Boot Camp 2015

One of my favourite days of the year is behind me. Silent River Kung Fu’s Annual Boot Camp was held this past Saturday and despite the intense heat, the day was a great success. The expertise on hand to teach was incredible and the attitude and efforts of the participants was inspiring.

I am constantly humbled with gratitude for the people I am privileged to share this journey with. There we were, in Keephills, sharing and learning a two thousand year old foreign art that only fifty years ago was not even accessible to those of our ethnicity. When you consider the odds of us even being born at such a time that our lives even intersect, Saturday was an absolute miracle.

“There are two ways to live: you can live as it nothing is a miracle, or you can live as if everything is a miracle.” - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Dad Again

It’s Fathers Day so it is difficult to write anything other than what I am thinking about today – my dad. I won’t be seeing my dad today but he will be on my mind all day. I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to see my dad as much as I would like in the past but these past couple of years I have been able to visit him a lot more.

My dad has taught me the value of effort and his example continues to influence the person I am evolving into, and the father I have become.

“I inherited that calm from my father, who was a farmer. You sow, you wait for good or bad weather, you harvest, but working is something you always need to do.” - Miguel Indurain (b. 1964)

Moment in Time

It has been said that a Zen Master such as Thich Nhat Hanh comes around once every six hundred years. Now approaching his 89th year and in failing health, his time with us is coming to an end. The miracle that our lives intersected for even a brief time is not lost on me.

There is much that I take for granted but time is one thing that I am very appreciative of. Time is not just about quantity, it is also about quality. The quality of any moment is defined by the shared experience of that moment. A person, a pet, a ray of sun - anything can define a moment and change the course of a life.

No one knows how much time they have left. What we do know is that our time with another is only a brief intersection of two paths. We have no idea how long that intersection will last. May I appreciate every moment and seize every opportunity.

 “Lost - yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.” - Horace Mann (1796 - 1859)

A Good Day

Often a day comes along that is defined by the company you share it with. Yesterday was such a day and it was good. New friends, old friends, missing friends, and friends departed - I am grateful that I have you in my life. Thank you.

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered.“Yes, Piglet?”“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”- A.A. Milne (1882 - 1956)

The Power of Experience

Even though some of are more affected by global calamity than others, we all share the same destiny. We are all stuck on the same planet so none of us are immune to what is happening outside our borders - we all share the same fate and one day our turn will come. Our planet’s plight is exasperated by the circumstance that the people inflicting the majority of the damage are the same people who are least, or rather last, affected by economically motivated exploitation.

This video was shot a week after the four participants returned from the Ultimate Black Belt Test project in Greensboro, Alabama. The video is the project of one of my students and it illustrates the value of experiential learning. War, poverty, starvation, and global disasters remain an abstraction for many of us. You can sit through a lecture or watch a documentary but neither will have the impact of experiencing something first hand.

“He knows the water best who has waded through it.” - Danish Proverb