Mother Earth

I spent a good portion of my afternoon digging in my yard, getting rid of weeds, and planting a few vegetables. I loved it! It looks nice and fresh and there is something about it that brings peace to my soul.

Leadership

What is a good leader? How do you get to be a better leader? Why do people follow one person's example and not another person's?

I don't know the answer to these questions, I just more questions. I know what I am passionate about and I know that when I share that passion, I can inspire others to try harder, be more creative and not give up. I know that I can convince people to try new things and have hope, when I share my passion. Most of my experience in leadership has been face to face, allowing me to use my facial expressions, body language and tone of voice to enhance my words. I like being able to see the reaction that I am having, looking for that frowning face that tells me that I need to explain more or that ah-ha look that tells me that I can move on. What I am not experienced in is trying to inspire and lead people using electronic devices. I can't tell if my message is being heard, understood or accepted, I have to move forward as if I have the full attention of my intended audience. Perhaps if I make a video and share it electronically, I can reach more of my audience?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!
 I have had a very good kung fu week. I am enjoying the morning classes and was happy that I got to attend black belt class and I Ho Chuan. I was not able to attend for a couple of weeks and that really helped appreciate how much I enjoy and learn from those classes. I think that if I could attend every week, then I may get complacent and not stay in the moment. When it is not always available, opportunities are easier to appreciate. In fact, I think everything is easier to appreciate if you consider not having it. I recently lost a friend to cancer and that loss has helped me appreciate everyone and everything in my life. Suddenly, the little things that were bugging me no longer mattered, the big things were what mattered. I have a family that I love, I have friends that I can share with and I have my kung fu (and my kung fu family), what more does a girl really need.
I am glad that I had an opportunity to count my blessings. I will miss my friend and do everything in my power to honor the path that he helped me see. :)

It couldn't get any better than this!

Saturday is my favorite day of the week because I spend most of the day at the kwoon. I begin my day with a hearty breakfast and some lovely tea and then it is off to the kid's class. They have so much energy and willingness to try just about anything, that it is hard not to laugh out loud from the shear joy of it. There is a thirty minute break where I usually tell myself that it is a good time to do forms but I usually end up visiting with my friends, talking over the class or just catching up. The next class is tai chi, which I joined to improve my flow. I am not sure if that happened but I do know that I am calmer, and I am able to settle myself down much quicker in stressful situations. Tai chi also helps me feel centered and focused in all that I do. After that, it is time for a quick apple for energy that I will definitely need in the fitness class. I joined this class to improve my over all fitness and discovered that it is so fun to exercise with others who are willing to push themselves just as hard or harder than you do and do it with a sense of comradery that is second to none. It is definitely a high point of the day. If I am lucky, my partner and I will share a little lunch after this, talk about our week and plan what we want to focus on in open training. I love open training because you never really know what it is going to be like or who else you are going to get to train with. Sometimes, it is quiet so it is a very focused time, lots of forms and time for improving my eye for detail. Sometimes it is jammed packed with people, talking, laughing, teasing, sparring, teaching and just enjoying being there. And sometimes, it is a combination of it all. I just love being there.
So all this brings me to yesterday, WOW! What a fantastic day!!! It was like we took all my favorite things to do and amped it up big time. I arrived two hours early so that I could do some pre-planned nun chuck work with one of my friends, the time just flew. Suddenly it was time for the kids to arrive and it was time to run and play and have a good time. I think that the kids had a good time, too. I loved that we had lots of older kids helping the kids, that truly made the event cool for me. I loved seeing all the families wandering around, visiting and getting to know one another. Tai chi was super cool too! We did the whole form (it takes about 20 minutes if you do it right) three times all together, I think there was about 8 or 10 of us. I usually practice tai chi by myself and the energy generated by having the whole group together was phenomenal, it made the hairs on my arm stand up. On to the fitness class, I am not sure what I expected but it wasn't a packed room willing to give this class a try. Now that was some serious energy!!! I loved that so many people came out and gave it their all. We worked our butts off (as usual) and it was too fun having new and old training partners in the group. Of course, Sifu Stoddard is absolutely amazing when it comes to getting a group moving and having a good time. I have no idea how she puts together such a fun filled, work your butt off with a smile on your face class but it totally works. It's like you don't even know how hard your are working because you are having so much fun ( until you "take it to the floor" and that is a story for a different day). I topped off that part of my day with the dragon dance. I wasn't sure that I had any energy left in me (5 hours of sleep followed by 5 hours of non-stop kung fu) but I do like the dragon. It was challenging at first, remembering how to move together and not trip anyone else on the team, but we seemed to find our rhythm and no one got hurt. When it was over, I found myself eagerly discussing more practices so we could get ready for Canada day. It should prove to be an excellent way to get ready for summer.
I go off to work after the dragon dance, it was hard driving away when I really just wanted to go play the dragon game again and have some more popcorn. I decided that if I had any gas left in my tank that I would return after my shift to help close off the day. My daughter helped me with this as she wanted to go back in the evening to do more forms, that was all the energy boost that I needed. I arrived shortly after 11 pm, to find a very high energy group, doing forms, running suicides (?) and generally pushing themselves a little bit more. I jumped in, completely addicted to the energy and started doing nun chucks with a few people that turned into a group that just kept growing. We decided when there was about thirty minutes left that we should do all of our forms in the order that we learned them. We had a really good time, the energy was high,(there was lot's of sweat) and we finished the night with unity and vigor as the clock struck twelve and we did Hsing Chien.What a great way to end a great day :)