Life Purpose Revealed

For quite a few years since one of my first personal development courses, I have been wondering what my life purpose is. What is the reason as to why I am twirling around on this planet? I have heard that each of us has a specific role to play and I was wondering and seeking what my unique role is.

I finally got an answer through a Human Design reading using my birthdate, time of birth and location. Human Design is an intersecting point between modern science, ancient cultures and several metaphysical arts. It is the assimilation of Eastern and Western Astrology, Quantum Physics, the Chinese I’Ching, the Kabbalah and the Hindu Chakra system. Mathematical calculations are applied and one's specific Human Design is revealed. I have no clue how the calculations are done I just wanted to find out more about me.

My Human Design chart revealed that I am a Manifesting Generator. Basically I am here to work, to produce, to create so it's a good idea to find work that inspires me. However it was the next sentence that was the "a-ha" for me. The ideas for my creations are not necessarily mine, but are suggestions or ideas from other people. I am here to bring ideas to life. To me that was a big relief because even though I can take a technique, learn it and put my own flavor on it, I was a blank when it came to "inventing" something on my own. Pretty much all of my best sellers have been suggestions from others. I am also encouraged to see where the voids are and to fill that void. Keeping "ear to the ground" and my "eyes open" is what I need to do to see where a good idea and a need arise.

Now what about the Human Design thing in regards to my Kung Fu. What I got was to settle in, learn the techniques and to focus on the nuances. Learn, learn, learn and practice, practice, practice paying attention to the details. I have a feeling that I have heard that before.

My new found knowledge brought a settling to me as I am more clear both in the direction of my glass art and my training. To say the least, it feels relief to have a long time question answered.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Countdown to Christmas

It admit that "Countdown to Christmas" is a weird title considering that we are now in the dog days of summer. July has just started so what's with rushing the season? I'm not rushing the season I'm taking advantage of the dog-day slowdown to think about what I want to have on my table for the Christmas season. What worked well last year? Is there a new product I can introduce? What would give me a better advantage for selling this Christmas season than last Christmas season? For me this is time for reflection and for planning.

Now is also the time for me to make the majority of my product for the upcoming fall shows. It may seem weird to make icicles and tree drops when it's BBQ season outside, but that's when the Christmas line is in production. Also this gives me time to get my Etsy shop (SherriD Lampwork Glass http://www.etsy.com/shop/sherridlampworkglass) and Facebook fan page up, stocked and running so that I have a good database come Christmas shopping season. I've already had "warnings" of an order.

During this reflective time I am also looking at my Kung Fu training with the "same eyes" of what works, what doesn't, what do I need to ramp up and which goals shall I keep (and delete) for next year. I must say that I am very much liking our team's challenges as they help keep me in the present.

As for the raw foods and healthy eating the fresh fruits and berries have started appearing in the stores and I am stocking up big time so that I can enjoy the freshness in the winter months as well. I am also taking advantage of when bananas are on sale and freezing those as well. Thanks to Sihing Lowery, I have discovered a wonderful new way of having soft serve "ice cream" (non-dairy of course) with the ingredients being so simple. Take a frozen banana, chop it, put in food processor until it looks like soft serve. Voila!! Pineapple and strawberries (insert imagination here) can also be added. But wait!! Here is the chocolate version: 1 frozen chopped banana, 1 tablespoon raw cocoa, 1 tablespoon almond butter (I used peanut butter), put in food processor and process until it looks like soft serve. Yummy!!

For me the dog-days of summer are a chance to not only wind down, but also to plan, prepare, and play. Do what I love to do with the playfulness of summer. Works for me!

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

B is for BOOT CAMP!

Saturday was our Kwoon's annual boot camp, an event that I look forward to every year even though I know that the next day the only body part that won't hurt are my eyelashes. So why do I look forward for such a torturous event? Let me explain....

First of all, boot camp is filled with seminars that are jam packed with both fun and learning. I get to experience new things that I wouldn't otherwise. Where else can one learn about meditation, Tai Chi, weapons, Sanda, and George St. Pierre conditioning all in one day?

Next the team Spirit is astounding. We are all there to learn, to grow, to have fun, and to support each other. It's easy to have that Spirit when the Sifus leading the seminars are not only well-knowledged on the topic, but are very passionate about it and they too like to have fun. A day with a great bunch of like-minds.

Even though the day is long and tiring, we are well cared for as we are given breaks and good food. Meditation feeds our energy and soul, the remote location feeds our Spirit, and the challenges feeds our self-worth and well-being.

