Recently I came across a reference that said “perfection is in God’s hands and excellence is in yours”. I took me some time to really comprehend what this meant to me. As first blush I thought it meant that there was no way that I could reach “perfection”. After some thought, I realized that none of us are ever going to be perfect but we can strive for excellence in our lives.
Most of us tend to go through life like a video game, we feel that we have many "lives" or can press the "reset button" and start over. Life is so not like that and the sooner that we come to realize that we only have one life, then the realization of how we live our life become that much more important. When we realize that we have such a finite amount of time, life becomes much clearer and perspective comes into focus. What is truly amazing is when we get this moment of clarity, this moment of realization is what so many of us fail to do and that is act upon this realization.
As a martial artist I have come to realize that everything I do in my life has impact upon my excellence. It starts with what I choose to put into my body every day, how much exercise I do, how much rest I provide my body and mind and most importantly to me is how much balance I can achieve. All of these things and how well I perform them will have a direct impact on the level of excellence I achieved in my life. As a martial artist, I am learning to be mindful of these things and I want to apply the highest level of excellence that I can in everything that I do. Excellence is something I strive for everyday but is far from easy to achieve. It reaquires attention to detail, it requires truth and honesty and it requires ongoing effort to truly acheive it.
I have a new found appreciation for excellence. I am working every day to apply myself not to be perfect, but to live my life to the highest level of excellence that I can.
Ian Repay
Student of Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta.
