Hidden Benefits

I have changed over the last year in a way that I didn't expect. This is my third year of being on the UBBT/I Ho Chaun team and it is different than the others. Yes, I am a black belt now but that is not what has changed so much. It's the numbers! I used to be so focused on the numbers, I have to get this many of this and that many of that in order to have accomplished something each day. Now I am more focused on running to improve my cardio, practicing my form so that I can improve it, doing kicks so that they have more power, and doing acts of kindness because I can. I am racking up the numbers but they are no longer my focal point.
This is what I love about being on the I Ho Chaun team, there are hidden benefits all the time. I didn't plan to become a better martial artist, a teacher, a person, it happens when you concentrate on being a better person today than you were yesterday, everyday.

How do I know if I am inspiring?

I was going to write about how amazing my kung fu week was, it was fantastic, and then I read my daughter's blog(http://coolmusic11.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-mom.html).
In the past three years, I have changed my routine, settled my focus, and made many other forever changes in how I live my life. I was (and continue to be) very goal oriented and very focused. I kept looking (peeking really) at my daughter in hopes of inspiring her to practice more, get more excited about kung fu, be ready to change her habits. She patiently supported me, learned how to do laundry and cook chicken in a quick and efficient way and did many other amazing things but still no new excitement. I figured that I didn't have what it takes to inspire her, so I kinda set those hopes aside.
On the night of the Chinese New Year's banquet, that hope was re-ignited. After we got home and I finished reliving all the amazing moments, conversations and happenings of the evening, Katie very quietly and confidently stated, 'I guess it is my turn now.' She was ready to get more excited, practice more and set some goals. I was thrilled, I wasn't sure if I inspired her but I made a vow to support her as thoroughly and completely as she has me.
Today, she helped me see that I can have an impact just by being me and I don't have to try to inspire, I just have to keep trying.

Fever

The fever that many were experiencing a few weeks ago at the banquet seems to have caught up with me. I feel like garbage. It's a good thing that I am on days off and there are no classes tomorrow, hopefully if I get lots of rest, it won't last long.

Inspiration

I read this amazing book in the last week, it is called Ultra Marathon Man, confessions of an all-night runner by Dean Karnazes.
One of my friends that likes to run recommended that I read this book if I was ever looking for inspiration and motivation. I wasn't really sure what to expect but I was immediately taken in by the author's writing style. As I read and was amazed by how articulate this guy was in sharing his journey, I began to feel more and more like putting my runners on and heading down the road. He shares some familiar ideas;
' it became clear to me that the Western States Endurance Run would be primarily about one thing: not giving up. It really didn't matter how long it took to get the job done; what mattered was getting it done. This was an exploration into the possibilities of self. Being a champion meant not quitting, not matter how tough the situation became, and no matter how badly the odds seemed stacked against you. If you had the courage, stamina, and persistence to cross the finish line, you were a champion. '
Dean also takes his passion and uses it to help others. He has run 199 mile relay races to raise money for children to have organ transplants. (the relay is designed for teams of twelve to run 5.5 miles each, three times, Dean ran it as a team of one). He has run this relay twice and on the third time, challenged himself by adding on an additional 26.5 miles (a marathon). He may be a little bit crazy for doing some of the things that he does but I don't think so. He is no different that we are as we push ourselves to do 1000 of anything in a day, a week or a year. We are all striving towards mastery and pushing mediocrity out of our lives.

Nuff Said

Theodore Roosevelt said:
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.