Now a day full of fun, learning, and growing would not be complete without everyone's *ahem* favorite event: the fitness test and 2K run. Personally, I'm not wild about the event based on previous performances, or more accurately, lack thereof. However this year I decided to be unattached to my results. I was just going to do the events and see what happens. I did have one goal and that was to run the whole 2K, something I have not done in the past. This year I completed all of the events including the 2K run. To top it all, when I checked my fitness rankings when I got home, I was SHOCKED when I saw how good my results were. I am still in disbelief.

Lastly, even though my muscles were wildly threatening strike action, the aches and pains pale in comparison to the amount of pride and accomplishment I felt (and still do) at the end of the day. Words truly cannot describe the feeling when we all come together to celebrate our completion of boot camp.

Thank you to Sifu Brinker and all of the Sifus for making Boot Camp 2011 an amazing event. Thank you to my Boot Camp team mates for your Spirit (both self and team), your commitment, your inspiration, and your enthusiasm as you all made the day a day to remember.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Wealthy

Being wealthy is something that I have wanted since forever and have been striving towards that goal. However, what is the definition of wealth? We, as a society, have been patterned to think that being wealthy equates having a bank account that's bursting at the seams from all of the money it contains. Not so as that describes monetary wealth, which can be a section of wealth. So then, what is wealth?

I discovered this definition of wealth taken from the course "Wealth Beyond Reason" by Bob Doyle. "Wealth is living the life you desire in abundance and joy." Wow, there is no mention of money in the equation. Abundance can mean anything from health to food to friends to feeling great to signs of packratitis. A great find at a thrift store brings about feeling of both joy and abundance. An amazing training session can also bring those same feelings and the list goes on. Definitely a different perspective of wealth than the implied wealth = money definition.

Does this mean that I will cease striving for wealth? Not at all. I consider myself to be wealthy in a lot of areas of my life and I want to spread that feeling of wealth to all of the areas of my life. Why wouldn't I? Good question. Now for the question to be kept front and center: what do I desire? Some answers are simple, some take some thinking, and some I haven't got a clue. The latter is where the heart seeking begins.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Positive Twist

There is one activity in Kung Fu that I particularly don't like and that is the shuttle run. It's not the activity itself that's so bad, (and I don't care for the activity) it's all of the unpleasant childhood memories that keep rushing back when I see the dreaded hoops partnered with bean bags come out of the equipment room.

Every year in elementary school was the Canada Fitness Test and every year I dreaded it because I was always the slowest, took the longest, and was the most out of shape and I was very embarrassed because of it. And every year the bronze, silver, and gold were out of my reach and yes, embarrassed by that too. Of course one of the activities was the shuttle run and every year I failed at it. Therefore I was a failure at fitness.

I was listening to an interview with Dr. Joe Rubino on self esteem and he said something in particular that stuck with me. He said that everything has a positive to it and if it seems negative, pull out the positive from it and focus on that. A positive with the shuttle run???!!

Fast forward to Wednesday morning class when we did the dreaded shuttle run. I felt not bad running it and my time was 2:08. Somehow I can live with that as I had a feeling it was my best time ever. When I got home I pulled out the black belt criteria and saw that I was 2 seconds from the chart. I also pulled out my boot camp results from a previous few years. Two times I saw were 2:47 and then a 2:24. Hey that's a 16+ second improvement from the last recorded time. I like that. Also I'm only 2 seconds from the chart, it's doable! I feel good about my run and confidence that my times will improve over time.

One thing I can say is that it feels lighter and better to go with the positive spin than with the negative. At least I don't dread the shuttle run as much as before. However, still working on that. Also there are a couple major differences from elementary school (besides I'm older!): I have a plan and executing it and I have a support team. Huge difference to the self esteem.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Hot Yoga and The Holy Land

For over 6 months, my friend, Krysta, has been pestering me to go with her to hot yoga and Monday I finally caved in and went with her. The Yoga Place has a first time trial of a week unlimited yoga for 20 bucks so I figured why not? The worst that would happen is that I wouldn't like it and I would sweat a lot. To start the week, we went to the noon class that was after my Kung Fu morning class so that any muscle tightness could be worked out at yoga. Also the class we went to was a 60 minute slower class, good for beginners like me. I was warned that the room would be hot and humid and that I would sweat buckets. That's an understatement and considering that I don't like the heat, I'm pretty amazed at myself for lasting the whole class. However I must say that I felt pretty relaxed coming out of class so much in fact that a nap was right up my alley.

