Yesterday

Yesterday was a good day. My day started out with a signup of a past student’s daughter for my Lil Leopard program. It sure brought home how long I have been doing this. I am teaching the daughter of one of my students who was a child when I taught her. Not only is life short, it is fast as heck.

The next part of my day was spent teaching Chinese Lion Dance to a great group of people. It is always encouraging when I see my students improve so much week by week. I am really looking forward to next week’s session.

Midday saw a big turnout for our school’s Pitch In Project. Rotary Park has been good to Silent River Kung Fu over the years so it is always good to be able to give back. As long as Sifu Regier has been organizing this project, this is the first year in a very long time that I have been able to actively participate in the clean up. Nothing can compare to boots on the ground, first hand experience to complete that feeling of satisfaction.

By evening we were able to get some significant landscaping accomplished in our own yard. Lots of digging, hauling, and planting - I have the aches today that attest to the effort.

Our plans to finish our day curled up in front of the hockey game were going great until we got an unexpected visit by a squirrel. I had not realized that our 3rd story screen was not on the window I had opened the day before. One minute left in the third period and suddenly we notice a squirrel watching the game with us. Five of us spent the rest of the third period and two overtime periods trying to get the squirrel safely outside. I don’t know how he evaded all four cats until we noticed him but he is lucky to be alive.

I did learn two things from the experience. One - squirrels are a lot smarter than I thought. This guy had strategies and moves that were adapting to every plan we tried to employ. He was learning as the rampage evolved. And two - squirrels will stop to have a snack, even in the middle of a rampage.

“Fill what’s empty, empty what’s full, and scratch where it itches.” - The Squirrel of Winsor

UBBT Update

Well this past week is not one I am sorry to see in my rear view mirror. Between commitments to my parents and getting my cats to the vet, there was not a lot of Jeff time this week. I have been nursing an upper back injury the past month so I would think a down week like this might not necessarily be a bad thing. I have my doubts though. My back seems more tender than ever and I think I may be babying it a little too much. This week I test this theory and see how hard and far I can push it without a setback.

I was pretty pumped to have a chance to meet with my UBBT teammates on Friday. With my own I Ho Chuan team, I see the value of monthly meetings to fuel engagement. I have been in multiple UBBTs but this was the first team meeting I can recall. Furthermore, my new daytime schedule was actually going to allow me to participate in an event that, in the past, would have been impossible for me because of career commitments. Imagine my disappointment when I was unable to log into the meeting. Being the only international member of the team can have its drawbacks. Hopefully we can get the bugs ironed out by the next meeting so the system will accept international calls.

Now that the snow is pretty much gone, I will be hitting the bike and roller blades as part of my daily routine. That is once I get my school database firing on all cylinders. I am quite a bit ahead on that goal but I am at a stage where it is a full time job during the transition. I am hoping to get enough accomplished today on that front to allow me to introduce some new activities into my daily routine.

“Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.” - Lao Tzu 

If I Knew Then . . .

I think I have written about this sometime in my past recently. The longer I teach, the more I realize how much I know.

My understanding of the some of the more advanced concepts of kung fu seems to be more on the tip of my tongue than it has ever been. The knowledge has been there for a while but my ability, or maybe my willingness, to transmit the knowledge to my students has not been present.

I don’t know why it takes so long to reach the point of chap sau but I do know it has everything to do with experience. Direct transmission is not easy to achieve but it may be a lot easier than I give credit for. Some of the lessons of my instructors were directly transmitted to me but it took thirty years of practice and application before I realized the knowledge was even mine.

If I had only known what I actually knew then.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.” - Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)

Working Smarter

I am two months into the Year of the Dog and I am three months into my new life of teaching kung fu for a living. Nothing is what I expected it to be at this point but some wonderful things are happening.

I have never been what I would call a smart athlete. I have endured many injuries due to my recklessness and aggressive approach to things. My approach has got me banned from go kart tracks and self preservation is the reason I have never pursued racing motorcycles professionally. Risk taking has never been something I have shied away from.

Two months in I am running into the familiar aches and injuries that accompany me in my training, but this time there is a noticeable difference. This time I am noticing the injuries while they are still in their infancy and I am adjusting my regime to mitigate their affect on me and my progress. I am simply working smarter.

This new approach had got me wondering why it had to take me over thirty years to begin practicing what I preach to my students - “patience, trust, and progressing wisely.” I have never been ‘that guy’ who does not put up before asking others to do the same. Something else is at play. What has changed is time. I now have the time to do things right. I am no longer searching for a spare moment here or there to get in some form reps or a set of push ups. I no longer push through the injury, I work around it. I am working smarter.

I am excited to see what I can accomplish this year. Life is good and kung fu rocks.

“Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade.” - Tony Robbins (b. 1960)

Dr. Phil Etches

I worked with Phil Etches for over twenty years. I cannot remember him ever losing his temper, he always greeted people with a smile, and he made everyone around him feel better about themselves. He inspired all of us to be better people. The world is far less for the loss of him.

I have been faced with a lot of loss these past few months. Each time I find myself reflecting on how short life is and, like Dr. Etches in the last year of his life, I question the legacy I will be leaving behind when it is my turn to leave this world.

I have long since stopped looking to acquire 'stuff'. My thoughts and ambitions revolve around improving the world around me through mastery. Change needs to begin with me and what I do with that change will send ripples beyond. Perhaps my life will affect others like Phil Etches’ life affected me. I miss him.

“Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” - Stephen Covey (1932 - 2012)