Turn on the light

During this Saturdays wind storm we had a tree fall on a power line and it put us out of power for twelve hours.It changed our family plans a little bit. Both the teenagers had come home with movies and games to entertain themselves for the evening. Well needless to say without power that was hit on the head. We all had to find another way to entertain ourselves for the night.The fireplace warmed the basement,candles gave us light to see and we had to take out the old board games.It turned out to be a good night. We all went to bed early for a change and somewhere in the middle of the night the Fortis workers got the tree off the line and restored the power.Hu ray for men who work in the dark and cold.
This in a round about way brings me to a subject I have been struggling with for weeks.There is a great deal of excitement in our Kung Fu school this last month as students find their Kung Fu Mojo as Sifu Tiffany Playter likes to say. It's the place that you finally find and know you are doing something right. Your body starts to respond to what your brain has been trying to tell it.You move with the right timing and flow and it looks good. You know you have gotten it right. This same feeling, your Kung Fu "mojo" happens when you are exercising or doing push ups, sit ups, etc. You want to shout it to the world and you have every right to be proud of it. You have worked hard. Now I know I have been feeling this way about my Body for life program and my UBBT challenge too. I feel good and I want to share it with the world. I want to tell everyone who will listen how to do it too but here is where I have encountered my struggle. Not everyone is in the same place as I am.There are other students out there who are not in this frame of mind. Their personal life is giving them problems that may seem insurmountable. In stead of making them stronger Kung Fu may be the last thing on the list to make things right.This week they are standing next to you next week they may be gone. Would I notice? Would I really care enough to say maybe I could have done something to help them hang on?
Would this have been an act of kindness? Could I have made some small difference to help them through until they felt stronger? Could my feeling of empowerment have made them feel small? I know I can't save the world or I can't read another persons mind but maybe if I come down to earth, back to the basics, I would see where I can extend a hand to that person and help them through until they are feeling stronger. After all this is what we are trying to do isn't it. We are training our body to do kicks, punches, etc. but we are also training our minds. We are trying to take our Kung Fu further that the physical and make it about a whole rounded out person. One who will in turn take it out into the world and show them what we are all about.
I don't know if I have gotten the feelings I have been letting bug me out I probably haven't made much sense or how a power outage has anything to do with someone struggling to stay in King Fu. I guess what I was trying to say was when you are feeling alone in the dark there is someone out there in the light to help you see until the dawn.
Well I tried... until next week
Linda

Scrimmages

There is a lot of great information out there on fitness,I find it very easy to get distracted and confused. I guess it's just like all the diets there are, you have to find the one that works for you and stick with it.I am in the seventh week of the body for life program now. This program is definitely working for me.I am not on schedule for weight lose, but I knew that was an unrealistic goal for me from the start.I also have to take into account that I blow the diet for the first two weeks of the program,so with that in mind I'm not that far off.I always believed the line "you will not crave sweats if your eating right was a load of ... well you know,but it is true for the most part.I have been able to turn away from a lot of my old time cravings lately.So the battle only feels like small scrimmages now.Maybe by Christmas I'll have to buy some new clothes, here's hoping.... talk to you next week,

Linda

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to gather family and friends around me.It's also a good time of year to reflect on the year as it comes to a close.Upon doing this I see that 2008 has indeed come with so rather big personal changes .All for the good.There seems to be a great deal ahead too.One of these changes occurred just last week when I started logging my acts of kindness.I started out thinking this would be a rather easy undertaking.Well what is a random act of kindness?Is it something you would have done anyway or is it something you had to give some self sacrifice for?I don't know about you but it made me realize how often someone else did some act of kindness for me.I tend to walk around with the opinion that everyone is out for themselves.You know get the other guy before he gets you.What an eye opener.I wonder when I became such a cynic ?Well its just something else to work on, Trust.
The diet and exercise is going along just fine.It feels more natural now.Anyway, have a great Thanksgiving!
Until next week,
Linda

Open your eyes and look around you

To spite the struggles I have encountered this week it was a positive experience.
I felt very apprehensive about posting this challenge in public to start out with,but it has been such a good growing tool.I am very pleasantly surprised with the great support I have been getting from the people around me.
I have stepped up my challenge and have been accepted by Master Brinker to be a student member of his UBBT.I feel a little bit like I had a running head start as the Body For Life is one component of this test.Anyway the excitement in the Black belt class is so thick you can almost touch it.It's great to be a part of this.There is so much more to being a Black Belt than you can imagine,I can't wait until you are all there with your black belts.The Black belt really is just the beginning....
Life is good, see you next week,

Linda

The truth will set me free

I have something I want to share with you.On Sunday's my partner and I weight in. I have a scale that not only tells you how much you weigh but what your body fat is, water content, bone mass etc.This Sunday was a disaster for me on the scale.I thought I had had a great week but I hadn't lost one single pound!I said all the right things to my partner but deep down inside I felt I had failed.For years I refused to have a scale in the house just because of such results.Along comes Monday and Tuesday and I find myself sneaking small snacks.A couple of M&M's,a bite of that chocolate chip muffin... you get the picture.It ground to a stop upon reading a message from Master Brinker to his Black belts.(I love feeling a part of this group)He has in trusted us with a very difficult challenge and I hadn't even started and already I was letting him and myself and I guess my partner down.So I have had to really dig deep and find the reasons I took on this challenge to begin with. I think I will be alright now.I felt like if I told you of my slip maybe it won't happen again for a long while.I would like to say never again but I know that would not be true.Here's to a new start...
Linda