Week 11

This past week has been a week of ups and downs. I'm still enjoying my Kung Fu alot. But I do find it challenging to get in all the practice I want to do, due to my work load and needing to spend some time with my family. 10 hour work days plus travel time really eats into a day.

My right shoulder and my toe I hurt have been bothering me at times. The shoulder has been like that for as long as I remember so its something I live with, but my toe definately doesnt like flexing with weight on it. It stings pretty good when I try to do proper pushups, so I'm just gonna have to do them from my knees for awhile til it heals more.

Fitness class is so awesome. So much good pain, I really look forward to saturdays now, helps me get through my 5 hours of meeting on fridays thats for sure. The positive energy and exercises and technigues we do are helping me alot. I have along way to go on my flexibilty. 20 years as a tradesman and no stretching has not been good. But it will come with time. I just need a little patience, something I could use more of at times. Again, that will improve with time. It's starting to sink in just what a big journey I have begun. But I truly believe I am becoming a better person and a better me a  little bit each day.

Week 10 an experiment

I tried something this week I haven't ever done before. I tried to be totally aware of the moment as I drove into work each morning. I was amazed and appalled by how much I was zoning out as I drove into work each day in the past. I was amazed to notice the colour of the sky as the sun started to peek over the horizon each day. The way the snow has drifted and formed neat patterns in the fields and just how peaceful it is(except for the traffic on the road).
I was appaled at just how many cars had burnt out tail lights and headlights. How very few people signal even something as simple as a lane change and the large number of people that speed. Is it just me or is society becoming complacent and irresponsible? I even saw 5 cars that had no tail lites whatsoever. I was raised that it was your responsibility to care for your vehicle. To make sure all the lights were in working order and you changed the oil and did the maintenance to ensure your vehicle was safe for both you and the people around you. Maybe I'm just old fashioned in my thinking but it seems alot of people have gotten a sense of entitlement(it's my right to blah blah blah), but have forgotten that you have responsibilities to take care of to earn those rights. Thats my take on things as simply as I can define it. It's like when we are in class, the student needs to earn the teachers trust before he is taught Kung Fu. We do it by showing respect and listening and also asking pertinent questions of those teaching us. I quess what I'm trying to say is it feels like people are losing respect for those around them as they drive. I know I can't read minds so it can be very frustrating when someone cuts me off and doesn't even signal their desire to change lanes. Such a simple thing but one that, to me, is very important. 

I think that's why I enjoy getting to know the students and instructors of Silent River Kung Fu so much. Everyone is very much aware of how they impact the people around them. And the community at large as well.

Here's to hoping we all positively affect and influence those around us each day.

week 9 is it spring soon?

I find I don't mind the snow so much as I do the really cold temperatures that we have been experiencing. I'm in and out of the cold 6 to 10 times a day at work. I end up sweating like crazy due to the very warm inside temperatures, then I have to bundle up and walk the half mile back to the office trailers on my jobsite. The cold winds definately have some bite after you have been sweating.

I'm still feeling a bit blah, but that is mostly due to the fact that winter seems to be holding on with a vengeance. I got a good amount of sleep this week and that helped and I got back into a good training routine which had slipped abit the last week.

I'm trying to take 5 to 10 mins each nite to just relax and sit and revisit my day as it were. My beginning to meditation. I sit upright and just focus on an object in the room and try to really feel myself relax(without getting to relaxed, aka falling asleep).

The food challenge we started as a group this month is making me much more aware of the food choices I eat. As I reach for something that is of questionable nutrition( ie ritz crackers or baked chips) I find myself thinking about more positive choices, like some carrots or cucumber or even a couple slices of wholewheat bread. I'm not a perfect eater by any stretch of the imagination, but I know I'm eating alot more healthy then I did before I started doing Kung Fu.

week 8

Yay my toe felt better. Its still a little tender but not near as bad as it was the first week. I'm finding that my training has fallen into a bit of a rutt. Same thing each day and I know I have to work out of that. I found the beginning of the week til thurs to be hohum. I was still getting over the headcold and between it and a large work load I found myself tired and blah. Fortunately that changed big time on the weekend. Fitness class was a total blast. I can't thank Sihing Kichko enough for the encouragement during the timed fitness kicks. It got me feeling great and completely pumped. Then shoveling snow on sunday was just as fun. The time flew as we chatted away and we were done in no time.

I truly am enjoying meeting and making friends with so many great people at Silent River. I'm am becoming a much more positive person and more motivated to be a positive effluence to the people I meet in my daily life. I was definately the glass is half empty guy before I started and I am becoming the glass is half full and will be full soon too.  Amazing what a little conscious thought can do for a person. By that I mean trying to be aware of how my actions or inactions, words or attitudes affect the people I come in contact with.