Then end doesn't justify the means in my world.

I don't know even know where to start on this one but it's something that gets my blood pressure rising. 

I just watched the Trump Biden debate and I had to turn it off.  I need to say that right off the start I'm not a Trump fan at all!  I'm not a Trump fan becuase of his character and nothing else.  I perceive his character as a egotistical, pathological liar who is a selfish bully that has racist/bigot ideology with the presidential office serving him personally. 

I've changed who I am over the years with my Kung Fu and the people I train with being a big part of that.  How can you be a SRKF martial artist with out having empathy, compassion and love?  These are things that I see Trump as being completely void of.  People ask me why I don't like Trump?  "He's done so well for the economy, he's created so many jobs and look at how well the stock market is doing".  My response to that is look at the character of the man, look beyond those things and realize how he's done some of them.  Most people I've talked with are 100% willing to look past his ideological views becuase the end results for them as individuals are jobs and the American dream. 

The end justifies the means.

As I get older I can't look past the character of the man who justifies the means for the results.  Do I want a good job, absolutely I do.  Do I want to be able to make sure my family is getting thier slice of the "Canadian Dream"?  Yes I do but now more than ever I ask myself "what's the cost"?  Whats the cost of this in regards to who I cast my vote to support?  My ideals/character and what I personally view as good character is at the top of list.  Down that list is the actual political platform which is obviously important. But it's not as important as the character of the man leading the policies and platform.  

Mr. Repay

Maintaining the momentum

This one is very very important to me.  Those that know me for a number of years know that I used to be a person that jumped into things with both feet.  I also jumped out with both feet.  Becuase of this attitude my life has had massive highs and lows.  This is something that I've worked really hard to change.  I'm not changing who I am but I'm changing how big the highs and lows are. 

I'm in a very very good place right now.  I've implemented changes to my diet, incorporated regular training everyday and my work life is pretty good.  Becuase of this I've become a bit of a control freak.  I'm very very careful who I choose to spend my time with.  I'm careful to make sure that I'm at home at certain times so that I can cook as many meals as possible without eating out.  When I'm eating out I'm very careful of what I choose to eat.  I'm careful to ensure that I share this journey with my wife and kids.  They are a big part of who I am as a husband and a father.  

All of these things are there becuase I want to control this train that I'm on and not let it get back onto the wrong track.  I realize that I can't control life 100% of the time. During those times its about what I choose to do next.  I used to let guilt drive me.  I don't do that anymore.  I use the next opportunity to get back on the right track and use that as positive motivation to keep moving forward.  

Mr. Repay

Connecting the dots

The ability to connect the dots in my Kung Fu has been ellusive until recently.  It wasn't that I didn't want to connect them but rather I looked at them differently.  I would learn something then move on to the next.  I didn't see or understand that what was being taught was something to build on.  

The traingle stepping pattern is a great tecnique but there is so much going on.  I've started to look at what it's trying to teach me.  Whats the lesson?  Why am I learning it and what parts of it can apply to the rest of my Kung Fu?  In the past I used to just see the dots and I'd add them up to see if I had enough of them for my next stripe.  I was focusing on quantity.  Now I'm focusing on the quality and applying it to my Kung Fu.  

What an amazing feeling I got once I connected those first two dots.  

Stubbed my toe but didn't cut off my foot.

I recently had a couple of days where I didn't record my food as diligently and I should of.  I also took an extra day of rest from my physical training.  Normally Sunday is the day of physical rest but this weekend I took both Saturday and Sunday.  On the food recording front, I knew what I was eating but I didn't think I would be able to easily find the way to record it on my app.  I used this as an excuse not to record.  However today I was back on track both food wise and my Kung Fu recording.  It feels amazing to get back at it, recenter myself around my routine that I've developed over the past six weeks.  

I've invested so much into getting the results that I'm seeing to not start again.  I'm motivated to reach my goal in less than a year from now and I'm more motivated than ever to stay on this path.  I've never felt like this before.  I've never felt like I'm doing something special but dang it I am!

