Empathy and Respect

As 2018 draws to a close, one can’t help but meditate upon the state of the world. I don’t think many of us would have predicted the nationalistic shift on a global scale. Who knew that racism and intolerance could make such a comeback?

I know my generation knows better. At least we did when I was in school. Yet here we are, destroying the planet’s precious few resources so that we can fill our wallets and have all the latest gadgets. Consumerism has never been so hallowed.

It was not so long ago that we understood how small the world really is. Today, birthright is everything. No one cares about what is earned, we all seem to have this overwhelming sense of entitlement. - as if we have done something incredible to deserve our place on the planet.

Don’t get me wrong, I am eternally grateful to live in the country I have been lucky enough to have been born in. When it comes to citizenship, I have won the lottery. But that’s the thing, isn’t it? Knowing that I have done nothing to deserve this. I just happened to be born on this side of an imaginary line.

My awareness of the total randomness of my citizenship gives me deep respect and empathy for those who have not been so lucky. As I have done nothing to deserve my lot in life, neither has anyone else - no matter where they live.

Life is short. I think it is infinitely more productive and fulfilling to appreciate what you have and share it with everyone, rather than spending all your time protecting your random birthright.

“it is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.” - Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - 2008)

Christmas

I find myself wondering what Christmas is. From all appearances, it is a festival of capitalism in all its glory with very little to do with the Christian faith.

Looking at the world today I see billionaire ‘Christian’ politicians promoting hate and intolerance while their foreign policies produce war, famine, to ensure that their own personal financial interests are reinforced. At the same time, people I respect, are celebrating their ‘Christian’ faith at the same time they are speaking out against helping the refugees they have helped produce by supporting nationalistic rhetoric. When did Christmas become such a mess? I don’t know but it has always been like this during my lifetime.

Christmas should be about peace, tolerance, and good will. Shame on us.

“Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.” - Dr. Suess (1904 - 1991)

Rooting and Centring

In kung fu we train in energy and power with our ultimate goal being the harmonization of the two. Power comes from centring and energy comes from rooting.

At the beginner levels, we constantly reinforce the concept of maintaining our centre. At this level it begins with maintaining and lowering our stances. We progress by keeping our centre of gravity in our hips as we transition through our stepping and stances. Application of centring is about maintaining our own centre while disrupting our opponent’s centre.

At the advanced levels we expand the concept of centre to include rooting. Rooting involves using energy by pushing our feet into the ground. When centred we tend to stand ‘on’ our legs but when we are rooted, we are standing ‘in’ our legs. The force vectors of our energy while rooted spiral in and down so that application of rooting can explosively lift our opponent completely out of their stance.

“If the I wants to move upward, it must simultaneously have intent downward.” - Chang San-feng (1279 -1386)

A Life of Consequence

As people I love continue to leave this earth, I can’t help but think about the fragility and shortness of life. Rich or poor, the only commodity of real value is time. But time is not just about quantity. Spending the precious time we have on things that matter defines a life well-lived.

“Death is not a tragedy to the one who dies; to have wasted the life before death, that is the tragedy.” - Orson Scott Card (b. 1951) 

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” - Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180) 

“The idea is to die young as late as possible.” - Ashley Montagu (1905 - 1999)

Intelligent Curriculum

The difference between traditional martial arts and fighting arts is what I refer to as intelligent curriculum. The martial arts has always been about more than kicking and punching but too few schools actually teach anything but.

Kung fu tempers the confidence that comes with building character and self esteem by ensuring empathy and compassion are part of the training. It is in those less physically tangible attributes that the real value of traditional martial arts is realized.

If you want your kid to learn how to handle a bully without becoming a bully himself, empathy and compassion are essential. Unless you live a life where you are in constant threat of physical assault, the biggest and most applicable training you receive from a traditional martial arts school is found in their intelligent curriculum.

“There is no cost difference between incarceration and an Ivy League education; the main difference is curriculum.” - Paul Hawken (b. 1946)

Who Do You Need?

I bristle anytime someone uses the term ‘protocol’ or ‘tradition’ when it comes to something we do in kung fu. Lack of mindfulness when it comes to applying some of what people would describe as ‘strange’ practices in traditional martial arts is why most of the real value of training in the marital arts has been eradicated by modern entries in the martial arts realm.

One of our practices of kung fu has us using titles when we talk to people. Calling someone ‘Sifu’ labels them as a teacher of kung fu. My students call me Sifu Brinker in class and call me whatever they want outside of class. Sometimes a student blurs the line and starts calling me ‘Jeff’ in the office of the school.

As I told all my black belts during their class on Thursday, what you call someone has nothing to do with the ego of the person you are referring to. It is only a clear statement as to who you need in your life. If you need another Jeff in your life, call me Jeff. If you need a Sifu Brinker in your life, call me Sifu Brinker. If you call my teacher (Master Macdonald) by his first name - Brian, you are saying you don’t need a Master Macdonald in your life and if you do not need a Master Macdonald, you certainly do not need a Sifu Brinker.

