What is a black belt?

What is a black belt?
What black belt qualities do I possess? Strengths
What black belt qualities do I lack? Weaknesses
A black belt is someone who is true to themselves, they set a high standard for themselves and they do not compromise it. They work hard and expect nothing less than mastery from themselves and those that they surround themselves with. They accept their weaknesses and work towards improving on them and they build on their strengths. They set an example for others to follow by their constant drive towards mastery in all that they take on.
I set very high standards for myself and I will not compromise them. I work very hard and I am constantly striving for mastery in all that I endeavor. I believe that I set an example for others by not giving up on any of my goals.
I have a difficult time accepting my weaknesses and working towards improving them. I prefer to work on things that I know that will improve and ignore the others (the ones that I think will never get better no matter what I do). What I do to counter this is I work on things that I don’t like as much first during a workout and I force myself to work on the things that I am not sure will ever improve.
Being a martial artist is a journey with no real end, earning a black belt is just part of that journey.
Robyn Kichko
March 2011

The fear factor

I have been working really hard for the last couple of weeks. There is something about going into the last stretch of six months (before grading) that scares the pants off of me. What has changed for me is that instead of freezing with fear, I have put my fear into high gear and I am working harder than ever. I have added weights to my usual work out which is giving me pleasantly sore muscles, I am pushing myself a little bit more when doing cardio and I feel stronger and I am able to focus on the minute details of my form without isolating myself and concentrating for hours. I am feeling the benefits of all the hard work that I have been doing over the past couple of years and using it to push my kung fu to the next level. I know that I have lots of stuff to do in the next six months but I am confident that I have the tools to complete my list. And every once in a while, I get the butterflies in my stomach that remind me that I also need to deal with my emotional reaction to stressful situations. I got some good advice on the weekend about placing myself in stressful situations, so I can get used to the feelings and learn how to manage them. It looks like I will be seeking opportunities to stress myself out, demonstration anyone?
I have been having an absolutely fabulous time in the last couple of weeks and I feel kinda guilty. There is so much unrest and tragedy throughout our world and I feel helpless to affect much change, all I can change is myself.
Until next week, work hard and have fun.

Not about me

Everything about my journey pales in comparison to the devastation experienced in Japan this past week. My thoughts and prayers are with them this week.

What do you really mean?

How can you tell the phony from the sincere? I am not sure that I can. I think that I need to take what people say to me at face value and move on. If I begin to worry about their motives and what reaction that they are looking for, I will end up being totally twisted up.
When I communicate with people it is because I want them to know something. I am either sharing something about myself or sharing an observation that I have had about them. If I am at work, I am usually teaching them something. I think that my communication is fairly cut and dried. I don't have ulterior motives and I don't expect others to have them either. I sometimes struggle with clarity in my messages but I am upfront with that as well. I believe that I am a very honest person.
I get confused when people wonder what I meant by what I said, I get frustrated when people tell me that they told me something that they didn't mean, that I should know what they mean. I know that it is sometimes hard and uncomfortable but I don't understand why people can't say what they mean and do what they say. Does that make me naive? I think that it makes me an optimist. I think that people should speak plainly and not say one thing in hopes that others know what they mean.
That is my rant for today, talk to you next week, really... I mean it!