Full Stop

what is a Stroke? A stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked or bursts. Without blood and oxygen it carries, part of the brain starts to die. The part of the body controlled by the damaged area of the brain can't function properly.

On Friday December 17 I woke up feeling a little off. I went about my normal morning routine but finally decided to go to the Stony Plain emergency. After checking in with the nurse at the front desk I was instructed to sit and wait for my turn. As it should be, the most critical people are seen first, that was at 11:00 a.m. At two o'clock I decided enough was enough, I was going home. When I stood up to leave, I realized I felt considerably worse. I seen a doctor shortly after and was taken to the UofA by ambulance. I was told I was probably having a stroke.
The next few days my family and myself tried to come to terms with the shock and up coming life changes we were about to face.
I cried, ranted, raved and felt very sorry for myself and then had a good look around me, I am extremely lucky I have a been given a second chance at life. I am going to take the life lessons put in front of me and come out a better person. I lost the full functionality of my right limbs, for now. With some time and work I should recover most of the movement.
Anyway I hate listening to long story's about someone Else's health, I will assume the same about you. I would like to share my journey back to mobility. I feel like I am about 80% of the way there already.
thank you to my friends and family at the kwoon for you love,support and the extra push ups today. I was feeling sorry for myself and had a happy cry when I read your messages. I hope to see you all at the kwoon sooner rather than later ...
until then, keep your family close
Linda

closing remarks on UBBT #7

Well I'm down to the wire. Only one month left of UBBT 7. I have lots of ups and down's this year but still feel that I am better for attempting the UBBT.I have taken the random acts of kindness into my everyday life and feel like it is just a part of me now. Like one of the other members of my team said its time to stop and think about the unkind acts. I like the sound of this challenge and want to try and be more aware of it. I think I will one up it and start a gratitude journal besides. I feel like I forget to think about how blessed my life is.
There has never been a time in my life where being a part of a team (UBBT 7) has been harder to stay on track and yet more rewarding for having to struggle. I know I let my team and its leader down terribly this year and yet have learned more from my failures than I would have if I had managed to stay on track.

UBBT 8 is just around the corner and I wish the new team Gods speed and success. One way or another they will be better people weather it is physical or mentally.I have already set some goals for my next year and hopefully I will have the courage and the health to achieve them. Thank you Sifu Brinker and couch Callos for allowing me to be a small part of this great adventure.

Linda Shipalesky
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, ab Canada

awesome class

As a instructor of a class I tend to take responsibility for how the atmosphere in the room is on any given day . Over time i have struggled will self doubt , self confidence , and most of all my own abilities to teach the content of the curriculum. Today something happened in my morning class that has changed my view of myself and the people who trust me, that stand in front of me twice a week and let me teach them. I really opened myself up and let them teach me. I let down my guard enough to be truly humble.
I found out lately I am suffering from anemia . It's nothing too serious but over time can rob you of energy or vitality. A month of iron shots has made a huge difference in the way I feel. So this morning standing in front of my class for the first time in years I truly wanted to participate.A few baby steps and I was again a student of Kung Fu, with my fellow comrades in arms around me, supporting me. Within minutes the entire class was in the " ZONE " Creative juices were flowing and everyone had a positive attitude.
I have to laugh at myself. I couldn't see the forest through the trees. They have been right in front of me for an endless amount of time and I have only truly seen them for the first time this morning.
Thank you fellow Kung Fu students. I truly feel connected again.
Linda

Reality cheek

Things back to normal this week. I am continuing my training in the UBBT as it comes to a close. I met my requirement for walking at lest twice over which tells me I didn't make it tough enough. Push ups went down the tubes by mid June as I have some bone and energy problems I am currently addressing. One of my big challenges is trying to grow as an instructor. Again I feel like I stalled out around June. Lately I feel like I have my Mo Jo back. As long as I kept it in front of me I knew I would find my way. Personally I tend to get tunnel vision and forget to take a step back and see the big picture . I start to feeling discontent and a little greedy. Once in a while I need a reminder about how short life is . I stop to smell the flowers that grow all around me and I can get a reality cheek and then I can move forward. I have a great life. I am happy.
Linda

balancing act

I am always trying to find balance in my life. Kung fu is always about how to keep learning and how to be a better teacher. Practice vs. performance . In other parts of my life I try to keep my Kung fu in sight while I learn new things. This month I have been taking a cake decorating course. I am really having fun with it although I am by no means an exceptional cook. After I started this course I found myself like always relating it back to my kung fu. The instructor had a similar philosophy as we do, you learn the basic in the class but you have to take it home and practice it to get better at it. I have done many different jobs in my time but the one I have done the most of is staying at home and looking after my family. I have been very fortunate to have a husband with the same mind set as myself. Again balance has also pestered me. So the cake decorating seemed too house wifeish so I decided to learn to drive and use a "skid steer " or bob cat if you like. It comes in very handy around an acreage . I won't be fit to leave the yard for some time yet, but it feels great to learn.

