Sunday, December 29, 2013

Climbing a mountain instead of sharpening a sword

Master Brinker talks a lot about that I Ho Chuan and how it is a tool for mastery.  He talks about how most people look at the I Ho Chuan as a mountain that they must climb instead of looking at it like a honing a fine sword.

So which one has my past I Ho Chuan most closely resembled?  Climbing the mountain for sure.  This is the second year (going into my third year) that I have been part of this program and it was very different than my first year.  I started the year very strong and even until mid year things were going well for me.  Then when I left for South Carolina what was a sword became a mountain.  I looked at the requirements and felt that I could keep up with the basics, I could still be engaged in my training.  I failed and I failed miserably.  I lost sight of why I was in the I Ho Chuan, why I was on the path toward mastery.  I let mediocrity begin to creep into my life into my routine.  I told myself that "I'm too busy, I can catch up tomorrow".  I lied to myself and let myself fall off the path.  I must say from experience that when you get off the path you can get back but it's extremely difficult.  I must admit that I wanted to quit Kung Fu all together because I became frustrated with myself and the long journey that's its going to be to just get back to mid year form.  However I didn't give up, I'm back on the path and slowly I am getting myself back into shape and back into form.  I'm focussing on keeping the "highs & lows" in check and allowing myself to enjoy the journey back without being too hard on myself.

I want to finish with a quote that really resonates with me.  It has become the foundation of my journey back toward mastery.

"Greatness is a lot of small things done well"

Ian Repay
Student Of Silent River Kung Fu.

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