182 out of 1,000
Staff - 32 this week - 132 out of 1,000
Acts of Kindness 23 -  this week - 186 out of 1,000
Plank - 16 this week - 86 out of 1,000 minutes
Horse Stance - 19 this week - 95 out of 1,000 minutes
Qi Gong - 0 this week - 7 out of 365

Passion

I have to admit that as a kid I was never passionate about anything. Just do what you need and that is about it. My friends loved motorcycles (and could name them by sound), basketball (and were part of a team), partying (and were drunk...). I was average with everything. Never sticking to something or committing to anything. Maybe because I was scared of letting someone down or not being good enough.

Kung Fu was the first activity I was passionate about. I wish I had more time to learn and practice. Being passionate about Kung Fu is something that comes from within. You cannot be told "show your passion in class". You can develop passion in time but you either going to have it or not. You cannot fake it.

At the same time being passionate about Kung Fu doesn't mean you have to stand in the middle of the kwoon and scream all the time. Passion is internal.

Just some thoughts about my passion.


Snapshot:
Push-ups - 710 (6,500/50,000)
Sit-ups - 700 (6,500/50,000)
Nunchucks - 18 this week - 160 out of 1,000
Staff - 21 this week - 100 out of 1,000
Acts of Kindness 27 -  this week - 163 out of 1,000
Plank - 6 this week - 70 out of 1,000 minutes
Horse Stance - 9 this week - 76 out of 1,000 minutes
Qi Gong - 0 this week - 7 out of 365

Ahhh - I need to get a Qi Gong routine

Spring

Days are getting longer, warmer and sunnier. It feels good.

I completed my staff form (for now) and I need a lot of practice. It is hard to practice at the kwoon as it requires space and the ceiling is not high enough. Few more weeks and I will be able to practice outside. :-)