How you refer to people says a lot about where you are and what you need. I am always retooling in the present moment and adjusting my perspective to reflect the circumstances of my present moment. I am eager to learn and I am a constant student. Brian Macdonald is the best friend I have on this planet and there are times when I need Brian in my life. The second I step on the mats, I am all about kung fu and when it comes to kung fu, I always need Master Macdonald.

“Have the humility to learn from those around you.” - John C. Maxwell (b. 1947)

Sifu Brenda Stoddart

This week saw one of the best instructors ever to teach at Silent River Kung Fu, teach her final class. Brenda Stoddart is leaving Alberta for BC and will be leaving a massive void in her wake.

Brenda was the first person ever to sign up at Silent River Kung Fu when we opened in our permanent location in 1998. I remember the day like it was yesterday, Brenda pulling up with her British Columbia license plate and signing up her children for classes. I was still cleaning the kwoon from our frantic preparations and renovations to prepare for our first official class in the brand new kwoon and there was a four foot pile of garbage in the middle of the training area. Brenda questioned whether or not classes would be possible in the two hours I had before class time. Classes went as scheduled but what wasn’t expected or planned was Brenda herself signing up for my adult morning classes.

Twenty years later, Sifu Stoddart is working on her fourth degree black belt as a much loved instructor in our Tiny Tiger and Black Dragon programs. I have no instructor more engaged or more reliable than her.

Sifu Brenda Stoddart is one of the best black belts I have ever trained and she is one of the most popular instructors Silent River Kung Fu has ever had. She may be leaving but her DNA will forever be part of who we are.

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” – Winnie The Pooh

Quintessence

Kung fu has been around for over two thousand years and the majority of my life has been spent building Silent River Kung Fu into an organization that I am proud of. Every year, as more and more of my students achieve black belt status, I reflect upon whether or not my passion, the quintessence of my kung fu, is being adequately passed on to my students.

There will always be marital artists and those who train in the martial arts. I don’t think any traditional martial arts instructor is happy with the state of the martial arts industry today. People training to black belt only to assume they have reached the ultimate goal and move on to other challenges. The number of people who go on to truly master the martial arts are far and few in between.

My goal this year, before the Year of the Dog runs out, is to restructure my school to better reflect what kung fu is really about.

“A man cannot understand the art he is studying if he only looks for the end result without taking the time to delve deeply into the reasoning of the study.” ― Miyamoto Musashi (1584 - 1645)

Really?

American mid-term elections. I was listening to an interview on the radio this morning and the question was “Why are Canadians so interested in the US midterm election?” Are you kidding me? You have a guy in the most powerful position on earth dismantling democracy and environmental safeguards and you are wondering why Canadians are interested? Do we not all breath the same air?

There is a term out there that I am hearing a lot since the Stephen Harper days and even more now that Trump is following Harper’s lead. That term is ‘Weaponization ofCulture’. It is that approach to politics that allows a racist with the temperament and attention span of a toddler to become the President of the United States.

Non-racists of strong moral fiber are voting for racist, morally corrupt liars and are willing to let democracy slide as long as their one or two highest priorities are being addressed by a candidate. Their personal/social culture has been weaponized by immoral politicians to manipulate the situation to get themselves elected while promoting their own self-interests.

There was a time when government worked for all the people.

“Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale.” - Gore Vidal (1925 - 2012)

Another Door Closes

I said the big goodbye to another friend last week. As I complete another trip around the sun I find myself contemplating what a stupidly short amount of time we all have here.

Death is not something I fear, it is the logical end to the journey that has been my life. It is the yang to the yin of my birth. One cannot exist without the other.

Time. I have wasted so much of that precious resource. Moments have slipped by without me even being aware that I was there. It is not as if I have a list of things to accomplish before the deadline of my death. I just want to be present, truly present, for every moment of every day.

“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.” - Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Self Talk

We all have that voice in our head - telling us we’re not good enough, we don’t have what it takes, we’re just going to make a fool of ourselves.

I know for a fact that thoughts affect action and negative thoughts can cripple any chance of positive action. Controlling negative thoughts is imperative for positive growth and progress.

No one can snap their fingers and eradicate negative thoughts. Once those thoughts have been generated, it is difficult to get rid of them. The best course of action is to not allow them to formulate in the first place. For me this means taking ownership of the words I use. Positive words produce positive thoughts, and positive thoughts produce positive actions.

Several times a day I challenge myself to analyze how my words serve me and my goals. This self awareness goes a long way in nipping negative thoughts.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890)

Cognitive Dissonance

Last year there was a news item on the BBC about a litter of piglets rescued from a fire that were later served as sausage to the firefighters who had rescued them. The farmer predicted that vegetarians were not going to be happy with the way he showed his appreciation but in fact it was mainly meat eaters that were appalled with the situation.

Six years ago, an American passenger jet on the tarmac in Washington had to be towed out to the runway for takeoff because it could not dislodge itself from the holes its wheels had sunk into from the extreme heat.

Coal-fired power plants in the US have been temporarily shut down because the waterways that they draw on to cool their machinery were either too hot or too dry.