My goal is to grade for black belt in 2021.  I used to think that this would extremely scary.  It's scary if I'm not prepared both physically and mentally.  I've started to prepare six weeks ago with using the best tool I know and that's the I Ho Chuan program.  I realized that all I had to do was follow the plan and the it would prepare me for the grading day. I'm slowly seeing the posative results and I want to use the entire year to prepare myself.  I want to get my body beyond the minimum requirements and I want to push my mind beyond what it says my body can handle.

 I'm going to stub my toes like I did this past weekend but I'm not cutting my foot off anymore.

Mr. Repay

Taking my Kung Fu into the world

This is one if not the most important aspects of my Kung Fu.  Since I've started training with SRKF I've felt a deep connection to the school. At first it was all about wanting to learn Kung Fu, learn how to fight and defend myself.  Then I started to really listen, listen to my sifu's and Sifu Brinker. I started to hear about the art, the phylisopical part of SRKF. This hit me deep inside and it was what I was missing in my life.  I was missing that connection, the ability to become a better person.  I was full of ego when I started and it had a very negative impact on my life in many many ways.  Through my many years of training here I've become a better man and I owe it to SRKF.

One of the most important parts of real Kung Fu is how we are outside of the kwoon.  How we act, how we interact with people and we represent our school and community are most important. I'm so proud to share with people that I'm a student of Silent River Kung Fu.  People joke with me about how I can "mess people up" or if they need some protection they know who to call.  I smile back at them and then tell them to keep looking becuase I'm not that person.  

I had a recent conversations with a client of mine that said these things to me.  I took the opportunity to explain that yes I learn the physical aspects of Kung Fu but I don't use them the way he thinks.  I use my training to become a better person, a better husband and a better father.  I explained how I was full of ego before SRKF and how my training has turned me into the person standing in front of you now.  I'm proud of who I've become and I won't stop working to become an even better version of my self.  SRKF has interwoven itself into my DNA and I'm so happy to have the privilege to train here. I do believe that the training must continue when we leave the kwoon.  I have more work to do in this aspect.  Now it's not just good enough to share my experiences but I need to take more action and get more involved with community projects. This is my next evolution of my training.

Mr. Repay

Best Saturday ever.

What a  Saturday! Got to work on my forms and got great feedback on my Boken form from Sifu Lindstrom.  I need to keep working on connecting my harmonies.  Based on the feedback I'm moving my lower body faster than my top.  I've wanted to plant first and then engage my shoulder and "muscle" the technique.  When I focus on my timing the harmony is there and I can feel the power. 

I was watching the candidates do thier board breaks and becuase of my awareness I was seeing the disconnect and it manifested itself in in unbroken boards.  

I was inspired to develop my own four board break.  I picked four techniques that really feel good to me.  I ran them past a few sifus as well as Mr. Kohut and Mr. Thompson who gave some great feedback.  I don't want to wait on developing these and I want to get my board breaks done early in my grading year.  Next steps will be to set up some holders and get a sense of how it will all flow together.  My goal is to do all four and not have to break it down into two seperate ones.

Finally I resurrected a tecnique that Sifu Lindstrom and I did for a demo many years ago.  It's a key lock into a shoulder lock with a takedown into a face strike and a sweeping kick to finish them off as I retreat.

I can't believe how much I got done in under two hours.  I was sooooo missing this training opportunity and what a great bunch of people to share this day with!

Mr. Repay

Shoe horns aren't just for old men.

I've started using this tool when I purchased a new pair of dress shoes for work.  I've realized that in the past I would jam my foot and wiggle it to get my heel into my shoe.  Everytime I did this I broke down the back of the shoe and slowly ruined them.  I saw the shoe horn on the rack of show supplies while I was waiting in line to drop off a letter at Shopper's and decided to buy it and give it a go.  

What I realized the first time I used it was "why haven't I bought one of these sooner?". It wasn't primarily designed to eliminate bending over which is what I thought helped elderly men put on thier shoes easier.  In fact it's a tool designed to help protect the back of my shoes and make putting them on easier, with out damaging them.  

This got me thinking about my Kung Fu.  We're given a lot of tools during our training but I've resisted using them over the years. The I Ho Chuan program is such a valuable tool.  Everything in the program is there to help us become successful but I didn't realize it fully until now.  The program that is helping me change my diet/eating habits and assisting me with weight loss is a tool that is delivering noticable results.  It's not about all about the weight lose, it's about being mindful of what and how much I'm eating which is a life changing event for me.