The next day three words come to mind: "Holy Release Batman!!" Release in both the physical and mental capacities, something I needed considering that I have decades of tension in my shoulders. Wow. I'm starting to see how hot yoga can supplement my Kung Fu training as well as my chiropractic adjustments. Considering I have a week pass, might as well try a couple more classes and so I did with the next one being after my Wednesday Kung Fu class.

During my day-after-my-first-class day I was reading a Numerology report that I had done on me. Since it's entertaining and I know some of my numbers I wanted to see if this report would match. A tidbit regarding my Soul Urge number caught my eye regarding that my quest for Spirituality indicates that I need to frequent the Holy Land and mysterious places. I mentioned this to Dennis also adding in that I have no urge whatsoever to visit the Holy Land so that part was out to lunch. Dennis suggested that I wait a second and consider that the Holy Land is MY Holy Land not the traditional Holy Land. Yeah, okay, I can dig it, whatever.

Well Wednesday's hot yoga class was good as I survived, sweat buckets and drank enough water to raise the Titanic. During the last few minutes of our class we lie down on our mats to enjoy and remember the peace we feel right now. The teacher said, "take your time and enjoy as this is your Holy Land." I damned near bolted upright. I think Someone is trying to tell me something.

My third class was a 75 minute class and that too went very well and I must say that I am very much enjoying hot yoga and definitely see the benefits. What have I noticed so far besides the Holy Land? Well the family of knots that lived under my right shoulder blade has been evicted and my shoulders feel relaxed (so that's what it's supposed to feel like), my hips are deciding do let go and I feel great. Yes I definitely will be adding hot yoga to my training to supplement my Kung Fu. Thanks Krysta for being such a nag. Namaste.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

My List

I've rewritten this blog about half a dozen times and it's all coming up flat. So I have decided to make a list of what I am grateful for since my last blog. Here goes in no particular order:
Dennis
Tiger Challenge Kung Fu Tournament and all of the people involved in organizing and running it
My performance in the Tiger Challenge
My team mates in the Tiger Challenge
My UBBT team mates
Kung Fu (including I Ho Chuan)
My dogs
My squawky cockatiels that I feel like BBQing sometimes
The bird feeders that I feed the outside birds with and the birds that feed from them
The apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees are in bloom
The hummingbirds are back
My home
I'm accepted into Leduc Craft show
My garden and hoop house that I'm prepping for planting
Green smoothies
Chocolate
The books I read and DVDs I watch
My glass studio
Getting my white forms stripe
Feeling that life is pretty great
My Vitamix (best blender one can have)
My mentors, Kung Fu and otherwise
My health and fitness
My broadsword even though it stabbed me during my warmup at the Tiger Challenge
My desire to always improve
Sifus who are picky on techniques and forms
Chocolate: it's just worth mentioning again

It's a partial list and it makes me feel grateful for what I have, the people in my life, and who I am and striving to be.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Pizza!

In this moment, as I type, I am well-fed, content, and happy much like Garfield the cat when he devours his favorite lasagna. My tummy filling deliciousness didn't come from lasagna, it was pizza and it's been a long time coming. Now this might seem strange because the first thought might be "well just order a pizza or go out for one, or hey, check the frozen aisle in Superstore there's pizza there." For me that's a no-can-do because it's difficult to get an oh-so-yummy pizza that's dairy-free. Until today. For the record, I have tried cheese-less pizzas, but something was missing (ya think?), and even with cheese-less the pizza quality is just not there (again, ya think?) and some places use pizza sauce that contains Parmesan cheese so that's really a no-go.

Truthfully the words dairy-free and pizza sound like the biggest oxymoron in Italian history, but not any more. I have found a non-dairy, non-soy, non-GMO, gluten-free "cheese" made by a Canadian company called Daiya. Flavors are mozzarella, cheddar, and pepperjack. All are good and here's the bonus: they melt!! Is Daiya an exact substitute for real cheese? No because no one can duplicate the cow's handiwork when it comes to making the real thing. However, this is as close as it comes in both taste and performance and for me and my dairy allergy this is a grand moment in time.