The cognitive dissonance that is at play to allow us to be appalled by piglets saved from a fire being slaughtered to feed the firemen who saved them is also at play when we use more fossil fuel-burning machinery to get another fossil-burning piece of equipment dislodged from a tarmac that is increasingly overheated due to climate change so that it can go on its fossil fuel-burning way.

Cognitive dissonance or not, the chickens are coming home to roost.

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to accept what is true.” - Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)

Thanksgiving

I had the opportunity to ride my motorcycle for the first time in a few weeks on Friday night. I did not realize how much I missed it until about ten minutes in. My best meditative moments come while I am on a bike. My mind empties and I am precisely in the present moment. I need more moments like that.

Sleep has been difficult to come by in the past few months. My concern over the future my children face is never out of my thoughts. We have already crossed a tipping point where the catastrophic consequence of global warming is no longer something we can avert. It is not a matter of if, it is just a matter of when - and, from what I am seeing, when begins now.

Thanksgiving is a heartening reset bringing gratitude, and gratitude is always a welcome anchor to the present moment. I have a lot l am grateful for and despite the carnage being inflicted upon my children’s future, I will strive to use this holiday to inspire my gratitude to stay in front of me beyond the opportunity this weekend provides.

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

Remembering What Is Important

Relevance. This is a word I think we should think about a lot more than we do. By thinking about it I am talking about beyond its definition and more into its application.

When I really think about relevance, I can’t help but think of consequence. It is too easy to dismiss something as irrelevant without considering the consequence of your dismissal. How many politicians have been elected with a minority of the population actually voting for them? Thinking your vote is irrelevant has a consequence.

Everyday we make choices. Choices can be difficult but they are absolutely free to everyone, no matter the circumstance. What is never free is consequence. We all know that the choices we make come with consequence. What we tend to forget is that forgoing making a choice also has a consequence.

Choosing to engage or not engage is a decision that should be made every moment of every day. A lot of time and opportunity is wasted when moments of decision get replaced with indecision or, worse yet, don’t get recognized as an opportunity at all.

“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction. “ John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Without Extremes

Following the US Supreme Court nomination proceedings requires a certain suspension of logic and reality. In fact today’s politics in general require one to question the sanity of everyone involved.

Currently we have a self-confessed sex offender thinking he has some sort of relevant credibility to defend his supreme court nominee who has been accused of sexual assault. What is unfortunate is that the office of the president gives this sex offender the power of influence. What is even more mind boggling is that his position of power continues to be supported by certain media and a significant portion of the US population despite his open confession and documented crimes.

I’m not sure what is in store for the sane world when people will blindly support a principle that is being championed by someone without principles. We should be demanding deeds, not promises. We should be seeing things for how they are, not for how we want to see them.

“I hate all politics. I don’t like either political party. One should not belong to them - one should be an individual, standing in the middle. Anyone that belongs to a party stops thinking.” - Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012)

Why?

When we begin training in anything, we start by emulating our teacher. My teacher tells me to blade my foot; I blade my foot. My teacher tells me to keep my guards up; I keep my guards up. I don’t necessarily understand why, I just do it because I want to progress. When it comes to keeping my guard up and protecting my groin, I am pretty adept at that because I have learned from painful experience why these things are important. Understanding why blading the foot in a side kick is a little more abstract of a concept and thus it requires more thought as well as experience.

Mastery is never easy, it requires consistent effort and action. Not everyone is willing to put in what it takes to achieve mastery and many people training in the martial arts never get beyond a basic black belt level in their art because they never pursue beyond the whats to get to the whys.

The answer to the question ‘Why?’ is the difference between knowledge and skill. The difference between skill and mastery is a person’s drive to pursue that answer.

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” - Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

How Much?

I have spent years considering the possibility of quitting my job. I spent a lot time contemplating how much money I would need to take care of my monthly financial obligations if I lost my main source of income. Mortgages, groceries, utilities, the list goes on. Working or not, those expenses are a monthly reality. My estimates did not stop there. I had to consider the possibility of interest rates going up, the economy crashing, and how world politics would affect my situation.

The longer I analyzed the risk, the more confused I got. I came to realize that the reality of building a nest egg large enough to quench my fears would mean working until I was in my grave. So at the end of January, I took a blind leap and pulled the plug on my job and ventured into the unknown. Last week I surpassed the seven month mark on my big risk venture. My verdict? I need a lot less than I thought I did.

What if we all realized that we actually had enough? Would we all start living and working to feed our needs or would we continue to work to feed our greed? I fear there will always be those who feel they never have enough. I am not sure how much longer the earth can hold on while they try to work that out.

“For greed all nature is too little.” - Lucius Annaeus Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

Changes

Our back to school week is now behind us. We made a few changes in the kwoon this past week and they are only the beginning of many more to come. Change is never easy, nor is it popular, but it is necessary.

Whether we like it or not, whether we are prepared or not, change is inevitable. We can wait until we have no choice but to react to change or we can initiate the change ourselves and have some control over how it manifests.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” — Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

Times Are Changing

Thursday night’s Tri-Municipal Information Night gave me the opportunity to meet with some fellow traditional martial artists who have been teaching in the Stony Plain/Spruce Grove area as long as I have. It was great to reconnect with old friends and discuss the present state of the martial arts.

