Looking Back on 2013

With 2013 wrapping up I thought it would be a good idea to really think about some of the things that I've learned over the past year.

I've learned not to take anything for granted and gratitude is important. I have a great network of family and friends that always support me, I have a great job that affords me the ability to live a good life and always have food and shelter, and I have my health. I am grateful for all of these things.

I have learned that you get out what you put in. Over the last 4 months, in Kung Fu, when I put in the time to practice, help with adopt a driveway, ask questions, and do my pushups, etc, I notice the difference. It feels great. I also notice the difference when I skip workouts, eat poorly, and neglect practice. It doesn't feel good. Life is about balance and when you put in the effort at work, in the gym, in kung fu, and in your relationships, life has a way of paying that effort back. It might sound hokey but I truly believe that kung fu has taught me the secret to being good at life. Now it's up to me to do it.

I have learned that you really can get too much of a good thing. In the last year or so I've had a hard time doing things that I used to be able to do with no problem, like recovering from a night of excess drinking, or trying to workout after eating nothing but pizza or fast food the day before. I guess that's life's way (and my body's way) of telling me to make better choices. I'm not going to give up drinking alcohol or eating junk food completely, but I listen to my body and make much better overall food choices now. I still have a way to go but I'll get there.

I'm looking forward to an amazing 2014. I have a lot of goals to accomplish this year but for the first time ever, I really feel like I have the tools to meet them. I'm going in with a greater sense of purpose and a plan. Happy New Year!

Last Class of 2013

Last class of 2013 was last night. There were only a few people there so Sifu Playter asked us what we wanted to do and we ended up doing some bag work. I really enjoy bag work because of the practical application. It's also a good way to release some pent up aggression that I seem to have from driving around at this time of year. Whenever we do bag work my legs are always really tired the next day. I need to get used to the impact of kicking something physical. I also need to toughen up my hands as I break the skin on my knuckles every time. I'm not sure why, but I seem to be the only one in class that ends up bleeding. The positive is that I can see where on my fists I'm making my impact and it's on the first two knuckles only, which is correct. I'm going to have to get a heavy bag for use at home, although I'm not quite sure yet where I'll put it. 

Sifu Playter also had us go through some volume exercises with our kicks and she was telling us about some kick requirements for black belt grading, just to get us thinking about it. After hearing this I was glad that I made performing 25,000 kicks one of my I Ho Chuan requirements for next year. All in all it was a fun class and a good way to end 2013, although practice will continue as usual.

Kindness

One of the requirements for the I Ho Chuan is to log 1000 acts of kindness. I have an uphill battle to complete this requirement. I’ve started going over my days to think of any acts of kindness I have performed and I draw a blank every time. And this isn’t a case of just forgetting them; I’m truly not being kind to anyone. Sifu Playter logs her acts of kindness on her blog so I started reading through her posts to see what kinds of acts she’s logging. Her acts are mostly little things like making lunch for her husband or spending extra time with her family or pets. I don’t have a family at home who I can make lunches for or spend time with or anything like that. All my kindness has to be directed at strangers if I want to meet this requirement. This is going to be tough. I don’t feel like I’m an unkind person; in fact, I feel the opposite is true. I’m friendly to people for the most part. But what I’m realizing is that I let “life” get in the way of being kind.

For example – I am an awful person when I’m behind the wheel. If you’re not in the car with me you’re my enemy. I’m impatient and aggressive when I drive. If I changed my driving habits I could probably knock out the 1000 acts of kindness in a month or two. I understand that I choose to be angry when I drive and that I can choose to not be angry. I don’t know what it is about driving that sets me off because I’m not like that in any other facet of life. I think maybe it has something to do with control. I can’t control if someone else is driving slowly in front of me so I get angry. I can’t control if someone speeds past me and cuts me off so I get angry. I need to try to have empathy toward other drivers so I can be kind when I’m on the road. I have no way of knowing why that person is driving like they are. Maybe they’re rushing home because their wife is having a baby. Maybe they just got laid off and they’re distracted. Who knows?

The point of this requirement is two-fold. I’m quoting from the SRKF website: “Mindfully recording your daily acts of kindness will make you more aware of the impact you are having on others and also make you aware of the opportunities to make a difference that you are missing.” It’s painfully obvious that I’m not currently having a very positive impact on others. The upside is that I have a HUGE opportunity to turn it around.