As a side note I lost my dog this weekend, (I'm crying as I write this) I was lucky to have him for twelve and a half years.

Shylo ; January 20 1998 to October 16 2010

When I get to where I'm going on the far side of the sky
the first thing I'm going to do is spread my wings and fly

When I get to where I'm going there'll be only happy tears
I will shed the sins and struggles I have carried all theses years
and I'll leave my heart wide open I will love and have no fear
When I get to where I'm going don't cry for me down here

so much pain and so much darkness, in this world we stumble through
all these questions I can't answer, so much work to do

But when I get to where I'm going and I see my makers face
I'll stand forever in the light of his amazing grace

When I get to where I'm going there'll be only happy tears ...

Artist: Brad Paisley

R.I.P. Shy

Linda

Family first

I had a very difficult week. We had to bury a young man, a nephew of ours.He was only thirty years old. Life can blind side you in a moment like this. We all live like we are invincible and in a way this is the only way we can. The other side of the coin would be so afraid of dyeing that we never do anything. Once again balance has to be found to keep life livable . Living in the moment is so very hard to do and yet makes so much sense, savoring every moment of every day because it could indeed be our last. My mission statement for my life has always been "family comes first" I feel like I let this young man down because I didn't keep in touch with him and never knew what he was up to or if he was happy ... it's a hard lesson to learn and I will strive to not let it happen again.
Rest in peace Lanny...
Linda

My eyes are dim

If you know me at all you know I am hopeless with computers. About a month ago my husband bought me an ipad My first reaction was "what will I do with this?" Anyway since then I have read over ten books and sometimes more than one at a time. Am I addicted? I don't know... my eyes are dim I can not see ... It sure is handy
Linda

word is getting around

I heard an encouraging story this week from a friend who is not in Kung Fu. She was having breakfast in the restaurant across the street from the Kwoon. While she was sitting there a pair of elderly church goers came in to have a late breakfast. The two women were known to the waitress and had a lively conversation going about the best way to get the most for their money.
Anyway to make the story shorter they ended up sharing a meal. Someone else in the restaurant also overheard them bantering with the waitress and upon leaving picked up the tab for the two elderly women. My friend was delighted to be a witness to the reaction the two women had to having their bill paid for by a complete stranger. Near the end of their conversation one woman turned to the other and said, " that must of been on of the Kung Fu people from across the street, they believe in random acts of kindness, lets remember to pass it along."
True story, honest.
Linda

Stay in the moment

Like everyone else I really have to drag my sorry @#$% around these days. The weather out side is chill'n ... wait a minute it's too early for that song.
I went to a concert the other night with my husband and besides falling head over heals in love with him all over again, I found inspiration from the artist on stage. He put everything he had into entertaining the people in front of him. Maybe it's sad but some how everything in my life relates back to my Kung Fu. If I had half of his energy in my training I think I could inspire a lot more students... or even myself.
Any way Love the one your with, I sure do... I'm a lucky gal
Next time
Linda

a new start

Well all the reno's are done at the school and I can't wait for the classes to begin. We usually get a big influx of new white belts at this time of year. I always feel like I am seeing things from a new perspective or through another's eyes. It is the secret to saying motivated for me. Lest we forget.
On the other hand the reno's at home are still dragging on. Don't get me wrong it is all coming together great, but it is taking so long... a great way to learn patience I guess.It seems to me life is all about waiting patiently. Maybe one day I'll get good at it, or not.
Anyway see you in class
Linda