Our discussion was not a very positive one. The three of us agreed that the future of traditional martial arts is very much in jeopardy. For two thousand years, martial arts taught people how not to fight. Today, the new martial arts are all about fighting. We are all seeing the same thing - important, integral aspects of the martial arts are no longer being taught in favour of focusing on the external, transparent, and obvious.

“Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.” - Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973)

Sustainability of Effort

Every January there is a massive influx of people joining gyms and starting new diets. Anytime there is a reset button handy, people are quick to implement the change they have had on the back burner for a while. A gym that was standing room only on January 2nd invariably is a ghost town come Groundhogs Day. Despite every moment of every day being an opportunity to begin anew, the majority of people procrastinate until they feel a call to action. While the call to action should be an expanding waistline, most wait for a chronological reset as opposed to a circumstance reset. Most see January 1st or Monday as better times to make change than the present.

The secret to lasting change is sustainability of effort. Anything you do to generate the change you are looking for, must be something you can do for the rest of your life if you wish for that change to be permanent. This is why people are rarely able to keep up the pace they set in January over the long term. Life tends to interfere with even the best laid plans and not many people enjoy doing the same thing after they have reached their target goal.

Earning a black belt in kung fu is not an easy accomplishment. It takes years of dedication that culminates with a twelve hour test. What separates the students who will be around to earn higher degrees of black belt from the ones that will not go beyond their first degree blackbelt is the sustainability of their effort. Those who approach the black belt as a journey as opposed to a destination are best equipped for training for the long term. Those who see the black belt as a destination tend to sacrifice so much to achieve it that they do not have anything left after reaching that first summit. They have the best intentions about their future but they do not establish a sustainable training regime to serve themselves beyond their immediate goal.

Mastery is process driven. Develop a process that serves your goal, you will reach that goal. Make that same process sustainable, your goal becomes permanent.

“Sustainability is growth based on forms and processes of development that do not undermine the integrity of the environment on which they depend.” - Jim MacNeill (1928 - 2016)

Out Of the Kwoon and Into the World

It is said that if you can master one thing, you can master anything. Anyone who has successfully spent a year in the Ultimate Black Belt Test or the I Ho Chuan can attest to the truth in those words. Mastery is a process, it is not a state. Once you learn and consistently apply the process, the process is applicable to all aspects of your life.

Many people travel a long distance on the road to mastery, only to veer off or give up without ever learning the path’s secrets. How often I have heard the rationalizations. “I am too busy”, “It is too difficult for me”, “I need to concentrate on something else” . . . The list goes on. Ultimately there are a multitude of reasons to quit. Any reason you can think of can legitimately bring justification to a decision you want to make.

My career in kung fu is in it’s fourth decade. In that time I have yet to meet a person who is actually doing the work that wants to give up. This fact is not a coincidence. If you invest the time, you will reap the rewards. Anyone who is engaged and applying themselves is aware of the massive return on their investment and becomes passionate about the art and its value. Not unlike a weight lifter who has stopped lifting weights, those not applying themselves are not gaining those same benefits.

Stop looking at effort as a sacrifice and recognize it as an investment. There is a reason why they say a master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried. If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.

 “From one thing, know ten thousand things” - Miyamoto Musashi (1584 - 1645)

Surface vs Depth

I found an old stock of dishwasher detergent in the store room I was cleaning out. It is the exact same tab detergent that I am still using but with a difference. These vintage detergent tabs are individually packaged in foil wrappers. The current version is the same detergent tab enclosed in a water soluble coating. Obviously this new method is reducing the amount of waste that is ending up in the landfill. This is a very good thing. What I am wondering about is the environmental impact of the water soluble coating used on today’s version. What chemicals and processes were used to create this solution and what are the long term impacts?

I have no doubts that the manufacturer initiated the change to address environmental concerns. I also have no doubts as to the depth of their concerns. Most corporations focus only on short-term profits for their shareholders, not on the sustainability of their business practices or the health of their customers and the planet that is serving us all. My point is, the manufacturer made the change to improve public perception of their product’s environmental footprint, and any actual benefit to the environment was, if at all, a collateral benefit. In essence, their change was perception-driven and had no soul behind it.

I see this same issue with people’s kung fu. Some students train to learn while others train to be promoted. While the two approaches may appear to serve mastery, only one approach has soul behind it. Those training to learn show up to class with a plan and a purpose. They control their lesson and ensure they get what they need. Those training to be promoted never have a specific plan and rely upon their instructor to map out their progress. This is only half of the educational formula. The instructor is there to teach and the student is there to learn. If either one of the two does not have a plan, any knowledge passed on is only superficial.

Unlike my dishwasher detergent company, kung fu cannot be superficial. There must be soul behind our intent so all our energy is applied to mastering the art beyond just superficial ranks and appearances. There are two types of black belts - those who wear the belt and those who live the life.

