red5angel
06-19-2002, 08:00 AM
I was talking to my wife when I got home from class last night. Lately I have been in a rut, my stance doesn't seem to be improving a whole lot, and this week especially I have been feeling a severe lack of energy. She pointed out that it could be because I practice the same things everyday, which to some extent is probably true. I dont get bored doing it, I never do.
This conversation made me think about my journey in the martial arts. In my belief we only live once, only get one chance to do what we want to do. We have alot of things we could do but only so much time and so we must pick and choose. I love the martial arts. After Reading the book Zen in the Art of Archery and I realized that what I do, I do for the sake of doing. I do wing chun out of a passion for its style, its substance, its ability to challenge me, my patience, my strength of will and my determination. Sometimes I pass and sometimes I fail but I keep on doing it. My wife asks me sometimes why I do it when I am tired or not feeling well and I have never been really able to answer her. Last night it occurred to me that to be good at anything we must apply ourselves, as much and as often as we can spare. When I am sick or tired I may do less then when I have energy and am feeling good, but I do it anyway because every inch that I travel down the Wing Chun path, the closer I get to that unreacheable destination. Whether I am young or old, or doing it to fight or for health or whatever. Its a journey I take everyday of my life, a road less travelled.
I am sometimes challenged on my passion for it, by friends family and total strangers, my enthusiasm for practice, my trust in what I am learning and who I am learning from. I met a man I think feels the same if not more so that I do about the art and the search for perfection through it and in it. this has stoked the fires within me that I never knew were there, the idea that with the right tools and the right instruction I can be good at what I do and I can share it with others. This is where my dedication to my art and to those that teach me.
I hope one day to reach a point where I can loose the self, where I can transcend what is the pain, the tiredness of working muscle, the strain of ligament and mind as I push myself on in my practice and my study, and that "IT" will do what "IT" does without the need for me to drive it.
This conversation made me think about my journey in the martial arts. In my belief we only live once, only get one chance to do what we want to do. We have alot of things we could do but only so much time and so we must pick and choose. I love the martial arts. After Reading the book Zen in the Art of Archery and I realized that what I do, I do for the sake of doing. I do wing chun out of a passion for its style, its substance, its ability to challenge me, my patience, my strength of will and my determination. Sometimes I pass and sometimes I fail but I keep on doing it. My wife asks me sometimes why I do it when I am tired or not feeling well and I have never been really able to answer her. Last night it occurred to me that to be good at anything we must apply ourselves, as much and as often as we can spare. When I am sick or tired I may do less then when I have energy and am feeling good, but I do it anyway because every inch that I travel down the Wing Chun path, the closer I get to that unreacheable destination. Whether I am young or old, or doing it to fight or for health or whatever. Its a journey I take everyday of my life, a road less travelled.
I am sometimes challenged on my passion for it, by friends family and total strangers, my enthusiasm for practice, my trust in what I am learning and who I am learning from. I met a man I think feels the same if not more so that I do about the art and the search for perfection through it and in it. this has stoked the fires within me that I never knew were there, the idea that with the right tools and the right instruction I can be good at what I do and I can share it with others. This is where my dedication to my art and to those that teach me.
I hope one day to reach a point where I can loose the self, where I can transcend what is the pain, the tiredness of working muscle, the strain of ligament and mind as I push myself on in my practice and my study, and that "IT" will do what "IT" does without the need for me to drive it.