thoughts

[red5angel]

I posted this in the WC forum but htought some of you guys might be able to appreciate it as well...

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.

[dezhen2001]

Why worry about the destination at all? "Just Do It" <--- as the saying goes :D

david

[Kristoffer]

Just try to live your life well, having as much fun as possible, help a few oldies over the street and give money to poor people some times.

[rogue]

To quote the bard, "Lifes a journey not a destination".

[rogue]

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a pr1ckle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

---Dr. Seuss

[dezhen2001]

Rogue - did u copy and paste that or type it all out! :eek:
what i read sounded good though :p

david

[DelicateSound]

I posted over at the WC board dude.

Take it easy man.


Rogue, you had an awfully strange childhood, where's the Roald Dahl mate..... ? :D

[Ryu]

Beautiful post. Keep doing what you do. But never forget that it is okay (and quite good for you) to take a couple days off from training all together. However, like me, I'm sure you're the kind of person who almost unconsciously finds himself practicing SOMETHING even when he vowed to take a free day. :) Life absolutely is about a journey. And it should be a good journey filled with as much meaning to yourself as it can. Hopefully at the end of our lives we can say "That was wonderful! Where shall we go next?"

Anyway, we all go through the same feelings as martial artists. I think that's very comforting in its own right.
Take care, and keep training.

Ryu

[red5angel]

Thanks guys! I managed to get an hour in at lunch today and am starting to feel better.

DS - I saw your post, thanks man. I normally dont take a day off so much as do a light day. Like Ryu said, even on my days off I seem to be finding myself doing it anyway!

Rogue -:cool:

[Nevermind]

I feel ya' man. I feel guilty when I miss class even when I'm not feeling well. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have the rest of my life to take this journey and there is no rush. I think the problem with me is that I didn't start training seriously until I was 27. I am 30 now and I am still kicking myself because I didn't start when I was a young kid like most folks you hear about. Therefore, I often feel the need to make up for lost time by never taking a day off and training as often as possible. Though I know I can't get the years back, I feel that I have a much stronger work ethic now. I think it is good to never be satisfied with your progress and always strive to work harder. The most important thing is that we listen to our bodies and train smart. Although diligent training is great, it defeats the purpose if you are sidelined for 3-4 months because you felt the need to ignore your body's warning signs and ended up with an injury. Simply put: train hard but train smart. Peace!

[HuangKaiVun]

When you're sick and tired, you're supposed to REST.

By constantly beating yourself down, you dull the mental/physical edge and THAT is why you are not advancing.

All of the motivation won't do squat if the body and mind are overworked repeatedly. In fact, such overexertion is DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR KUNG FU just as you are experiencing.

Remember that every time you go into that "painless" state, you will experience a complementary PAINFUL state afterwards. Pro athletes like Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons (currently the coach of the Indiana Pacers) used to go into the "no mind zone" during games but then would suffer greatly in a day when his mind was allowed to restore to normal functioning.

Proper mental rest is what you really need right now. Take a few days off (at least) and rest. Otherwise your kung fu will get worse than it already has gotten and you'll get REALLY SICK PHYSICALLY.


Also, your wife is more right than you realize.

All athletes, regardless of discipline, need great variety in their training methods. The bodybuilders call it "cycling one's training". Too much of any one thing will ruin one's kung fu.

Since you clearly WANT to be great at kung fu, I will leave you with this one keyword: "balance".

[red5angel]

Nevermind - I know what you mean, I am 29 today! and just seriously started trianing hard this past winter........

[rogue]

Still got you youngins beat, try training in your late thirties.

I won't mention training in your 40's since you all may start to cry that there are geezers out here that can still kick butt.;)

[Nevermind]

Red5angel-Happy B-Day, dude! For what its worth, Jhoon Rhee is over 70 yrs old and does 1000 pushups and 1000 sit-ups a day. He didn't start doing this until he was 56! From what I've read he never misses a day. Sounds unbelievable until you see the man's physique. He has the body of a man half his age. So I guess our best years may be far ahead of us. Just keep training! By the way, Rogue-Thanks for calling me a youngin! (ha ha)

[Kaitain(UK)]

to be fair, even people that trained as a kid tend to have a lay-off period when real life becomes more important - there aren't many people around that trained consistently from teens into thirties

I started up again about 3 years ago and although the body isn't quite as quick-healing and limber as it used to be, the mind is far better prepared to analyse and learn from what I'm doing - it's a kind of trade off I guess. You lose the desire to batter the crap out of everything in sight but gain the mindset to be able to do things properly.

I couldn't imagine trying to do Sanshin (old Okinawan kata that is very similiar to Taiji) properly as a teenager - equally some of the kata's I'm having to learn now seem far too energetic for my liking

I'm only 28 and I feel like an old ****

[guohuen]

Happy b-day my Tsalagi friend! I think you found the answer for yourself. Great replies on this thread. And Jhoon Rhree rules! (call USA-1000)