“It takes time to practice generosity, but being generous is the best use of our time.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

Serendipity

Things do not always go as planned but sometimes that can be a good, no, great thing. This week was a gathering of my teammates in the last ever Ultimate Black Belt Test. I was ecstatic that I was able to arrange things to give myself this opportunity to personally connect with an amazing bunch of martial artists from across the continent. I teach my students that a big part of success is being in the right place at the right time. We can’t always control the right time but we have a lot of control over the right place. For me, the right place this past week was Portland, Oregon.

Our first morning together opened with Suicide Prevention training. I’m a huge advocate for mental health awareness and have been trying to make it a bigger part of Silent River Kung Fu’s curriculum. Statistically 60% of Canadians are touched by mental health issues, either directly or indirectly, in their lifetime. This type of training could not be more relevant to self defence.

It was at this point that things began to veer off plan. My hotel breakfast did not settle well and the start of my two day love affair with all the restrooms at Aim High Martial Arts kicked off. I was sidelined from the mats for the next day’s training of Aim High’s black belt candidates and relegated to a spectator for all the team meals, including the Hawaiian food. Now comes the serendipitous part.

During the black belt candidates’ class, I met someone who I would not have met if I had been busy teaching on the mats. Jennifer St. John is a high level TaiJi practitioner from Florida who just happened to be in Portland to watch her nephew’s karate class - the same one I just happen to also be at. I often talk about life being defined by specific moments. My meeting Jennifer was one such defining moment. Her calm wisdom and insights resonated with me and her passion inspired me. We have exchanged contact information and I am hoping to maximize the opportunity that has been offered to me by fostering a closer friendship with her.

The week ended too quickly for my liking but despite my stomach issues, I came away inspired and motivated. However, saying goodbye to my teammates and getting on the plane in Portland was not the end of it. Our plane was delayed at our arrival gate in Seattle so we ended up missing our connecting flight. We spent the next hour getting another flight sorted out and ended up with a free lunch on the airline and a new flight home in first class.

You would think that was the best part but it wasn’t. Getting ready to board our flight home, I notice one of my longtime heroes standing ten feet away from me - Grant Fuhr!! He is also on his way home to Edmonton and is sitting within arms reach of me right now as I type this from my first class seat. I watched him play for his entire career but I have never had the opportunity to meet him - until now. Cross that off my bucket list.

serendipity | noun:  The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

The Harmony of Spirit and Intent

In response to a student's enquiry about the paradox of staying in the present moment while focusing on our intent . . .

Intent is actually the present moment. If you are looking ahead and trying to impose your intent on something that is yet to happen, you are forcing a technique. That is why I tell you guys that we need to be time travellers. If a technique is not correct, I reverse my actions to ascertain what my original intent was and I learn from that.

Remember, before intent comes spirit. That is the root of our actions and when I talk about our intent being pure, I am actually referring to your spirit harmonizing with your intent. If your spirit is harmonized with your intent, your intent is pure and dealing with the present moment.

When we train, when we learn, we project ahead. We are forcing our technique to achieve the goal of the lesson. We are not worried about the present moment because our intent is not to apply but to learn. However we learn a lot about our intent by going back and forth from the two ends of an application. We learn a lot about our spirt from that exercise.

Who we are - our values, our experiences, etc all sculpt our spirit. Our spirit can change but only over the long term. We all stay true to who we are and our intent will reflect who we are - our spirit. The definition of the first of the three internal harmonies is literally - stay true to who we are and allow your intent to reflect that spirit.

"Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick." - Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973)

The Responsibility of Mindfulness

Mindfulness has been a blessing in my life. It has allowed me to experience my life first hand. I am not a spectator living my life through the experiences of others. Mindfulness allows me to see where I was once blind. After a lifetime of being a struggling vegetarian, maintaining the discipline of my diet has become effortless effort because of mindfulness.

In life nothing is free and mindfulness comes with baggage that must be dealt with. Once a veil has been lifted how do you look at people the same way without anger and frustration? Everyone has their own journey and we can’t impose our path upon others. It can be easy to lose sight of that fact and just polarize.

Mindfulness is a practice and as such, it requires effort and discipline. For sanity’s sake, it is important to stay compassionate and communicative.

“Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

Pay Now or Pay Later

We’ve all heard the adage that practice makes perfect. Recognizing that there is a big difference between mastery and competence, a step further would be perfect practice makes mastery.

As a guy who dedicates a lot of my time to mastery, I am keenly aware that activity does not automatically guarantee progress. Practice is necessary for mastery but mindful practice is significantly more efficient at producing results.

If I am going to perform 1000 repetitions of a form, I might as well ensure that I get the most value out of those repetitions by ensuring I am mentally present and mindfully engaged. Practice makes perfect but perfect practice makes mastery.

“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” - Vince Lombardi (1913 - 1970)

Slow Down You Move To Fast

There are problems inherent with today’s world that are never going to be solved without disciplined intervention. Today’s world is small and communication is fast. What is ironic is that despite all the tools we have to save time, the commodity that we are lacking is actually time itself.

I spent Saturday attending a memorial for one of my mentors in Vancouver. While watching a slideshow of his life I realized that up to that moment I had not really processed the reality of his death. He had passed away in March but Saturday was the first time my grief fully manifested.

