A new Year

This weekend I had the privilege of attending a Chinese new years banquet put on by one of the bigger martial arts associations in our community.I always find it inspiring to watch another school preform similar forms and techniques as ours. I come away thinking if I fix this or that and work harder I might look something like that....well maybe not.Thats one of the great things about the martial arts you are only competing with yourself. If you are better this week than you were last week then you have moved forward no matter how the person standing next to you looks.
Speaking of Chinese New Years the one thousand push ups and sit ups we did to commemorate this holiday was tough but well worth the pain.
talk to you soon

Linda
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain Alberta

A living hero

" A LIVING HERO" What does this mean? Just reading these words always sends tingles down my spine. The words seem larger than life don't they. It's easy to conjure up a mental image of Superman, Batman etc but in everyday life these mystical people do not exist. I have always wanted a hero, depending on my age and of course the situation I was in it seemed like a magical answer. When I reflect back over these times I realize that there was always someone there to support me or just hold my hand.I was just too self centered to recognize them. These are the people I should have been singing there praises. The ones who give and expect nothing back except perhaps my happiness. There names would have no interest to anyone but myself, and if asked would be surprised to have been thought of as a "hero".
So in the next 12 months I am going to attempt to do them justice. I will post a small essay here about them, but I think first I will tell them what I want to do and see that they are all right with it.
I wanted to mention too how much trouble I am having recording my acts of kindness. I have struggled to get my head around it and lately, can't make myself write them down. I can't help but feel by writing them down I am taking the act away. The kindness we show to our fellow human beings should come naturally, without question and without validation.I feel like I'm putting a notch in my belt or something.I feel like I would get more out of recording acts of kindness done to me each day. This would help me keep my humility and remind me not to be judgmental of others. There is always so much more to people than what we seen and these acts will remind me of this.
Anyway I will struggle on and let you know how I make out.
talk to you soon

Linda Shipalesky
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

Back on track

This has been a pretty uneventful week. Classes are back in full swing after the Christmas break and everyone is either trying to get their mojo back or are really into their fitness as part of a new years resolution.
For me it has been trying to get my mojo back. I missed about two weeks of training over Christmas due to a flu I couldn't seem to shake.I am back on track for my running, push-ups and class attendance but need to catch up on my forms practice. There has been so much snow lately that I'm tempted to add shoveling to my daily workout routine. I don't know about everyone else but my adopt a driveway sidewalks are cleaner than the ones at home ever are. I know one thing for sure out of this setback, I can give myself a ton more excuses why I'm not eating better when I fall of my whole routine
Today is a new day and so I will start over...

Linda

Digging deep

When I first started out on this UBBT journey with Master Brinker and the other black belts I knew there would be things that would be expected of me that would not be easy. I picked things off of the list that I felt "spoke" to me. But there was one requirement that did bother me that I did not pick. It has been playing on my mind since October when I first started the challenge.
"Mend two relationships in your life that have gone bad. This doesn't have to be your fault but you have to be big enough to fix it."
This is not the exact wording, but you get the picture. Without acknowledging or making this choice openly I guess I did pick it subconsciously.
So the other person in this broken relationship is beyond fixing anything. She is in her declining years and whether she knows it or not, does not have her full facilities.
I avoid her constantly, will not answer the phone if her number shows up,and to make matters worse never had a good thing to say to her or about her. So the battle rages within me, back and forth, was it me or is she to blame. Finally two weeks ago I answered the phone when I knew it was her. I managed to swallow my anger and talk civilized to her. I realized I will never be able to talk to her about what went wrong, but in the end forgiveness is what will set me free of this corrosive relationship. I have to forgive her for getting old on me and I have to forgive myself for resenting it.
This will be an ongoing process. It gets easier each time I talk to her. I have been trying to start a new friendship. Ieave the old one behind with the person she can no longer be. Heaven help me because it is still very hard not to reverse back to how I felt before.
With this all going on another relationship came to mind and so I will throw this one around in my head for a while and decide how I can fix it. I know this one is only my fault. So hopefully I can find the inner strength to be a bigger person.