So for supper I made pizza from scratch, crust and all. Homemade crust with marinara sauce and oregano leaves topped with Black Forest ham, and pineapple and because we couldn't decide which "cheese", put all three. The pizza was then baked on my stone at 550 F to give a nice puffy crust (firm on the bottom) and a layer of "cheese" that melted over the top. It's been over 4 years since I've had a decent pizza until tonight. Life is truly grand and I'm savoring it!

Oh yes, training. Back on track and have found that switching the order/time when I do certain things helped a lot in both circadian rhythm and flow. Since my spear has been tipped, there are new challenges that align itself with that from snagging the ground to whacking myself and everything between until I get the center figured.

As for right now, blog is done and I'm back to my pizza savoring meditation.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

I Love The Frogs

This week it's back to "business" both in torching and in training as well as finding a flow on how to put the two together with emphasis on the word "flow". That I'm sure will iron out as I experiment on which parts of my training to insert where.

Today was the first day back on the torch making horses since the show. My mojo was "off" a bit, however how the horses come out is how they come out despite what my intentions are. It's very humbling to let the art happen or let the art flow through me and not try to control it as control does not work (trust me on this one). As I looked at my last horse before putting it in the kiln, I laughed at its disheveled mane. My horses make me laugh and that's a good thing.

I was using a color called Blue Caramel for two of my horses. This color is my new favorite color, but it wasn't before. You see, Blue Caramel is famous for leaving a thick layer of yellow deposit from all the silver it contains. I thought this was how it was supposed to look until a more seasoned glass artist told me to acid etch the piece and that I would be amazed at what was underneath. The piece went from "yellow poo" to an absolutely stunning array of greens, blues, and yellows. I got to thinking about what else (training included) is absolutely stunning once the "poo" is pealed off? Be willing to make the adjustment to peel off the "poo".

The more earth-shattering discovery made this week was when Dennis and I made the executive decision to turn off the air purifier that sits beside the cockatiel cage. The air purifier does siphon the feather dust from the birds, but it's noisy and when we shut it off, we realized how noisy it was and decided to leave it off. As I blog I am listening to the frogs in my and my neighbor's dugouts. I can also hear the summer birds sing. I truly love hearing the frogs and birds and am willing to drag the vacuum cleaner out more often so that I can enjoy nature's symphony. I guess this was another instance where the "poo" was peeled off.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

After The Event

The Mane Event was a huge success for me with a couple of surprising results. First surprise was the popularity of my turtles and the second was how many requests I had for donkeys and mules (guess what I get to make next) and third was the like minds that I encountered. At first glance one might say that "Duh! You were at a horse show, of course it was all like minds." Yes, but I'm not talking about the common interest in the equine species, I'm talking about people who are also into energy medicine and raw foods who appeared.

After the show I always reflect what worked, what didn't and what I would improve for next time or show. Not much for improvement for the show itself, besides making donkeys and mules, but for my hydration status while doing the show. Aside from the water I have at my booth, I will also include both hydrating and satiating foods that are nutritionally dense. Diced tomato and avocado sprinkled with sea salt and pepper comes to mind. Shows can be quite dehydrating and I really dislike having to deal with super chapped lips.

Now that I know the popularity of my horse pendants (almost sold out), I can plan better for the next show by starting the production process now. Also by doing this I can avoid the pre-show panic and slot in more time for training and not feel like I'm "robbing Peter to pay Paul" type thing. Yes I admit that April was not the stellar month for training. However, it's what I do with this insight that counts.

So now as I head into May, my plan is to be more balanced in glass work and training rather than living at the extremes of the scales. Even though April was more unbalanced, it's a vast improvement from where I came from so I am making progress.

One last thing: I found my source for blue-green algae and a good anti-inflammatory at the horse show. Sounds odd, doesn't it? Not really. Horses are commonly treated holistically for joint pain and inflammation as well as being well supplemented. Companies with such products also carry a human version and/or give human dosages. Works for me.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

The Mane Event

The focus this week is preparing for The Mane Event, a horse show in which I am a vendor at.Truthfully, I am both excited and a little nervous about the show as it's the first time I've been at this venue, type of venue, and this big of a venue.

Mostly when people look at my glass art the common reply is craft show and that's not a "bad" reply. However, in a craft show I'm one of how many tables allotted for the show with the common theme of "craft". Because I want to advance myself, I started thinking about where my niche in the market is and the suggestion came last year at my first craft show of the season. The suggestion was horses and it resonated because I'm a horse nut and have been since I was born.