We left the memorial and a $75 cab ride later we were at the airport for a late flight home. We got to bed at 3am Sunday morning and we were up four hours later to get ready for eight hours of lion dancing and kung fu demos for Canada Day. By the end of the day, the memorial felt like it had happened eighteen months ago.

I do not believe grieving is best handled in this way. If you take away the fast travel, I would have had ample time to process my grief and deal with my feelings appropriately. Sunday was unique. Canada Day commitments are made a year in advance but I know that even without that commitment, something else would have been pulling me to get home quick. It is exhausting to never be where you think you need to be. You would think it would be simple to maintain a perspective that the only moment that has ever been relevant is the present moment. It is never that simple. I guess that is why we call Zen a practice.

“Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.” - Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Wuji Again

Wuji, without extremes, is an integral component of my approach to life. If I do not temper my reaction to situations with reflection, my reactions will not always reflect my goals. I make an effort to ground myself several times a day to reflect how my words and deeds are serving me.

Injury is always an opportunity to assess my training. Find my limits and ease beyond. Exploding beyond my limits is rarely without negative consequence. When I go to extremes, I tend to get injured. It is just as important to ensure my recovery is not an extreme in the opposite direction. All or nothing does not serve mastery. Mastery is about consistent incremental progression. Mastery is about adapting.

“Balance is good, because one extreme or the other leads to misery, and I’ve spent a lot of my life at one of those extremes.” - Trent Reznor (b. 1965)

Time

Time is finite. That fact is continuously driven home the older I get. Friends and family pass on, reminding me that none of us get out of here alive. The gift of life comes with absolutes, perfectly defined by the Buddha’s Five Remembrances:

I am of the nature to grow old.

There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill-health.

There is no way to escape having ill-health.

I am of the nature to die.

There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love

are of the nature to change.

There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings.

I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.

My actions are the ground on which I stand.

Taking Stock

The one aspect of my UBBT this year that has been constantly challenging me is my journal content. I have been publicly journaling every week since November 4, 2007. When I started my journal I was blogging for myself - venting and musing about things that weighed on my mind. When I was part of UBBT 6, our team completed the I Am Project that had directed journaling as part of our requirements. I found that process to be very stimulating and it took my journaling into a different direction. After completing UBBT 7 and UBBT 8, my journaling started to be directed more toward my students and my school. Today I find my journaling content alternating focus from my UBBT to my school and students, with less musing and venting. Venting is not as easy as it used to be without polarizing people. It seems no one really wants to open their minds to political or socio-economic views other than their own.

My training has been a bit of a dog show this year. I’ve had a couple of major physical setbacks that are making it difficult to push myself like I want to. I have an elbow issue that has been lingering from a rollerblading wipeout from July 2016. I finally had an ultrasound and x-ray that gave me a definitive diagnosis that does not make complete sense to me. The wipeout injured my elbow, the ultrasound and x-ray show inflammation that is being promoted by bone spurs. None of this surprised me except for what they say is the cause of my bone spurs - repetitive motion.  I have never heard of bone spurs being caused by soft tissue pulling on the bone repetitively. The repetitive motion I have going on in the elbow is the half million or so pushups I have completed over the past 10 years. Not too sure what I can do about this.

The more serious physical issue I have is my right knee. I have had five surgeries on my knees to date and the right one does not have a lot of cartilage left. I am definitely feeling it these past two years where it almost feels like bone on bone. No high impact techniques for that leg goes without saying. What is frustrating is that when I use my left leg, my right cannot support me without pain.

Setbacks and injuries are nothing new, nor unexpected. I just have to keep myself strong mentally and make sure I keep putting one foot in front of the other.

“"Maybe that's enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom... is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go." - Anthony Bourdain (1956 - 2018)

Family and Community

Yesterday was a full day. Preparing for and participating in Stony Plain’s parade is not an easy endeavor. At least it shouldn’t be. Yet yesterday’s parade was so easy because of our kung fu family. In fact, I find Silent River Kung Fu events run smoother if I am not even involved. Things have come a long way from when I felt I had to do everything. I truly appreciate the community we have built.

I left the parade yesterday and stopped to visit Sifu Rybak and her newly arrived twins on my way home. Mom was amazingly mobile for someone who just went through what she did. Sidney and Carter are very cute and healthy and there is no doubt about Carter’s set of lungs.

I finished my day by adopting a dog from SCARS. Bark Lee has definitely changed the dynamics of our home but it looks like he will be a perfect fit once the last of our four cats accepts the inevitable.

 “Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

Pandamonium 2018

In my opinion, we just completed the best Pandamonium Silent River Kung fu has ever held. $15,000 going to five charities, an eight lion Chinese Lion Dance performed by sixteen rookie lion dancers, and  spectacular engagement by an unbelievable team.

Tonight I am grateful for the community we have built and the dedication by so many to realize a vision shared by us all.

