update

I haven`t posted in a couple of weeks, I`m not sure what to post about these days. 

Things a have been crazy busy and I have given Kung Fu very little time.  I`m still able to push out a couple hundred push ups and sit ups daily but that has been the extent of my commitment to my training and the I Ho Chaun team (sorry guys, you guys did an awesome job on the demo).

I went through and read Mastery again this week.  I`ve been trying very hard to find a comfortable balance in my life with all my commitments.   Reflecting on Mastery, the more I surround myself with individuals that are liked minded (municipal government) the less I`ve surrounded myself with Kung Fu. 

www.wchoy74.blogspot.ca

Judgement

I have been working on my judgement the past couple months. I'm getting better but a long to go to get to a state where my better judgement will become natural and ingrained in how I do things.  For example, I love food and I always tend to eat more then I need. I have started to eat and order less food but I still tend to over because I finish the plates of my children. I have a problem food out, I think this comes from living in a country where we didn't have enough to eat when I was younger.

The past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about everything and what I have on my plate. And I'm exercising better judgement and not taking on so many things. I have already given up some of the things that I taken care of in the past for my Rotary club but there is still many things that I can not let go at tis time.  Another thing is to prioritize my commitments and allocate time to do them.
I would like to apologize to my I Ho Chaun team members, I should have not taken a spot on the team without fully understanding the commitments and time required to complete the task. I have not been a good team mate and many of our failings as a team are because I wasn't committedt to you guys. I'm Sorry!

My family is first, then my office as Mayor, third is my restaurant and staff, fourth is my extended family, fifth on my list is Kung fu, then golf, etc.   I will continue to training and be as involved as my time permits but for my NOW, Kung fu is not a priority.

?

I don't know what to blog about. There are so many things racing through my head and I don't know where to start. Life's been hectic to say the least. The more I try to get my personal goals accomplished the more I feel my training slipping away.

Priority time

I'm finding it really difficult to get everything in. If I focus on one area another drops off. Here I am trying to get a few things done and read before the conference tomorrow and I can't focus because I have all these others things that I haven't finished or started. For example, I wanted to have Zen read in six weeks, not going to happen. With everything getting back in full swing, my time demands has also increased with meetings, public appearances, speaking engagements, boards and committees. That's just my work for the Town, I'm short two cooks in the kitchen at the restaurant, so you can imagine the extra workload there.  The past three weeks I'm having to read agenda packages like crazy, with each package in he 250-300 page range, I'm read out so Zen gets tossed aside.

I've tried to prioritize my commitments, this is how I'm seeing things at the point.  Family, Mayor, Work, Kung Fu, in that order. Mastery is definitely a long process, good thing I'm young.

Point of view

Black belt? What is that? What a classical vs a romantic view of what it is.  How do you view? Do you see the a black belt as one whole unit, all the parts rolled into one and not given any thought to how that person has reached this level to become a black belt? Do you see all the little steps, sacrifices, and training that went into that person before they reached this level?

As I reflect on the meaning of the classic and romantic view according the Zen, I have started to apply those views to my life. I can safely say that my views differ based on the subject at hand. For example, I have a romantic view of many things mechanical, I will not make a good repairman. I'm not interested in how the parts fit together or work, I just know that it works. However, on other subjects like politics and investing, I have a classical approach to it. I want to know about all the parts that make up the whole. I will analyze things and break them down to its components and am fascinated every detail and the logistics of it.

I have a classic view of a black belt, I see all the parts that make up that person and how they work together to get them to this point. I'm intersted in all their little facets that have fit together to get them here. I'm intersted in their story.

How do you  view a black belt?

I Ho Chaun -again

WOW! What a great job at the Rotary Run for Life. You guys did an awesome job representing the school.

Keep that momentum going, the lion and dragon dance is not the finish line, it was just another tool for you to use as you travel down your path to Mastery. Too many times individuals stop short of thier dreams because they set the finish line before the real goal.

Compare this to the hurdles, if you watched any of the hurdles during the Olympics, the runners didn't stop after they made it over the first hurdle, they cleared hurdle after hurdle until they reached the finsh line.  Everything you are doing for I Ho Chaun are just hurdles before you reach you finish line.

Don't be fooled, by completing I Ho Chaun, you have not reached the finish line. I Ho Chaun, itself is just another hurdle in your journey to Mastery of your life.  Master Brinker has always said that the I Ho Chaun is your journey, how you tackle it will have a ripple effect to all facets of your life.  Your approach has to be sustainable after you finish participation in I Ho Chaun. For a member to drop everything and solely focus on I Ho Chaun for a year, complete everything with flying colors, is absolutely useless because it is not sustainable. Everyone is busy and we all know that so you will have to adjust your life to fit in I Ho Chaun.

Take the dragon dance as an example, at the beginning we barely had enough members to practice.  As we progressed more members came and we where able to have a rest or miss a practice (or two) and know that there was enough members there to step in and support the team. We had more then enough members at the run. This is how we should view I Ho Chaun. Life is busy and you won't be able to be there all the time but there is enough team members to step in, carry your load and fill you in when your able to comeback.  All I Ho Chaun members are tools for you to use as you strive towards Mastery. No judgement, NO questions, just TEAM.

You can not change the past but you can choose how your future turns out.

More power

I need full power Mr. Scott.............Captain, I can't give anymore...she's going to blow.
A little flashback to my younger days of watching Star Trek.  

Last week in sihing class we practiced our forms.  When we got to Lao Gar, sifu M. Playter mentioned that this form is different then the others as the majority of power was generated by rotational power instead of more linear power from the other forms. 

That Sunday was Kurtis's 13th birthday and I took him to be driving range to hit some balls. A little time passed and something clicked. If I can take my driver and hit a little white ball 250 yads straight down the range, I should be able to generate that same force with my techniques. 

With my golf swing, I take the club back in arc about 70 degrees from vertical and twist about 40 degrees into my backswing. Once at the top of my swing, my hip and shoulders start the down swing following a similar arc as my backswing generating speed and power as I fire my hips, shoulders, arms, hands, and legs at certain points of the downswing. All of that momentum and force is concentrated at the bottom of my arc as the club head makes contact with the ball. The contact fires the balls along its merry way. If any part of my swing is off, and we are talking about a millimeter or a millisecond, the ball doesn't go straight.  I will still hit the ball but it won't be at full power or as accurate as I would like it to be. 

This translate to our Kung fu training, since day one, the Sifu's have always harped on the fact that we have to rotate our punches and blocks to generate effortless power. Stepping forward and punching is an excellent example of this. As you slide step forward, your hand fires off your hip towards your target. As you plant you feet, you rotate your hands to the proper contact position. Everything coming together to generate a large amount of power. More then if we just used our shoulders and arms to push out the punch. Yes, you still generate power but it's not as powerful as it can be. 

Both my golf and Kung fu rely on the the precise timing of my movements to generate power and complete the technique. The six harmonies, your feet and hands, knees and elbows, and hips and shoulders. They all have to work in harmony of each to maximize  efficiency and power.  I will have to keep this at the forefront as I try to master myself and excel at Kung fu and golf.