Wallpaper to inspire

Saturday, 31 March 2012

After a week plus of our computer being down I can get caught up on my weekly blogs. There has been mention of a lack of motivation and mindfulness in training for people, including myself. I know from personal experience its not hard to lose focus or simply not want too. Doing push ups over and over and situps become terribly boring. Yes you can challenge yourself by increasing your numbers per sets or different configurations, adding weights etc., but it still gets old fast when you are training everyday. Every individual needs something to motivate and challenge both physically and mentally, its a must. We also need inspiration from what we perceive as great or stimulating, a mentor of sort. Whether it be an individual, place, time, literature, technique, form, or a great memory, we need it like fuel. Fuel for a martial arts engine that requires constant rebuild or modifications or a complete change out for something that suits the duty, if you will. I came up with something recently that I hope will do at least some of these things.

Our basement where I train is a little cluttered and lacks room because of the current lay out and obstacles that need moving. Nothing worse than stubbing a toe or almost wiping something out with a kick or punch practising a combination. So I started to make room, throwing away stuff that we are never going to use or relocating it to a shelf or crawl space. Repositioning the fridge, deep freeze, treadmill to make a small gym. I have some spare mirrors that I have hung and will probably see about purchasing some mats. Okay now we are getting some where but I need character, motivation, and maybe a touch of cool factor to make it my own. So I hung up our curriculum, all if it. This way I feel more disciplined and efficient. If I want to practice something its right there in front of me, it should also help me accumlate more questions to ask at the end of class.( I hate not having a question or at least an answer when asked by a Sifu) So this should help. I have put up pictures of Bruce Lee, Joe Lewis, Chuck Norris all great martial artists, and i'll probably put up others that I just dont know or haven't heard of yet. I have tunes to crank up and annoy the hell out of my wife or just simply to set the atmosphere for self induced pain. I have different literature to review and use, and also hung up Mastery that we are to memorize. I'm also thinking of putting up several quotes that I enjoy from these books and others I will run into or read about. One book in particular that I really enjoy and refer to  when I need that boost or a good smack upside the head, is Walking a Tigers Path by Master Margitte Hilbig. This book covers ultimate challenges, amazing accomplishments, and a deep look into how it all started in Canada and especially the hard work, dedication and extreme sacrifices it took to start up in Calgary and Edmonton. Master Hilbigs account is one of the few perspectives that you can actually read about and learn how our lineage began and those that worked hard to continue the art we all practice today. I hope I will be lucky enough to meet her one day, that would be way cool. I really like these words from Master Hilbig

'' A true martial artist is not concerned with belts or ranks, with which style is better than which, or even how many techniques they know. The true martial artist is only concerned with one thing: learning. To learn is to become disciplined, to gain knowledge, to become self- reliant and ultimately leads to the road of self actualization. This knowledge is the ultimate equalizer in any confrontation, either on the street or in ones mind."

These words will definitely be put up, if thats not motivational, then I don't know what is.

Brian Chervenka