Bridging the generation gap

What a week. There is always a lot of excitement in my house the fews days before back to school. This year I only had one going back but it still generated a lot of energy.
I was talking to a fellow student in the change room last week and she was telling me what she had to do to get ready for school. Her nervousness came shining through as she spoke. This in turn brought back a lot of similar feeling in me. I thought about this conversation over the next few days and it was obvious that no matter how old you are you are still waiting for the "light bulb" to go off and all at once you know what you were meant to do for the rest of your life. The thing you would be great at and would love so much you would jump out of bed biting at the bit to go to work. I know how unrealistic this is but it took me fifty years to figure it out. I know sometimes things are put in front of you and you have to have the courage to take the opportunity . You have to trust your instincts and hope you are making the right decision .
The one thing I was able to take away from this encounter was no matter what your age people are very similar inside. Your life may get more complicated as you age but you are always that same person inside . Maybe I have just discovered a small way to bridge the generation gap

Linda

finding the right path

I've been rethinking my requirements this week. I had a great talk with Sifu Brinker this last week and have really been going over the problems I have had staying engaged in the ubbt. Finding my place in the group is one of my problems the other is getting past falling off the horse so to speak. Our big summer renovations will be coming to a close this weekend with any luck. This frees me up to go back to my regular black belt class. Hopefully I will find the right stuff to give me the push I need to see things clearly again.
Linda

Summer's end

As I'm driving home from errands these days the fields on either side of the road always attract my attention. The smell and the changing colors of the crops signal the coming of fall. I love to be outside when the weather is good and so the coming of winter is always a sad time. I try to stay in the moment and lock all the sights and smells to memory.

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: --
A poet could not but be gay
In such a laughing company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

William Wordsworth.

Back at it

I have been away from my blogging for a while, but will be back. I was having a brain @*&^. Life has to throw me a few curve balls once in a while just so I know when I have it good. I saw this saying on a tee shirt the other day a thought it funny: "Jesus loves you ... but I'm his favorite " ( no offense intended to anyone's religion )
see you
Linda

Does my heart rule my head?

At our annual in school tournament one of my Hero's fell off of his pedestal . Not only did he fall, I felt like he fell right on top of me and knocked the wind right out of me. I have struggled for months with this, I realize no one can live up to hero worship because after all we are all just human with many faults and holes in our personalities. I became so obsessed with this that no matter what he said over the next few months I would turn into a negative experience . All the things I had learned from him was reviewed and questioned for his sincerity . When a fellow student wanted to talk to me about their Kung fu I could only see the rain clouds and not the sun shine. I tried hard to bit my tough, but I know I let some of the negative slip out. My "HERO" picture of him was totally destroyed.
Now for the stupid part of this, I never had the courage to talk to him about it and let him defend himself. I mean after all way should he care how I see him. ... negative, negative negative. I'm anti-negative it's the first thing I look to avoid in people, I want people to give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. So what was I doing? I have been slowly taking apart the reasons I am in Kung Fu. Why it makes me feel good.Is it the school or the people in it. Am I doing the extra things to please myself or someone else. Do I do it for a pat on the back or because I am truly helping someone else. On and on these things have been going around in my head.
This whole experience has been a learning curve. I have discovered some things about myself and others that I have chosen not to look at before. It has made me take responsibility for the reasons i am at the school at least four times a week. I think I have found some balance in this experience. I am still struggling with a lot of it though, maybe ask me next week and I will have given myself an easy answer, who knows, after all I am only human. I guess I am writing this so I must be taking small steps in the right direction.

Linda

This has been a very long week. The flu came to visit my family and forgot to leave. We seen on daughter through it only to have another one turn up sick. It really makes me appreciate the noise of a happy healthy household. The house is very sober and quiet when all is not well. I hate snow this time of year but at least the kids kept me hoping so I didn't feel so sorry for myself because I was house bound.
The tournament went fairly smooth this year. It seems to be over quicker each year. The only thing that would make it better is if I would of had the opportunity to see more of my students compete. I feel like I was encouraging for weeks only to miss the final results.... and how many stripes do you have on your black belt ... that bugged me too.
Linda Silent river kung fu stony plain alberta canada

