Last blog post for the year 2011

The UBBT 8 challenge has truly made a change and a difference in my life both with my Kung Fu and with my family around me.

I would definitely participate in it again, and recommend it to everyone.

My goals for the UBBT 8 where;

1. 52 Journal entries
2. 50,000 Push ups
3. 50,000 Sit ups
4. 156 reps of Wudang 5 Animal Qigong
5. 2,080 chin ups
6. 5,200 kicks
7. 1000 acts of kindness
8. 1000 Liters of water consumed
9. 1000 reps of Lao Gar form
10. 365 fruits (I do not eat fruits, so I am challenging my self to eat at lest one fruit a day)
11. 365 days pop free (Quite drinking pop and other soft drinks)
12. Read 3 books on sailing (required reading for ASA Certification)
13. Learn how to sail a boat (take sailing lessons on one of our fresh water lakes)

(Regarding goals 12 and 13 – I have always wanted to sail around the world when I retire so these goals are working towards a longer term goals I have)

14. Grade for Black Belt

My accomplishments and failures are;

1. 42 Journal entries L
2. 51050 Push ups J
3. 51170 Sit ups J
4. 206 reps of Wudang 5 Animal Qigong J
5. 2082 Chin ups J
6. 7018 Kicks J
7. 934 acts of kindness J
8. 1092 Liters of water consumed J
9. 931 reps of Lao Gar form L
10. 365 fruits eaten J
11. 365 day pop free J
12. 0 books on sailing read J
13. 0 sailing lessons taken J
14. 1 Black Belt grading completed J

Some of the main things that I learned from participating in the 2011 UBBT 8 was that never stop doing your push-ups and sit-ups, 50,000 is not impossible and it will help keep you focused on the other goals that you have set. Don’t set your goals to low, you will be amazed on what you can get accomplished in a year. Never stop journaling, there are great benefits both personally and publicly that comes with journaling.

I will miss being part of the 2012 team next year but I will be following along with their progress.

An End is only but a New Beginning

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Continuing On

As the end UBBT 8 draws closer I am finding it harder and harder to be able to put down in words how my journey is going. I am beginning to sound like a broken record, about injuries or aliments, triumphs, setbacks, and most of all the progress that I have made.

There has been so much going on lately (mentally, physically, and emotionally) that I have not posted a journal lately and I must apologize for this.

Journaling is such a great tool to help organize and sort thru issues and conflicts that are going on in a person’s life.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

T.E.S.T

Technical

Extreme

Standard

Training

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Not Doomed

Last night the Sihings had a practice session and I brought my daughter with me to work on my 5 techniques. Sihing Lindstrom watched and worked with my daughter plus gave her some pointers and instruction. He was able to watch and see what was happening and make corrections. Sihing Gamble also noticed a crucial thing that helped my daughter to be able to performing a shoulder role that was plaguing her on my last technique. With their eyes watching from the outside and giving comments, we came alone way last night and with a lot of practice and patients over the next week I believe she and I will be working together almost as good as Sihing Lindstrom and I.

Thanks Sihings  

I am truly grateful to be part of such an amazing team of Sihings.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

DOOMED

When I was informed by Sihing Lindstrom (my training partner) that he will not be able to my partner during our grading when I perform my 5 techniques, I thought “Ok that would not be too much of a problem, I will just get my daughter to fill in”, easier said than done. I now have been working with her for a few days now, and it appears that I may be doomed when it comes to performing my 5 techniques at the grading. At this point I am at an opinion that working with a family member may not be a smart thing to do.

Doomed, Doomed, Doooooooooomed.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Experiences

Nightmares, confidence, memory gaps, injuries, eureka moments, confusion, success, failure, doubts, etc….

Are just some of the things I have experienced through the year as I prepare for the Black Belt Test.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

The Day is Coming!!!

As the date of the Black Belt grading draws closer I am filled with mixed feelings of dread, excitement, sorrow, and anticipation. I dread all tests of all kinds, but at the same time enjoy them. I am excited to be grading this year with such a great team of candidates, which have all supported each other along the way. I am also filled with a sense of sorrow that this part of my journey is near at an end, but I am also full of anticipation on what will come on the next part of my journey. 