“The way to change the world is through individual responsibility and taking local action in your own community.” - Jeff Bridges (b. 1949)

Surround Yourself

May has been a month of interruptions and consequential reactions. My best laid plans have gone awry yet somehow I have been able to stay on track and measure significant progress.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to not move forward when you are surrounded by positive influences. Stress and crisis are easier to manage if you have support and guidance. I have been mindful to rid myself of drama and negativity and my life has entered a phase where it has become easier to stay in the moment and react appropriately to whatever surprises life has in store.

Things are getting easier.

 “Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” - Saadi (1184 - 1283)

Mother’s Day

It is cliche and obvious to state that I owe everything to my mom. She brought me into the world, she raised me, she endured the stress I inflicted upon her life, and she loves me unconditionally.

In most ways my mom and I are polar opposites, yet somehow we have always been close and she has always supported me. When I first began studying kung fu, mom was not pleased. She worried what influence the eastern philosophies would have on me. The influence was profound but mom kept her mind open and recognized how the art was helping me.

The one thing mom never easily accepted in my life was any form of roughness or violence. Like my hockey, mom did not ever see me practice my kung fu. For the first twenty or so years of my training, mom would tell her friends that I was studying taekwondo. Today mom celebrates my students’ successes. She still bristles and questions my sanity every time I have another knee surgery, but she understands that kung fu is who I am.

I love you mom!

 “My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” - Mark Twain (1835 -1910)

Kind-Act-A-Thon

My school launched it’s annual Kind-Act-A-Thon fundraiser this week. Acts of kindness are not the first thing the general public typically associates with kung fu, but I can’t think of anything more important when it comes to developing a complete martial artist. With that I must stress that there is a difference between being a martial artist and just being someone who practices the martial arts.

Over the past ten or fifteen years I have witnessed a shift in why people are looking to get themselves or their children in the martial arts. It seems people are more focused on weaponizing themselves and their family than they are on building character, compassion, and confidence. I remember a time when every martial arts instructor believed that if everyone studied the martial arts, we would have no crime or wars. Today’s more popular claim is: “If you don’t have a good ground game, your martial art is a joke.”

Let’s reclaim what it means to be a martial artist. Lead by example, reflect before reacting, help others, and stay humble.

“When people ask me about what I learned from martial arts, I don't talk about favorite punches or kicks, or about fights won or lost. I talk about learning self-discipline, about ethics and manners and benevolence and fairness.”- Jonathan Maberry (b. 1958)

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)

Taking Stock

One of the big reasons that I challenged the UBBT this year was the major lifestyle change I would be facing. I am the better part of two months into my new life and I have to say, everything is great.

My training is going well. I am meeting my targets despite an early shoulder injury that has slowed me down. It really helped that I was prepared for this and had already structured my daily repetitions around this expected issue. I had a tune up in my chiropractor’ s office today and feel an improvement despite all the tears I shed during his active release torture.

My diet and mindful eating has improved greatly. Being home to make my own meals and eat them fresh is something new for me. I think this is the thing I enjoy the most about my new lifestyle.

Actually what I probably enjoy the most about living this way is how my concept of time has changed. I do what needs to be done. I need more sleep, I sleep. I need to get a chiropractic tune up, I get the tune up. I need groceries, I get groceries. Life is good - I do what I want when I want.

The biggest challenge I face as part of the 2018 Ultimate Black Belt Test is engaging with my teammates. Facebook is my least favourite place to visit but when I do, it is a massive time suck. I may have a different approach to time now but that approach has reinforced how precious time is to me. I am not going to log into Facebook until I have accomplished everything that I want to accomplish in my day first. That may mean untimely reading of my teammates’ posts but until I can get this completely balanced, it will have to do.

“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” - Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973)

Mentors

A few years ago I read something by an instructor I greatly admire that has stuck with me ever since. Sean Allen said: “For the professional martial arts instructor, there are three stages. Simplify, clarify then magnify. Simplify your focus, clarify your exact result, then magnify the difference you are making.” 

As with a lot of things, this bit of advice was not earth shattering for me or even new. I have been applying this approach to my life for decades but the process was not something I would have ever defined myself. In retrospect, I could be so much further ahead if I had taken the time to put words to my process.

This is why mentors are so important. So much of what I do and how I see the world remain abstractions for me. By putting pen to paper or words to process, definitions begin to emerge. Once I am able to define my process, I can teach it to others. It sure speeds up things if someone else’s work can help me define my own.

“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” - John C. Crosby (1859 - 1943)

In the Presence of a Master

I try to spend more time every year hanging around masters. There is no doubt that success and attitude can be acquired through osmosis. Just being in the presence of a master can be a deep, spiritual experience for me.

On Thursday I had to forgo training with my I Ho Chuan team in order to take advantage of the opportunity to hang out with two people who inspire me - my dad and Connor McDavid.

I have never met Connor McDavid face to face but I did make eye contact with him during the Oilers game against the Islanders. Our seats were right behind the goalie and against the glass. It was a totally different experience to see a hockey game from that vantage point and amazing to see a player of McDavid’s caliber that intimately.

Sharing the night with the man who taught me everything I know about hockey and the man who is redefining the sport was inspiring and humbling. I may never be as good at kung fu as Connor McDavid is at hockey, but it is shared experiences like I had on Thursday night that fuels my passion.