A lot of that resistance was becuase of ego.  I didn't see the value at the time or I wasn't engaged at the time and it went right past me and I missed the opportunity.  I've finally been able to connect the dots on these tools and I'm seeing the dramatic and posstive effect it's having on my Kung Fu but more importantly on the quality of my life.  

Mr. Repay

Open training Sept 2020

This blog will be about open training this past Saturday.  I'm sure that like everyone else who was there, it was an amazing and extremely valuable two hours.  

The value is in the ability to work on what I want but also to be able to share that time with my fellow students.  These are the times that I learn the most.  The most about my own training but also I get the chance to chat with my fellow students.  Miss Ward and I had a very good chat and it was so nice to be able to just "hang out" with a bunch of like minded people.  

Open training was always one of my favorite days of the week and it continues to be that way.  I got to work on the things I needed extra practise on such as the three directional kicks, Boken form etc etc.  Having Sifu Lindstrom there was great.  We spent many a Saturday together and some of my fondest moments over the years were those Saturdays training with each other.  Even though he was wearing a mask, I could tell that he had a HUGE smile on his face. 

Big thank you to everyone at SRKF for allowing Saturday open training to become possible again.  

Mr. Repay 

Tracking can become addictive.

Logging and tracking my numbers has been something I haven't been consistent enough with.  For the past four weeks I have taken consistent action and have recorded my numbers both with my eating and with my Kung Fu.  

What I can share is that this can become addictive. Watching my number grow is part of it but seeing the transformation to my body is the biggest motivation to me.  Doing 100+ push ups and situps everyday will and has made me stronger.  It's transformed how my body feels and looks and I like that my clothes are fitting better!  

Now that I'm eating better I'm seeing that my mind is clearer, my body had more energy and I recover faster from exercise.  These good feelings coupled with feeling and seeing my body change for the better is making the tracking ever so much more addictive!  

This couldn't have happened if I didn't want to see the change in myself and if I didn't take consistent action.  

I don't normally include quotes in my blogs.  This quote means a lot to me not only because I love Rocky movies but it's very true.  To me it means don't look to far ahead, stay in the moment and take it one step at a time.

"One step. One punch. One round at a time!

Quote by Rocky Balboa from the movie Creed.

Mr. Repay

Feeling some nervousness

I'm not sure why I'm feeling some nervousness but yet I do.  I've made the most progress toward my Kung Fu in years in 2020.  I'm also watching the candidates prepare for the next phase of black belt testing.  I know I'm a long ways away from being where they are but in the same breath I'm catching myself with the realization that I'm wasting valuable time.  This is making me feel like I'm not on the mastery path becuase if I were deadlines wouldn't matter.  This has brought a whole new realization that if I'm going to be ready (whenever that is) I need to be more consistent in my preparation.  I used to like to cram a lot of learning into a short window of time. I used to think I did my best work when I was under immense pressure and stress. This isn't me anymore or it's still me but to a much lesser extent.

I'm taking steps to prepare myself.  I was at the potatoe bake get together and I got to watch the candidates do thier boards break.  Unfortunately it didn't go quite as well as I'm sure they envisioned.  However Sifu Brinker gave some really good feedback on what he saw and recommendations for the next attempt.  I went back to my car and for the first time, I recorded in my notes what he said.  I didn't want to forget or have it go fuzzy before I left the parking lot.  These notes are going to be paramount to me as I prepare for my grading.  

I'm eating better, I'm feeling better and I'm losing some weight. This is incredibly important to my physical condition which is a big part of the grading.  I've eaten things two weekend ago with my wife that I haven't eaten in almost three weeks.  It was a treat and it was a weekend getaway with my wife.  I don't feel bad becuase the very next day I was back on the path eating properly and I'm really happy with it.  Becuase I'm seeing the posstives results, I don't want to go back and start eating poorly again.  I don't actually want to miss a day of recording what I eat and keeping track of the points.  Doing this is sooooo motivating and it's the same motivation I get from recording my I Ho Chuan numbers.

I'm starting to taste the next step and I'm getting excited. I'm excited as I'm starting to see my progression and I'm starting to realize that where I want to be is not that far away.  

Mr. Repay