Ego

“To the untrained eye ego-climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical. Both kinds of climbers place one foot in front of the other. Both breathe in and out at the same rate. Both stop when tired. Both go forward when rested. But what a difference! The ego-climber is like an instrument that’s out of adjustment. He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late. He’s likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees. He goes on when the sloppiness of his step shows he’s tired. He rests at odd times. He looks up the trail trying to see what’s ahead even when he knows what’s ahead because he just looked a second before. He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about somewhere else, something else. He’s here but he’s not here. He rejects the here, he’s unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then it will be “here”. What he’s looking for, what he wants, is all around him, but he doesn’t want that because it is all around him. Every step’s an effort, both physically and spiritually, because he imagines his goal to be external and distant.” - Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

When I look at any problem or mental limitation that I have, I see the presence of my ego interfering with my best intentions. This is even more true when it comes to resisting change. It is not as if I don’t spend a lot of time meditating about this concept. I know that change is inevitable. Despite this I still see my ego darting around with cunning and vigor, contaminating my thoughts and limiting my growth.

Aging is not an easy concept to banish one’s ego from weighing in. Cosmetic surgery, hair colouring, Botox — heck even the clothes we wear strongly indicate that our ego is alive and well. What we don’t always recognize is how much our ego can undermine our confidence and sabotage opportunities. Sometimes we are trying so hard to hold on to who we used to be that we cannot become all we could be.

Life is short. Proceed boldly.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” - Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

Black Belt

Every Chinese New Year I promote students who have earned their black belt. Their grading is, at a minimum, a year-long process and culminates with the promotion of the successful candidates at our annual Chinese New Year Banquet. The pandemic has forced this year’s banquet to the virtual realm but it has not prevented progress and success. I am proud to be promoting four students who have earned the rank of black belt.

What is a black belt? It is not the physical fabric that you tie around your waist. It represents so much more. Everyone who has earned the rank has had a hand in defining it. Earning a black belt is not only an honour, it is a responsibility.

Grand Master Olaf Simon, Grand Master Stan Lee, Grand Master Margitte Hilbig, Grand Master Mark Chan, Master Richard Shergold, Master Brian Macdonald,

Soke Dave McNeill, Master Tom Callos, Master Benjamin Ma — the list of people who have defined the black belt for me is endless. Each one has inspired me on my mastery journey.

I am responsible for endorsing four new people as black belts this year who will now have a hand in defining the black belt from this point on. I trust they will make all of my mentors proud.

“Life is not a brief candle. It is a splendid torch that must be made to burn as brightly as possible before it is handed on to the next generation.” - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Fatigue

I know a lot of people have struggled with the isolation of the pandemic and I understand how everyone’s different circumstances modulate the intensity of that isolation. Up to now I have not really felt anything beyond inconvenience from the pandemic.

These past couple of weeks things have changed. I am definitely ready to return to live lessons. Perhaps it is the change in weather or maybe it is the fact that I just had to conduct a four month black belt test virtually. More than likely it is due to the exhaustion of having to navigate my business through the quagmire this provincial government has created. We’ve been shutdown longer than anyone else and Kenney has now started opening things up while our hospitals are still over-crowded. This incredibly ill-advised approach is going to drag things out even longer. At this rate he is going to bankrupt any business that is not directly related to oil. Obviously I can’t say specifically why, but I am definitely seeing the signs of burnout.

I am not going to endure this sitting still. I am taking steps to address my burnout and I am using it as a catalyst to make positive changes in my life. My meditation practice is improving and expanding. My exercise regime is being modified. My diet is improving.

I am not sure how much longer I will be teaching virtually but I am confident that whatever I end up having endure, I am going to come out ahead from the experience.

“Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew.” - Cicely Tyson (1933 - 2021)

Shutdown

We have been shutdown from live classes for 6 months of the last 12 with no end in sight. The government continues to make questionable decisions by loosening restrictions at the same time when they have been forced to convert the Butterdome to a field hospital.

Weak leadership is prolonging the effects of the pandemic and every time the government gives in to pressure and prematurely reduces restrictions, it drives another nail in the coffin of many businesses that have been shut down longer than anyone else.