Mastery is mastery, it does not matter what canvas it is expressed on.

“It took me a lifetime.” - Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

My Wagon

I am two weeks into the new lunar year and yesterday I had the first meeting with my Year of the Dog I Ho Chuan team. The first meeting of the year is always fairly loose and usually short. This early in everyone is engaged and making progress. Once the snow starts to melt, things will change for a lot of people. Priorities get challenged by the new opportunities offered by the new season.

I challenged my team to stay true to their commitments, especially their journaling commitment. If you fall of the wagon somewhere down the line, it is important that your journal up to that point has defined just what wagon you have fallen off of. Knowing where you are and what you are doing is key if you want to get to somewhere else.

So what wagon am I on? After ten years of dedicating myself to mastery, the wagon I am on is quite a bit different than the one I have been riding up to now. Back in 2009, after UBBT 6, I achieved effortless effort in my kung fu. The structure I had established kept me on track and made it easy to achieve my physical and spiritual goals. So what is different?

Two events, almost a year apart, woke me up to the mediocrity I had allowed to seep into my process over the past ten years. The first event was the death of Master Margitte Hilbig on December 27, 2016. Margie was a huge influence in my life and losing her is still something I have difficulty comprehending. The amount of knowledge that is now inaccessible to the world is unfathomable. The second event was my visit with Master Dave McNeill on November 13, 2017. During my visit Master McNeill let me know that he was going to be retiring from teaching. Once again, the amount of knowledge that would be retiring with him is devastating to think about.

In my conversation with Master McNeill, he suggested I take part in the upcoming UBBT and dedicate the year to Master Hilbig. Up to that day, I had decided that this year would not be a good year for me to take on the UBBT. I had massive responsibility to my own I Ho Chuan team, I was finishing up my BMET career, and I was only a year into my marriage. Not to mention my kung fu was going great — I had logged over a half million pushups over the past ten years, and I had not slowed down since my first UBBT. The second I began to formulate the sentence required to tell Master Dave all of this, I realized I had to do the UBBT. If everything was going so great and I was firing on all cylinders, why would I hesitate?

Thanks to that conversation, I was brought to reality as to where I was. I was a long way from where I thought I was. A lot of mediocrity was present in my training. I had chronic inflammation in my shoulders and my knees. I may have been training hard but I was not training smart.

So back to the wagon that I am on. I am retooling everything I do. My daily structure is gone, and I am starting from scratch. First thing I am focusing on is the quality of my pushups first, quantity second. I am keeping up with my daily 180 but it is taking me a lot longer to complete them. The result has been less inflammation.

I am spending more time this year eating more mindfully. I am not changing what I am eating, I am just consuming it while being more present. Who would have thought that something as simple as consuming an apple could be accomplished so much better?

I am beginning and ending every day with gratitude for Margie Hilbig and everything she has brought, and continues to bring, into my life. I miss her but I continue to learn from her.

With those three main focuses providing the scaffolding that I will build my year around, the rest of my personal goals will fall into place. Perspective is everything for me when it comes to staying on track. Staying physically engaged and mentally present while I begin and end every day with gratitude will keep my perspective clear.

“I believe it's strikingly important to remember that when you know better, you can do better. With higher levels of awareness, you can make smarter choices. And the more clarity you get as to who you want to become, the quicker you can start making the choices need to get you there.” - Robin S. Sharma (b. 1969)

Time

Now that I am unemployed, I have a new appreciation for organization and time management. I used to be pretty good at keeping things straight priority-wise and I tended to stay on top of most things. Yes, there were a few emerging issues that could derail my plans but that is reality - priorities do not remain static.

These past few weeks have seen me become less efficient with my time as my free time has increased. This is not due to lack of effort but rather a lack of prioritized effort. I have found that losing my structured schedule has also lost me my reference for my to dos. I no longer can rely upon my memory to keep my priorities straight. Without my old structured reference, I need to write more things down in order to not lose their priority placement.

This year continues to be one of evolution for me. Different structure, different approach, hoping for next level growth.

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey (1932 - 2012)

Respect

As I begin the Year of the Dog and look at all the goals I have set for myself this year, it is clear how important respect is when it comes to success. All my accomplishments have been built upon a foundation of respect.

Respect is never as simple as it seems, there are many paradoxical tenets of respect. People often underestimate respect and how difficult it is to earn it or even understand it.

The guidance I give my daughters when it comes to respect is basic:

• There is a difference between showing respect and feeling respect. Learn to recognize that difference.
• Give respect to EVERYTHING. Your iPhone, your cat, your grandparents, a stranger on the street - everything represents something of value and worth. Strive to see that value.
• The most valued possession anyone has is time. Time is not infinite and this makes it priceless. Save your time for people or things you value - people or things you respect.
• Lastly, never fail to show respect and do your best to earn respect. Respect is, and should be, easy to show and difficult to earn. Remember though, despite being so difficult to earn, respect is only a single bad decision away from being lost.

 “Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.” - Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973)