Goals

Robyn Kichko’s I Ho Chuan Goals 2012

I will not quit

I will log and complete 50,000 pushups or equivalent ( lat pull downs, flys, pull ups, tricep and bicep curls) - early in the year I discovered that I was hurting my shoulders more and more, so I decided to do 50,000 kicks instead and work with weights to improve the strength in my shoulders and supporting muscles.

I will build towards and complete 10 pull ups by the end of the year - still working on this.

I will log and complete 50,000 kicks - 25,050 - I know that my numbers will get back on track as soon as my toes heal.

I will log and complete 50,000 sit ups - 34,350

I will complete 1000 rounds of sparring - 527 minutes

I will log and complete 1000 acts of kindness - 641

I will log and complete 1000 miles (1609 km) running, walking, swimming or biking - 913.62

I will work towards mastering my stick form by logging and completing at least 1000 reps and seeking feedback from my teachers and peers. - 56 - hopefully this will improve as my shoulders heal more

I will work towards mastering my nunchucks form by logging and completing at least 1000 reps and seeking feedback from my teachers and peers - 756 totally continuing to love this form

I will mend a relationship - this is harder than I thought, it takes risk and accepting of responsibility for one's lack of action. 

I will participate in and help organize the adopt a driveway program - I love being a part of this program, I am going to create a video of our participants and recipients

I will participate in and help organize the annual renovations of our kwoon - I plan to be at the kwoon each day this week, doing whatever I can to help make it an awesome place to hang out.

I will research, organize and lead a group of people to become actively involved in volunteering in the community on a weekly basis - this one is still in the planning stages and I am not quite ready to reveal it.

I will spend one weekend learning how to ride a motorcycyle - I continue to chicken out on this, in the winter I have myself totally convinced that I want this and that I am capable, but as soon as it is nice out, I chicken out. I thought if it was a public goal, I would push myself further and I did, I chose the course but I did not call to set it up.

I will take tennis lessons, either from a friend at work or from the tennis club in Spruce Grove - I have taken exactly one tennis lesson this year and I loved it.

I will continue to blog about my kung fu journey in my weekly blog - my life journey and my kung fu journey are one in the same, that is what I write about each week.

I will maintain my Flavors.me page-  this is up to date, I was going to change it last week but realized that I have grown into the words that I so hopefully wrote in January

I will compete in the annual Tiger Challenge - I am hoping that we can gather enough interest to organize and run a challenge.

I will learn to Lion Dance - I allowed an opportunity to pass in June, so I have been kicking myself and looking for another ever since, perhaps I will have to create an opportunity!

I will qualify and perform in at least three public performances - one at the library in January, the Chinese New Year's Celebration, and one at an elementary school for a group of young ladies

I will memorize and recite Mastery by Stuart Emery - I probably could not stand and recite the whole thing word for word but each day I recite a part of it to help me stay on my path to mastery

I will qualify to teach at the annual forms seminar - I have been teaching the nunchucks form since January, does that mean that I qualify? Only if pouring your heart into it is the measure.

Good Morning!

I have spent most of my adult life fighting my natural tendencies. I stay up late at night for work or for fun (I love a good movie night) and drag my butt through the next day. I love to get up early and do stuff and I didn't know that about myself until I joined my first UBBT team as a student. The only way to fit all the things that I wanted to into each day was to get up earlier. The more I trained the happier I was and the earlier that I would get up. Sometimes, common sense says, if you go to bed at midnight, you shouldn't get up at 5 am and expect to have a productive day. So I don't always get up early, I am working on making my shifts match my natural tendencies, but I do try to get up early enough to train before I do anything else. It is not just about getting the stuff out of the way, it is about starting the day off on the right foot. In my opinion there is nothing better than getting up because you want to and practicing what you love to do before you have to do anything else. This has also opened up many other time saving opportunities for me, did you know that not many people are in the grocery stores at 8 am? I can get my food in half the time when there are only two or three other customers. I started walking my dog before the days got too warm earlier in the summer and before I knew it, I was out of the house at 6 am and fully enjoying a peaceful walk before the day got busy. I have yet to master doing forms outside with the dog along for company (she always wants to join the imaginary fight during forms) but I am going to keep trying. Maybe when she is older, she will just lay in the grass and patiently wait until I am done! ( Well, I can dream!!!)
That is what is on my mind today, until next week, work hard and have fun!

Trusting me

Trusting myself is sometimes a challenge, it is new to me and sometimes I forget! It is true, it is much easier to return to old behavior than it is to forge ahead and see what happens. Each time that I have trusted myself, I have been rewarded with positive results, so the trick is to remember that. I think that I have really good instincts and I need to learn to trust them. When I don't trust myself (basically my instincts) then I try too hard and that gets me in trouble. Some examples of that are trying to fit in, trying to be a friend, trying to look like I know what I am doing. If I trust myself and just be, then I just shine on through and everything is cool. So I have been trying hard to be a good teammate and I think what I need to do is trust my instincts and just be who I am and the rest will take care of itself.
I will be posting more about what I am doing, the when, the where and the what, and I invite anyone and everyone to join me whenever you like.
Until next time, work hard and have fun
Sifu Kichko

Ahhh! Work.....

I just finished reading all the blogs that were written today and they were great. Insightful, thoughtful and encouraging, I loved them all. I don't have any such things to write about.
I returned to work this week and I am pretty tired! I had to miss the dragon dance practice and the black belt class and sparring with the I Ho Chuan team due to my schedule, but I did not miss any of my morning classes and was able to attend all the Saturday classes. It seems to be a good balance for me.
At the beginning of my vacation, I spoke to the I Ho Chuan team about my challenges at work and how hard it is for me to remain optimistic when surrounded by non-like minded people. I also expressed my excitement about getting to spend a month (my holidays) hanging out only with like-minded people at kung fu and getting grounded and figuring out how to be stronger. I am pleased to report that I have felt much more calm in the face of adversity this week and I felt confident that I could handle any confrontations that may occur. I have two very stronge supporters, who remind me of all the work I have done to improve my mind, body and spirit, and they definitely helped me stay grounded and calm so far this week. My week is not quite over but I am sure that I will stay true to who I am as I deal with the next few days.