Judging by the topics of my last few blogs, the inept handling of the pandemic is on my mind a lot lately. Yes, my business and family are suffering because of the shutdown but that does not change my resolve to do what is right. If more restrictions are going to save lives then bring them on. I am not going to start lobbying this government to make yet another bonehead decision to serve my own interests over the public well-being.

“If things keep going down the path we're on, we're going to see costs fall disproportionately on the backs of some Albertans, while the premier and his government resist taking on costs on our behalf.” - Andrew Leach

Time to Lead

I can’t believe we are still debating the best way to handle the pandemic. We’re coming up to our second year in and we just prepped the Butterdome to serve as a field hospital. The time to debate is over, we need to act.

Whether or not you agree with this government’s approach to curbing the infection rate while simultaneously keeping the economy rolling, is irrelevant. It does not matter what plan that is put into place if we do not follow it. What we know beyond any reasonable doubt is that the everyman for himself approach is not working. We need to work together.

Triaging the situation tells me that your life has greater value than my business. Therefore I am going to do whatever it takes to save as many lives as possible and hope like heck I still have a business at the end of this pandemic. It also means that I am not going to join in on all the lobbying to get martial arts schools open just because the hair salons and tattoo parlours were already able to successfully prey upon this government’s weaknesses to get themselves back in business at a time when our hospitals are overflowing and our healthcare workers are burning out.

What is more important right now, the economy or your fellow man’s life?

“Money often costs too much.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Responsibility

We live in a democracy but I do not believe all of us truly understand what that means. By its very nature, a democracy implies compromise. We go with the majority and whether or not you are in agreement with that majority, you must accept their will. Threatening violence or political separation every time you do not get what you want does not serve a democracy. 

It is not difficult to confuse democracy with politics. If we democratically elect a government, we are empowering that government to make decisions on our behalf. I do not get to vote on every decision, I only get to vote for who is going to make those decisions on my behalf. It is my expectation that the government that represents me will make their decisions based upon what is best for the majority of their citizens. I don’t think it is unreasonable for me to assume that any government that represents its people will make decisions based upon the proper triaging of priorities. Saving a life takes precedent over saving a paycheck. Seems pretty obvious. Money can be replaced, a life cannot. Death is absolute, bankruptcy is not.

When politics enter a democracy, the government does not always represent the majority of their citizens. It does not take much for a government to be influenced by vocal minorities, especially when those minorities can bring a lot of campaign money to the table.

An indisputable fact cannot be more absolutely clear - our intensive care units are overflowing. At certain points of this pandemic, up to 80% of certain hospital beds have been infected by COVID outbreaks. Whether you think this virus is dangerous or not, it is affecting our health system's ability to cope. That means cancer patients are not getting timely treatment, psychiatric patients' treatments are compromised and in some cases, not even available anymore. People needing care and therapy cannot receive it because our system is overloaded, underfunded, and unable to cope with the realities of the pandemic.

So where are we today in Alberta? Our healthcare workers, a year into this pandemic, have been working relentlessly to cope under adverse conditions while the infection rate remains at an unsustainable level. At the exact same time many of our population are refusing to adhere to a mask policy that our government is failing to enforce. The biggest tragedy is how many special interest groups are preying upon the appallingly weak leadership in this government by successfully lobbying for the relaxing of COVID restrictions, at the very time that our healthcare experts are advocating for the opposite approach.

If this government is not going to provide the leadership necessary to save lives, who are they representing?

“People cannot be free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the freedom of others. The price of democracy is the ongoing pursuit of the common good by all of the people.” - Saul Alinsky (1909 - 1972)

Peeling an Onion

Mastery is not achieved through a single lesson. In fact, a lesson is not fully understood through a singular exchange of information. All knowledge has prerequisites. You cannot run if you do not first learn how to walk. Multiplication is not a concept you can grasp if you do not first understand addition. Concepts, no matter how simple, have multiple layers.

Layers of knowledge cannot be exposed in stasis. Concepts and ideas need to be poked and prodded. If they are not tested, understanding is very limited. A lesson can be delivered but the education only intensifies as questions are asked and answered. Questions and experiments should open minds and modify perspectives.

Every lesson I have absorbed has changed me and the way I look at the world. Change, no matter how small, has a ripple effect on everything I have learned to date. There are few things more powerful and empowering than an open mind.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” — Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)