Lu Ping An

"Lu Ping An" or a ruff translation " Walk in peace and harmony " There was a theory question on the meaning of this years ago and after much investigation the best description for me was " in order to live in peace,you must be prepared for war." This statement pretty well sums up my response to the question "Why would you practice the martial arts?"
War comes in many forms, war:one nation against another, one state against another, one neighbor against another, one brother against another. For me it is a more personal thing, war against environmental abuse, war against physical abuse, war against mediocracy, war against obesity, war against self doubt, war against anger ,anyway my list goes on and on.
How I view the world around me, how I interpret the information I see , hear or read is based on these inner battles I fight on a day to day bases.
Last week I read a blog that gave me such a strong inner response that I just had to react. I wrote my comments down and sent them off in less time than it took to blink. To my surprise more women didn't respond or take offense to the statements made there. As a matter of fact, some even agreed and gave the writer credit for his insights.
So back to the blog that I have read since at least ten times. It was time to figure out why I reacted to it the way I did. I guess most has to do with age, The reasons I practice the martial arts today compared to how I did twelve years ago. The answer would be very different and miles apart in comparison . For obvious reasons I would not engage in a sparring match with the same intent. I probably wouldn't even just do it for "fun". As I age and my body becomes a little less agile and takes longer to heal, I pick the bruises I am going to inflict on myself. I try to use more technique and less muscle mass in anything I use or teach. My view of what it takes to prove myself in the martial arts would not necessarily match that of a younger person doing the same art.
I live in a time when the women who came before me proved what our sex is capable of and do not feel the need to prove that we don't belong in the art. I have seen the benefit of their hard work and maybe don't keep it in the front of my mind enough. Shame on me. But at the same time I see on a day to day bases what the mental part of the martial arts do, have done in my children and people who attend our school. The huge changes that can transform a person . I am living proof of this.
So Sifu Prince forgive an older aging women for a reaction to maybe something I put in between the lines and talk to me again in thirty years and see how you might feel then about your training.

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta Canada

Walk a mile in my shoes.

A few weeks ago I came into the change room and was overwhelmed by a feeling of frustration and sorrow. There was no one in there that I haven't seen a hundred times before. I started to change and caught a small wimpier out of the corner of the room. I turned and really had a good look around. A small fragile girl was curled up in the corner trying desperately to hide her emotions. Like I said I have seen her lots of times around the school , her mother is a fellow black belt. I felt a little reluctant to approach her. She is a little shy and doesn't seem to want a lot of attention. I asked her if she was all right. Was she hurt? I had noticed as I came through the school that the class on the mats were sparring. She slowly looked up and her hair feel away from her face. When I finally looked into her eyes the pain and sorrow I seen there floored me. What could have put so much struggle into such a young heart? The mother in me wanted to pull her into my arms and comfort her but I sensed she would not welcome this gesture. The warrior in me wanted to go and kick the @#!* out of whoever was torturing this child. She struggled to pull herself together and managed to speak past the lump in her throat . She said she was not hurt and really didn't like sparring but knew she had to do it. I gave her an encouraging smile and told her I would explain to the instructor that she couldn't return to class. She hesitated a moment and I could see her dig deep and shake off her fear. She got up nodded her head no and returned to class. I finished changing and went out to watch the end of her class. She bowed out with tears running down her cheeks. Now I know there are things in this world, Lessons to be learned by us and our children that will only make us stronger. As a mother I have had to use methods to get my own children past fears I know that they have to deal with in order to make them into strong adults. But at that moment I would have done anything to lighten the load of that child. To make her smile free and easy of the harsh things in the world that we all must live with and overcome. She humbled me. I think of my own petty fears and realized how self centered I become within myself in the face of my own fears. If this young girl could march on then so can I. Walk a mile in someone shoes and then you know how good you have it.

Linda Shipalesky
Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta Canada

Number one rule "DON"T PANIC"

Well I'm back from holidays and how did the snorkeling go you ask. The setting couldn't have been better, 38 degrees c. a light ocean breeze and endless ocean to explore. My older kids were diving (scuba) and my husband myself and our six year old were going to snorkel, a perfect combination I thought. Every one gets to do something new and exciting.We all got into the water and everything was going as planned until Lacey put her face into the water. One look at all those fish, close enough to touch her and she tried to climb out the water through any means available to her. I tried to calm her down but after ten minutes realized she was beyond reason. We got out of the water. I held her in my arms until she came back to her senses and put the snorkeling off for another trip.
I can't help relate this back to my own training. I have over 12 years of training in the martial arts and have never had to use it in any physical way. The first few years of training I use to dream about getting into a fight and not remembering what I had to do, or having no power to engage in the brawl. Lacey's panic sparked a familiar doubt in the back of my mind. The mindless reaction, the way you loss the ability to think, or to reason your way through the situation.I know the number one rule in the Martial arts is "don't panic" God, I hope this is not easier said than done. I also strongly wise I never have to find out.
Linda Shipalesky
Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta Canada