I'm Feeling Good

I feel extremely fortunate to train at SRKF. I have to admit that it wasn’t easy taking the first step to come in the first time and the first couple of classes were a little tough as I was trying to learn the ropes and figure out who everyone was and so on. But from day one, everyone was friendly and very supportive of one another (and of me also) and the instructors are all great. My instructor in particular is an amazing teacher. She is patient and is great at explaining things and breaking them down so someone like me can understand them. As a student, I have a ton of resources available to help me learn. We have online message groups for questions and there is a wealth of knowledge there if you actually look for it. Everyone is happy to answer my questions (I seem to have a never-ending supply unfortunately).

I had another great class last night and it’s a testament to the quality of my instructor and my classmates that even though I feel like I struggle with the techniques that I’m taught, I didn’t come away feeling discouraged, but instead I felt good about my progress. I think it also helps that I’ve been noticing improvement in myself again. I feel like my flexibility and balance are coming along (albeit very slowly) and seeing the improvement is extremely motivating.

More Takeaways From Class

Last night’s class was a good one. It reinforced two things for me:

1) When I practice, I need to spend double the time on my left side that I do on my right. My right side is extremely dominant and I learn pretty quickly with it. We were working on spinning back kicks and I felt like my right side was pretty good. I was able to spin and make eye contact with the target before kicking, and then when I did kick, I made pretty good contact. On my left side it wasn’t very good. My balance was worse, my timing was off, and my kick didn’t make very good contact. I hadn’t really practiced spinning back kicks much up to this point so it was obviously just a matter of natural dominance on my right side. My goal is to make my left side equal to my right so I’ll have to shift my training focus a bit to allow for this imbalance.

2) The hardest things are usually the most important. We worked on horse and open x stances last night and my legs are pretty sore today. I work on my horse stance regularly but I still dread warm ups when we’re in a horse stance for what seems like forever, blocking, punching, etc. It’s clearly very important since we do it pretty much every class and there are so many applications for it. The point is that your stances are one of the most important things to master (at least that’s what I’ve been told) as they are the base for all techniques. If you have poor stances, you’re going to have poor forms, and probably poor overall kung fu. They are also, for me at least, the hardest part of learning kung fu.

What Have I Got Myself Into?

Today has not been a good day. I’ve already had a few “what am I getting myself into?” moments as far as the I Ho Chuan is concerned, but today has been the worst. I don’t know if it’s the cold weather but all I want to do is stay inside, lay on the couch, be lazy, and eat; preferably something that isn’t good for me and tastes great.  I have no interest in kung fu or pushups at all today. Between work, all my requirements, my regular workouts, regular class and practice, and I Ho Chuan meetings/classes, I’m envisioning zero free time for myself. My weekdays are already so busy and I’ve agreed to make them even busier. The logical side of my brain tells me that I’ll be fine and I just need to stay organized with my time. I’m already seeing that distractions are everywhere. Invitations to hockey games, adopt-a-driveway, cleaning my house. The list goes on. Everything conspires to keep me from training. Obviously not all distractions are bad, but the point is that you have to make training a priority over almost everything else. Hopefully going to class tonight will help. I always feel pumped up when I leave the kwoon.

On a side note, these are the personal requirements that I have set for myself:

1) 25,000 kicks – this will give me 90 kicks every day (6 days a week) for the year. As a beginner, this seems like something that will help reinforce the basics for me and help me develop a strong base for my kung fu.

2) Give up all single player video games for the year – At times video games can be a pretty big waste of my time. Even though they’re a source of leisure for me, I can get caught up in them and I find myself wasting time and putting off housework and workouts to play. If mastery is all about consistent effort and utilizing the opportunities presented to you every day, video games aren’t going to have a place in my life. The reason I specified “single-player” video games is that I have friends that play and when I visit them, we often play a game or two of hockey. I see no value in giving up an activity that I share with friends. This is not a waste of time to me.

3) Include fruits/vegetables in my diet a minimum of 6 days per week – my diet is often lacking in vegetable/fruit consumption, even though I can feel a physical difference when I eat a lot of veggies. My problem is that I just plain don’t like most vegetables. With the structure that I will need to have to succeed in the I Ho Chuan, I should be able to better plan my meals. If I plan my meals I will be able to find creative ways to include vegetables on a regular basis. My goal is 6 days per week and not 7 because I feel like having a “cheat” day will help me to have balance in my life and will allow me to enjoy my days off and as a result , my goal should be sustainable.