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Theft

On Saturday September 17, 2011 in between 16:30 and 19:00 my trust in our fellow men was shattered. Ok I will be the first to admit I am sheltered from the real world (the bad parts of it) by the way I choose to live. I live in the country on enough land that I cannot see or hear any of my neighbors that are adjacent to me. The biggest city I go into on the majority, is Spruce Grove and I am never there very long when I do go there. Yes I may go into Edmonton from time to time to see the chiropractor but I go in and then leave, not spending any more time in Edmonton then I have to.

Ok back to what happened, I had went into Edmonton after our UBBT meeting on that day feeling good about the positive things that had come out of the meeting. The reason I went into Edmonton was to take in my son’s Ipad for repair, it was not charging and would not hook up to the computer. So I ended up at West Edmonton Mall at the Apple Store (they were great) to see what could be done with his Ipad. I came out of the mall with a properly working Ipad feeling pretty good and ready to go home, but when I got to my vehicle I had found that it had been broken into and anything of value (to a thief) was gone. I was shocked and disappointed that this could have happened. But what upset me the most was that the thief/s had taken my Kung Fu bag with all my equipment in it. I commented on this to the Police, why they would take my bag on not my sons that was right beside it, while they were looking for any evidence that forensics would need to be involved in (blood on the shattered glass, they found none). All they did was ask “Was it closed, was it heavy?” and I had my answer. Yes my bag was closed and my sons was open easy to see what was in it and take what was of value. Mine on the other hand was closed and felt heavy so they took it, and would go though it later the police told me.

I now have had a day to reflected on what had happened, and what had been stolen, and my only regret was that the thief/s had taken my 2nd degree Brown belt when they had taken my bag. And they wont care about all the the blood and sweat that went into getting that belt or that the belt had given to me by Sifu Brinker and the two black stripes on it was given to me by Sifu Rybak (most likely it will end up in some dumpster or back ally) 

I did learn a lot yesterday but the most important thing I did learn was, if you are going to leave a bag in your vehicle leave it open, if thieves are going to break into your vehicle they will most likely take what is of value to them and leave the rest if they can see that it is of no value, which may be worth more to you then anything that they had taken.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada 

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Lost! If Found Please Return

In August my routine had been turned upside down and sideways, since then I have been fighting to get back the motivation and drive that I had towards my training and conditioning. It is becoming a battle that I fear I may not win. I seem to be just going through the motions now and my spirit is not in it. I have wondered off my path.  I am hoping that by writing this down and admitting it to myself that it will give me the push I need to win this battle and find the path that will allow me to continue on in my journey. Without the spirit the body can only go so far.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Acts Of kindness

Tracking Acts of Kindness has been hard for me as I have mentioned in past blog posts. This week I wanted to mention that this is still a problem for me. I do recognize the acts I do for others but I still struggle with counting them.

I do want to mention that for the past week I have been drive around with a slow leak in my passenger side rear tire and four people have come up to me and let me know that I have a low tire, and two others have left notes on my windshield to let me know to.

It is nice to recognize and receive an act of kindness.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Back at Last

Tomorrow my kids arrive home after their two week stay in Nova Scotia. Yes I am excited to see my kids again, and have been spending a lot of time thinking about them. So to say the least, my mind has been more on how they are and what they have been up to instead of been focused on my training, like I wanted to be while they were gone.

At our last UBBT meeting I had mention that my kids had left on their vacation and I found that my motivation was lacking. Sifu Brinker had commented on this and said that even a little thing like my kids leaving for could disrupt my routine enough that it would affect my motivation. I spent some time on this concept and realized that a person’s body/mind is always looking for an easy way out, from doing anything hard, it seems to a nature instinct or a lazy instinct. I have maintained doing pushups and sit-ups and my forms even though I did feel like doing them. I am hoping that when they get home and we back into our regular routine, things will get back to normal and my motivation will come back.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Alone

After getting back from vacation it was a whirl wind of 4 days of unpacking the trailer, washing cloths and get the kids repacked so that they would be ready to fly out east to visit their Grandmother and Grandfather in Nova Scotia on Saturday August 6^th. So now it has been a week since my kids left and the house is empty and quite. Staying engaged in my training has been tough this past week.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Vacation is over, back to the grind.

The past week I was on vacation with my family, our vacation may not be like most people now a days think a vacation should be (sand, sun, a tropical ocean breeze, a beautiful resort). We did have the sun and the sand, but also the rain, mud and mosquitoes that come with the Alberta weather, and the beautiful resort was a mud filled clearing that was filled with trailers, campers, and RV’s.