Now at The Mane Event the trade show part is quite large and the weekend attendance is about 40,000 (yikes!).Of the 200+ booths, I will be in with the horse trailers, outfitters, horse blankets, training services, breeders, saddles, tack, you get the idea. There are a few jewelery booths, but for glass art, I'm a league of my own. In reality I have no idea what to expect as to how well I will do or how long my stock will last and that can be a little (ok, a lot) nerve rattling when it comes to preparing for a show as some shows get very cranky if one runs out of stock.

So in this week of madly preparing for a show I am going to Kung Fu even though my daily training has been scaled right down. I do slip something in here and there to keep connected. What I have made a priority though is meditation especially when I feel myself starting to go into a flap. I have a 10-minute meditation CD (I can spare 10 minutes) that I tune in to and bring myself back down to this planet. It's been a sanity saver and sometimes my sanity has been saved a few times through the day.

Even though The Mane Event is both exciting and scary, I am looking forward to it both for the adventure and my glass art career. It's something that I have a feeling about. I made 43 horses for the show (so far) and 5 have been presold, and another one spoken for and I haven't set up at the event yet. So if that's any indication, I'm in for a great ride.

The only thing for me to do is to don the boots, the jeans, the hat, the buckle, and my best smile and enjoy the show! As I see it I have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. At the very least at the end of the show, I will have completed one of my UBBT goals. Yeehaw!!

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

To Be a Pincushion: Round 2

I had my second acupuncture treatment on my neck and shoulders last Thursday and this time I did something a little different: I went straight from acupuncture into a Reiki session. By my thinking, acupuncture releases the muscles and the trapped energy and the Reiki would help clear it out making room for new fresh energy that serves me. I was correct in my thinking as the Reiki treatment right after acupuncture was amazing and did a ton of benefit.

As a result of the acupuncture treatments my neck and shoulders are now much more relaxed. Yay! The Reiki treatment flushed out a lot of negative energy and such that I have been carrying around since a child. The past is the past and it's time to let it go and truthfully, I'm for that. I was also advised to meditate daily to further facilitate the releasing process. So now I have a 10 minute energy refresher meditation that I plug in to daily and it has benefited. In fact there was one day I meditated twice because I felt my breathing get too fast and shallow. It worked.

Speaking of shoulders, during our fitness class Sihing Gamble pointed out that while my technique is good for punching, my shoulders are very much lifting. He also stated that keeping my shoulders relaxed will save energy as well as it takes energy to tense them up. I am very grateful that Sihing Gamble was kind enough to point this out to me because if I'm wearing my shoulders as earrings for punching, where else am I doing the same thing besides just about everywhere? From that point on I have been very conscious about my shoulders during my day be it in training, at the torch, or at the design table. I did find that I have to adjust a couple of things however the benefit will be in the long run.

There was one final message that I got this last week from Reiki and it was to go forward from Spirit and not ego. Hmmmmm. This is vital for me considering that my energy goes into my artwork and I have a major show next weekend. All of this is very timely and so are the tools that I recieved to help me.

Where am I? What am I doing? And where are my shoulders? Nameste.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Something In The Air?

I'm not sure if it's something in the air, something in the water, something in the weather patterns, or something in the acupuncture needles, but this last week I have been as enthusiastic and energetic about training as a rock. I've been dog-dead tired which is very unlike my usual can't-sit-still self. What gives?

I had acupuncture on my shoulders last Monday and a lot of stuff was released because of it. I carry my tension, stress, and emotion in my shoulders. Considering that I had been doing such for most of my life, there's a lot of junk packed into my shoulder muscles. After my treatment I looked and felt like I hadn't slept in a week. Needless to say training was not a high point in my things to do list and what was a high point was sleep and lots of it. It could very much be that I was going through a detox.

I have another acupuncture appointment tomorrow and I am doing something a little different this time to see if it helps. Right after my acupunture treatment I am going down the street for a Rieki treatment. I figure that acupuncture will loosen a lot of tension and past energy the Reiki will serve to remove it. I shall see how the combination works.

There is another thought for me to consider and that is that I am in a lull in my training. I can't be on my game all of the time and this lull is part of the whole process. During this lull I have been doing something for my daily training, but I want to do all of it and I get frustrated when I don't have the energy and gumption to complete all of my daily requirements. Argh!

So what to do other than go to acupuncture and Reiki tomorrow? Well accept that this is where I am in the moment and like all moments this too shall pass. Patience Grasshopper, patience.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Tracking

Tracking, tracking, tracking it feels like all I am ever doing now is tracking. Tracking what I eat, tracking how many sit ups and push ups I do, along with the number of reps I do of a certain form. I am even tracking how much water I have been drinking each day.