Things are really flowing along great for me this time through UBBT.
I talked about taking a snorkeling course a few weekends ago and have found a new twist to it. I am not a strong swimmer. I love the water but have a healthy respect for "deep water". I have often thought that I would like to swim laps to add to my exercise routine. Well ... I combined snorkeling to swimming laps and guess what ... the deep water became less of a problem. I put the magic snorkel in my mouth and the fear disappeared. I did the math and I need to do twenty laps to equal one km. Yesterday I swam fifteen. I know that I can push it another five by the end of the week to reach my one km. goal.
Now if you see me in the pool with all my gear on I will understand if you want to pretend you don't know me. But I can say with some conviction Kung Fu has thought me to step out of my comfort zone, so who cares what other people see or think. Swimming like this makes me really happy.
See you in the pool ...

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta Canada

A Breath of Fresh Air

I had one of those moments when something very basic becomes clear. My family and I spent the weekend in the pool at our local leisure centre. Randy and I along with our six year old daughter were taking a class in an intro to snorkeling. The older kids were doing an intro to scuba at the same time. Anyway the kids all took to it right away, me I really had to concentrate on breathing through my mouth . By the end of the day I had drank a lot of the pool and had sucked in a lot of extra air. But I felt great. I realized on refection I was not really sucking extra air but probably more than I usually do. I think that I breath too shallow most of the time. Now I was high on life after such a great day, but I also felt invigorated. I was thinking clear and had more energy than anyone else in my family after a day of exercise Defiantly something worthy of noting. Breath in, Breath out and stay in the moment. Where have I heard that before?

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta Canada

What a night!

So its time to eat humble pie. Watching the new black belts preform their techniques Saturday night sure brings me back to my own training. I was totally inspired to work harder. You just can't help feeling inspired after watching them put their heart and souls into every move they made.
It seems to me that each year the bar is raised just a little bit higher. The students coming behind these candidates will really have to work to out shine the crew from this year.
Thanks for the great night!

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta Canada

Motivation

Since motivation seems to be the thing to think about this week I'm going to add to what keeps me going. Before I decided to do another UBBT I talked it over with my husband Randy. we had done UBBT 6 together and had fallen off our goals around the same time. Randy's office relocated and made it almost impossible for him to train at noon. When we reviewed the things that changed around our slide this is what stood out. Without the motivation of a training partner to answer to we both failed. So this time Randy made sure to get the time to have a little longer lunch, we are back training together at noon. Randy is not officially doing UBBT 7, he is right back where he was when we started out last year. We have been really trying to make the training habits of UBBT a life style change we want to incorporate into our daily lives . So far so good.

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu , Stony Plain Alberta Canada

I have been blessed

This week I found myself weepy and really feeling sorry for myself. I finally stopped and sat down to evaluate my emotions . I hate feeling like this and beat myself up for crying too easily. It's just too private, I think it opens me up to more hurt. Anyway when I found it slipping into other parts of my life I knew it was time to figure it out.
I have this dog you see who is twelve years old. I was there when he was born. He has been a constant companion through some good and bad times in the last years. I know they say dogs can't smile, but I have had the pleasure of his smiling face greet me each morning for a long time. Age has slowed him down but lately he has developed a cough. I was scared to bring him to the vet but convinced myself that it was probably kennel cough or something like that. When the vet handed me a box of kleenex I knew I was going to hear something I didn't want to. Shilo has lung cancer. She told me to take him home and love him up for as long as I can. Loving him is easy, it's watching him slowly fade that is unbelievable painful. He still has great days but I can see and feel his time running out. So living in the moment is really important with him right now. Dogs just naturally live in the moment and he has taught me a lot about this over the years.
I know he is just a dog and I can't imagine dealing with this with another person. I have been very fortunate to never have been put to the test.
Any way I have decided to forgive myself for my emotional outbursts. I will find the strength somewhere to deal with his last days.
I will try to be the person my dog thinks I am.

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta Canada

Walking Fast

Not too bad of a week. I was able to shave about 15 minutes of my daily five km. walk officially today. Since I started tracking my time along with my kms. it has given me a purpose to walk/run faster. so as of today it takes me forty five minutes to walk five km.
On my personal growth performance I realized lately that I am happy to let someone else take over for me. This is not always a good solution when the buck stops with me and I have not taken responsibility properly. I will have to dig deeper to find the courage to say "no" and keep things going in the direction I want them to go. On the positive side I am not scared to take the responsibility for these failures, I just want to learn to avoid them.

While I can't seem to motivate myself to do enough push ups, I figure I make up for it in kms.

Until next time;
Linda Shipalesky, Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain Alberta, Canada

Moving forward

Things happened to me this week that seemed negative to start but ended up being very beneficial . I was given a Nike + for Christmas that was a great motivator for my running. In the beginning, before I really knew how to use it I thought it was great. After two weeks of struggling to calibrate it I wanted to through it in the garbage. Randy just get a new phone and gave his itouch to me and Lacey to share. It happens that I can down load some running programs off the internet from Nike. I have found one that suits my needs better than the one I was struggling with. One small change in my routine has given me new energy.
In turn I have had a good week for intuition and was able to pick up on some people's intentions. I'm not talking about mind reading or anything like that, more like being on the same wave length as someone else. Any way things are going smooth. I have gotten most of my form relearned with the help of a fellow Sifu. I feel like it really counts now as before I felt like I was cheating .

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

Living hero # 1 Mary Kavanagh

Mary Kavanagh was born in Dublin Ireland in the dirty thirty's. She has fought adversity most of her life. She recalls stories of living in the depression and through world war two. She had ten siblings and a father who would be away in one war or another for years at a time. Yet Mary never tells any of these stories in a negative light. It is always with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her face. She choses to remember the positive memories. She married in her early twenties and as were the mind set of the times the man in the family dominated his wife with an iron hand. John her husband always wanted to be a Cowboy so on many occasion traveled to Canada for months at a time only to return and go again when the dream became to much to bare. The last time he traveled Mary sold everything,packed up there four kids and followed. John was now stuck in Canada and the dream quickly became a nightmare. The next forty years Mary lived with a bitter man. He was never physically abusive but was especially mentally so. Mary through the whole thing never stopped her devotion to him. She loved him with everything she had. When at the age of Seventy two John's health took a turn for the worst and was unable to drive trapping them both on a acreage out side of Stony Plain Alberta,Mary did the only thing she could and learned to drive. She was sixty seven. She moved them to town and John had to be moved into a nursing home and passed away shortly after. Mary did not lay down too. Instead she started life over without him. She was now free of the tyranny of John and could do and say as she pleased. She joined line dancing and lane bowling. She does Pastoral care which is bringing the church and Holy communion to the shut in's in Stony PLain and Spruce Grove. She does Square dancing and does a bit of driving Miss Daisy for people she knows in need. Mary carry's sunshine with her where ever she goes. Never has an unkind word for anyone and always see's a silver lining in every crisis. " There now, sit down and have a cup of tea and things will seem better" She is my living hero. She has learned to stay in the Moment and engage in the here and now.
Mary Kavanagh is my Mother.

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta

All or nothing

I was raised on tea. You know the old joke they feed it to me in a baby bottle. Well in my cause its true. It had a lot of milk and sugar added to it but there you are. Needless to say I have drank tea all my life. From the first thing in the morning to the last thing at night. As a child if you were in a crisis or upset about something the answer from my parents was, " there now sit down and have a nice cup of tea." It was the cure all for everything. Anyway the point of the story is that this last year or so I progressed from just any tea to Chia tea from Starbucks. It replaced all need for any other type any time of the day. Even though on some mornings it would upset my stomach old habits dye hard. Along comes UBBT seven and it gave me a perfect excuse to go off of tea. I haven't had a single cup in two weeks! I won't give you the imprecision that I don't want it. I do. But I figure I can hold out for at least three months. April first, thats the dead line. WOW, it makes me sweat even to think about it.
Wish me luck!

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain Alberta Canada

Gifts, gadgets and stuff

I'm off to a running or should I say walking start. I got a great gadget from Santa this year that hooks up to my ipod. It keeps track of your milage and calories . You can also go on line and link up with other people using this device and challenge them to walks, runs etc. if it helps to keep me motivated I'm all for it. The form I choose to repeat is a little shakey though. I can only recall about half of it so I have to get some help with the end. I'm not sure if I can count half of it as a rep. though.
Classes are always busy in January so all in all I'm hopping.

Linda Shipalesky Silent River Kung Fu Stony Plain, Alberta