Vacations are fun no matter where you go as long as you’re with family and friends, and every year that is exactly what we do. We go to the same mud filled clearing up at the Brazeau Reservoir to enjoy time with friends and family, to do some water sports and ATVing.

The only thing I find hard on vacations is to keep up on my training in Kung Fu and Blogging (no internet). So back to the grind.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Vacation

It’s been a whirlwind around here lately. Getting ready to go on vacation, driving kids over to friends houses and back, work get a new operating system and then reconfiguring the new computer that they gave me while trying to learn my way around Windows 7, and meet dead lines before I leave on vacation. Whew glad that is over.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com

Acts of Kindness

I am still struggling with the Acts of Kindness. I do know when I do them but most of them I right off as not worth recording since it is something I would normal do anyway without thinking. I also do notice missed chances when I could have done an Act of Kindness, and have started to kick myself for not acting faster or for being in to much of a hurry to stop and take the time to do something nice for a fellow person. By the end of this years UBBT I hope I am recording all the Acts of Kindness and I stop missing opportunities to do an Act of Kindness, so I can stop kicking myself. 

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com

Family Time

July 1 was Canada Day and for the long weekend I took my two kids out to the Cadomin area to do some camping, quading and also to visit with their Aunt (my sister) and her husband. We were also camping with other family members and friends. It was a great weekend spent with the family with a lot of great scenery viewed and appreciated.

I am guilty of not keeping up on my UBBT requirements over the weekend and now I am working on making up for those lost days, but I don’t regret any of it. It was great to get out and be with my family.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Schools Out !!!

Tuesday June 28 was the last day of school for the students in the town of Onoway and with that as of Monday June 27 was also the last day of classes at the Onoway Silent River Kung Fu School for the summer. I know that classes will resume again in September when school starts again but as always it is still a sad time for me. As a Sihing and an instructor at the Onoway School I have been given the privilege to be able to guide and watched as each of the student’s progress in the martial arts, and I am thankful to be part of there journey. We have a great group of students out at Onoway and they all have made excellent progress this year. I wish them a happy and safe summer and will await their return in the fall. In the meantime while I wait for the Onoway classes to start up again, I will be spending my new found free time out at the Stony Plain Kwoon helping out and continuing my training there. (I hope to see some of the Onoway students training there also)

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Boot Camp

By now, if you have been reading any of the other Silent River UBBT members that have blogged about the wonderful day they had at Boot Camp 2011, you will have noticed a centralized theme. That we all had a great time pushing our selves too and beyond our limits, and are very grateful, thankful to all the Sifu’s and our teammates that made such a great day possible.

Thanks everyone.

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Renovations

This weekend marked the start of our annual Kwoon Renovations. We started the renovations early this year because of the massive amount of tiling work that we want to get done, so we are doing what we can on the weekends when Sihing Lindstrom (our tiling expert and leader of this years renovations) is available to be able complete them on time. 

I look forward to these renovations every year. It is a time when I can renew my sense of belonging to Silent River Kung Fu not just as a student but as a family member. When I am there working in the Kwoon, I don’t look at it as I am fixing up a building, I look at it as making my home better. It is just the feeling I get when I am there doing something to make it better for everyone. It allows me to reconnect with myself and with my Kung Fu. 

I would like to thank Sifu Brinker for allowing us to have this opportunity again this year, and implore everyone from Silent River not to let this opportunity slip past them.

Training is not just about punches and kicks

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada 

www.silentriverkungfu.com

Have you ever wanted to climb a mountain?

My answer would be NO. I have a fear of heights; I don’t like the cold much and it seem like to much work, and I am to busy. That would have been my answer before, but not now. Through my training in the martial arts I have learned that all things can be accomplished if you put your mind to it and break it down using incremental progression. So I still don’t want to climb an actual mountain but I am going to climb the equivalent in vertical feet of the highest mountain in Alberta. I know Alberta does not have the highest mountains but since I am an Albertan I thought I should start there and then work my way up. So my goal is to climb Mount Columbia which is 12,294ft high before I grade for black belt on Oct. 8, 2011. I am not sure why I thought of this, I just wanted to add a short time goal to challenge myself a little more. Just something a little extra above what I am already doing. 

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada 

www.silentriverkungfu.com