I know tracking all of this stuff has great benefits on my training, and I have been seeing the results already. Tracking helps you stick with it, because when you can see your numbers increase it is a sense of accomplishment. Especially on those days when you are just sick of push ups and would not mind just skipping that day, but you don’t because you know you will be angry with yourself since you won’t be adding to your total you will actually be taking away from it.

I believe so much in the benefits of tracking that we are doing that I introduced a fellow employee that had just started taking a martial art to the idea of tracking the number of times he does something. He now tracks every push up he does in a day and adds that to his total. He has said that it is a very excellent motivator and he is enjoying it, he never thought he would enjoy push ups.

So let’s keep on track (sick pun I know)

Greg Wiebe

Stony Plain, AB, Canada

www.silentriverkungfu.com

3 Months, 6241 Pushups Later...

I decided this year to take my weight, measurements, and pictures every 3 months to see my actual progress during my UBBT challenge. I didn't do this step last year because I was too caught up on my "stuff" and was kicking myself in the end because I was such a bonehead. There were differences in my physique, but I had no concrete data. Hence the change this year.

It's the 3 month, 6241 pushup, 7323 situp mark and I shall post the differences from January's readings:
Weight: -2 pounds
Chest: +1/4 inch
Ribcage: +1/4 inch
Waist: -3/4 inch
Hips: -1/2 inch
R arm: same
L arm: -1/4 inch
R Leg (quad): -2 1/2 inches Upper thigh: -1/2 inch
L leg (quad): -3 inches Upper thigh: -1 1/4 inches
Waist/hip ratio: 0.78, which is down 0.01. Desirable for us females is below 0.8.

I'm happy with my results especially when I see WHERE the big changes are. If I focus solely on weight or waist measurements, I'm missing the big picture and that is why I take the measurements I take. Now to actually see the numbers, it brings it right home.

Here's the cool thing: am I doing training in Kung Fu for weight/fat loss? NO, I train like I do because I love Kung Fu and I want to get better/stronger/faster/more agile at it. The weight/fat loss is a consequence of my training not my focus.

Tis a great day and I have a demonstration to train for which means doing the form for the gazillionth time, sore muscles, my tongue hanging out because I'm out of breath, and keeping myself out of boredom, but it's all worth it when I know it's a job well done and I can actually now see the results.

Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta

Move Over Oscar!

Over the weekend there were a few events that took place at our house: Dennis having a sinus cold, time change (that I wish would go away), me eating too much starch, and my reading about Liz's experience of all her stuff coming up in the Ashram in India in her book "Eat, Pray, Love". Yesterday I woke up in a MOOD, more than owly enough to punt Oscar the Grouch out of his trashcan so that I could move in. In times like this Dennis would tell me to go back to sleep and find the alternate universe where I am stuck at, take me out and leave Snagerella behind. Even though I had morning Kung Fu class I felt it better that I take me and my grouchiness back to bed for more sleep. I slept until noon: very unusual for me. Translation: I needed the sleep.

Even though I had intentions of torching, training, baking bread, roasting coffee, and making soy milk in the afternoon, I ended plunking myself in my comfy chair and finally getting out of my bathrobe at 5:30 pm (or was it later?). Again very unusual for me. I'm usually high energy and need to recognize when I need to park it and relax to recharge. Yesterday I did just that and I needed it. I still baked bread, roasted coffee, and made 2 batches of soy milk with Dennis's help. Still by 8:30 pm I was bushed and slept like a rock. I was tired, huh?

The result? I woke up today being "me" again having "the best day ever." Could I have done that without resting and relaxing yesterday? Probably not. What about my Kung Fu training that got missed yesterday? I'll catch up and my training today will be higher quality than what it would have been yesterday should I have trained. I must say that I will have a much better attitude about it.

This morning I was listening to a video by James Malinchak (ABC Secret Millionaire) on 3 Lies to Achieving Million (I insert black belt, dream, whatever) and the one tidbit that stuck was that if the fish are sick, don't treat the fish, treat the pond. Good point, who in my pond is toxic? It could be family, friends, or even closer, me. This made me think about yesterday. Could I have been cleaning my pond from my own polluting? I think so.

Oh, and Oscar, you can have your trashcan back.
Sherri Donohue
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta