One of the most beneficial habits I have established this year has been how I end my days. I sit with my tracking binder. I fill in my numbers for the day. I write down all the acts of kindness I can remember. I write in my gratitude journal. Then I finish the day off with a personal journal and prayer time. It is a great way to look at where I am, how things are going and to prepare myself for the day to come.
Funny things with these valuable habits.... They are so easy to take for granted. I have ended my day this way for more than 200 days so far this year. Then the later half of last week hit. I was feeling physically off and tired. Many great things were happening during the day BUT there is absolutely little to no record of them. Why? Because I allowed my tired self to veg out in front of the tv with my hubbie instead of finishing off my day the way I normally do.
The effect of this is that, although some great things happened last week, many of my numbers were very low. The end of the week kind of snuck up on me because I was not being intentional about tracking where I was. I was not always being intentional how I was or was not spending my time. I was not able to give myself a the necessary kick in the butt because I didn't realize that it was necessary.
So... The moral of the story is keep track DAILY! Be accountable to myself DAILY!
Monday, 21 November 2016
Sunday, 13 November 2016
Looking Forward
I know that I am supposed to writing about what the IHC has done for me this year but I have this blog floating around in my head and I need to get it down before it gets lost somewhere up in my cerebral mess never to be found again. It is not only that time of year where it is time to look back at our journey, but it is time to start looking forward and setting the next round of goals.
I have really been struggling with looking forward. The past month has really been plagued with periods of depression and generally funkiness. To say that my first IHC year went nothing like planned would be a colossal understatement. This year has been about healing and rebuilding. Now it is time for go around number three and I was quite frankly feeling completely lost.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit with Sifu Brinker just before the kids grading and then attend the IHC meeting after. There are several things that were said that have really stuck with me and I need to write myself a reminder to look back on.
The first one is that I was reminded it is normal to feel a little lost right now in the goal setting. There is nothing like being reminded that your struggles are not new ones and ones that the people around me have not encountered. That was really comforting.
The second reminder was that as we progress on our journey, we may not know what goals need to be set at the beginning of the year. It may be ok to set just a few goals and then be open to pursue opportunities as they present themselves over the year. I was reminded that this approach is only ok if the opportunities are indeed noticed and pursued and that we don't fall into a place of complacency and comfort.
Then there was the awesome reminder of effortless effort. That state where you are just plugging along, taking care of business and you are rocking it but it really isn't requiring a ton of effort.
The final reminder was from Sifu T Beckett. She spoke about how her next year was really going to be focused on simplifying her life.
So where is my own headspace in the middle of these fantastic reminders... I do not need to get all crazy wrapped up in coming up with a huge set of amazing goals for the next year. I look at some of the goals people set that push them way out of their comfort zones or to travel. I want to be able to have these types of goals, but I am realizing at this point in my journey those epic sounding goals may be a huge mistake. I am not living in a place of effortless effort. Honestly, I feel completely maxed out most of the time and that I am not even close to nailing what needs to be done. I am not even close to accomplishing my goals from this year. I do make progress, just not to the promised level.
The past two years, my goals have been focused on establishing habits in many areas of my life. They have put me on the journey towards that effortless effort but I have a long way to go (a really long way). The accident and resulting concussion has been truly life altering. My brain does not work the same way I have grown quite accustomed to it working. My new life requires much more structure, routines and planning. My old wing it by the seat of my pants living has left me with some very white knuckles this past year. Where I used to be able to thrive in that environment, I no longer can. I am learning how to best work with this new brain and I know that once I get it figured out, the changes are going to work out to my advantage.
In light of this, I am starting to look at goals for this next year that are very close to home. As a work from home mama, I am either in my car or in my home. My life has little structure or routine built into it. Everywhere I look, I see a backlog of things that need addressing and little progress. There is little escape from it really. Routines and simplification seem to be exactly what I need to work towards the destination of peace in my surroundings and effortless effort in my actions. Now to figure out how to put all of that into some very concrete, measureable goals...
I have really been struggling with looking forward. The past month has really been plagued with periods of depression and generally funkiness. To say that my first IHC year went nothing like planned would be a colossal understatement. This year has been about healing and rebuilding. Now it is time for go around number three and I was quite frankly feeling completely lost.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit with Sifu Brinker just before the kids grading and then attend the IHC meeting after. There are several things that were said that have really stuck with me and I need to write myself a reminder to look back on.
The first one is that I was reminded it is normal to feel a little lost right now in the goal setting. There is nothing like being reminded that your struggles are not new ones and ones that the people around me have not encountered. That was really comforting.
The second reminder was that as we progress on our journey, we may not know what goals need to be set at the beginning of the year. It may be ok to set just a few goals and then be open to pursue opportunities as they present themselves over the year. I was reminded that this approach is only ok if the opportunities are indeed noticed and pursued and that we don't fall into a place of complacency and comfort.
Then there was the awesome reminder of effortless effort. That state where you are just plugging along, taking care of business and you are rocking it but it really isn't requiring a ton of effort.
The final reminder was from Sifu T Beckett. She spoke about how her next year was really going to be focused on simplifying her life.
So where is my own headspace in the middle of these fantastic reminders... I do not need to get all crazy wrapped up in coming up with a huge set of amazing goals for the next year. I look at some of the goals people set that push them way out of their comfort zones or to travel. I want to be able to have these types of goals, but I am realizing at this point in my journey those epic sounding goals may be a huge mistake. I am not living in a place of effortless effort. Honestly, I feel completely maxed out most of the time and that I am not even close to nailing what needs to be done. I am not even close to accomplishing my goals from this year. I do make progress, just not to the promised level.
The past two years, my goals have been focused on establishing habits in many areas of my life. They have put me on the journey towards that effortless effort but I have a long way to go (a really long way). The accident and resulting concussion has been truly life altering. My brain does not work the same way I have grown quite accustomed to it working. My new life requires much more structure, routines and planning. My old wing it by the seat of my pants living has left me with some very white knuckles this past year. Where I used to be able to thrive in that environment, I no longer can. I am learning how to best work with this new brain and I know that once I get it figured out, the changes are going to work out to my advantage.
In light of this, I am starting to look at goals for this next year that are very close to home. As a work from home mama, I am either in my car or in my home. My life has little structure or routine built into it. Everywhere I look, I see a backlog of things that need addressing and little progress. There is little escape from it really. Routines and simplification seem to be exactly what I need to work towards the destination of peace in my surroundings and effortless effort in my actions. Now to figure out how to put all of that into some very concrete, measureable goals...
Wednesday, 2 November 2016
Tiger Challenge 2016
Saturday was such a full, amazing day. It is really hard to even put it into words.
First of all, I want to thank Sifu Csillag for his master organizing skills - really he is the glue that held the whole event together. Thank you for letting me help out with the organizing and scorekeeping. I learned a lot in the process. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to have a day like that come off successfully - more than I believe most people realize.
Now for the preparation for the event... Same as always... I knew it was coming. We had plenty of advance warning, yet it seemed to sneak up all the same. This is the place where I insert the whole wish I would have put in more time before the event comments. I will spare you that internal dialog.
The day of the event was fantastic! Scorekeeping for the itty bitty guys was so much fun. Seriously, how do you even begin to judge such cuteness. Then to add to it all some of them were in their Halloween costumes. You could see life lessons being learned. You could see growth just in the short time they were there. Quite an inspiring bunch of mini ninjas. From Miss Tomie going from tears to gold and Mr. Thompson almost winning a medal in the pool noodle fight after having never had the courage to join a class.
Next up the scorekeeping for the intermediate black dragons. I have to say, I have a extremely large bias towards one of the competitors. It was interesting watching the forms division unfold. My girl went out and rocked out her form. She made a small mistake at the beginning but totally recovered. She really put her best foot forward. Being the scorekeeper, I was able to watch exactly where she stood amongst the other kids but had to keep it quiet. So hard to play stoneface when you are one proud mama. She looked surprised when she won the gold so I must have done that part of my job well. Her musical form went well. She missed the one whoosh in the music and beat herself up about that but she put herself out there and performed great. She ended off the day competing with me in the adult team forms. She learned a new form, competed against other adults and made her mama so proud.
Waylon also had a very successful day. I know he would have loved to have walked away with more hardware but instead he was filled with inspiration to push hard for next year and some great life lessons. He was reminded that even if you do a really hard form, your stances and technique need to be bang on. He really put himself out there by trying a Sai form that he learned at the forms seminar. He walked away so happy that he did not drop them or impale himself or any of the judges. The fight choreography he did was done as well as I had ever seen them do it. It was long and jam-packed with moves from the curriculum, especially the grappling. It was such a fun and creative way for the boys to really work on their kung fu. The next day he spent a bunch of time up in his room just before bedtime. When I went in to say good night he showed me a list of goals. Some of them big goals for the next year in kung fu. It put a fire in his belly.
As for my events, I was happy with the performances that I put out. Tai He went fairly well. I had one moment where I lost where I was but recovered. I'm hoping the only one who may have noticed was Sifu Beckett. Tai Chi Broadsword went well. I have to admit, I really wanted to perform it in the other ring. The idea of doing a tai chi form for Sifu Brinker was pretty intimidating... I decided before I entered the ring that I was going to do the fastest tai chi form that I could pull off without sacrificing the technique I had been working on. The past month I had been working on really slowing it down and cleaning up the footwork and trying to eliminate any bobbing up and down. I decided to speed it up so that I would not put the panel to sleep. Finally, was the team form. Like I mentioned above, I was so focused on being proud of my girl that I hardly remember doing my part of the form. A very good day!
The rest of the day was also fantastic. I love watching the black belts perform their forms. So much to be learned just by watching how they move. I find having the visual is very helpful for me. Then the obstacle course... I nearly lost my pants in the tunnel. Life lesson - tie them up next year. Watching everyone else do the obstacle course was a hoot! Who would have thought it would get so competitive with people diving, broken bones and sprained hands. You guys are very hardcore!!!
Such a great day! Spending a day building lessons and memories with my kung fu family. Hard to get much better than that!
First of all, I want to thank Sifu Csillag for his master organizing skills - really he is the glue that held the whole event together. Thank you for letting me help out with the organizing and scorekeeping. I learned a lot in the process. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to have a day like that come off successfully - more than I believe most people realize.
Now for the preparation for the event... Same as always... I knew it was coming. We had plenty of advance warning, yet it seemed to sneak up all the same. This is the place where I insert the whole wish I would have put in more time before the event comments. I will spare you that internal dialog.
The day of the event was fantastic! Scorekeeping for the itty bitty guys was so much fun. Seriously, how do you even begin to judge such cuteness. Then to add to it all some of them were in their Halloween costumes. You could see life lessons being learned. You could see growth just in the short time they were there. Quite an inspiring bunch of mini ninjas. From Miss Tomie going from tears to gold and Mr. Thompson almost winning a medal in the pool noodle fight after having never had the courage to join a class.
Next up the scorekeeping for the intermediate black dragons. I have to say, I have a extremely large bias towards one of the competitors. It was interesting watching the forms division unfold. My girl went out and rocked out her form. She made a small mistake at the beginning but totally recovered. She really put her best foot forward. Being the scorekeeper, I was able to watch exactly where she stood amongst the other kids but had to keep it quiet. So hard to play stoneface when you are one proud mama. She looked surprised when she won the gold so I must have done that part of my job well. Her musical form went well. She missed the one whoosh in the music and beat herself up about that but she put herself out there and performed great. She ended off the day competing with me in the adult team forms. She learned a new form, competed against other adults and made her mama so proud.
Waylon also had a very successful day. I know he would have loved to have walked away with more hardware but instead he was filled with inspiration to push hard for next year and some great life lessons. He was reminded that even if you do a really hard form, your stances and technique need to be bang on. He really put himself out there by trying a Sai form that he learned at the forms seminar. He walked away so happy that he did not drop them or impale himself or any of the judges. The fight choreography he did was done as well as I had ever seen them do it. It was long and jam-packed with moves from the curriculum, especially the grappling. It was such a fun and creative way for the boys to really work on their kung fu. The next day he spent a bunch of time up in his room just before bedtime. When I went in to say good night he showed me a list of goals. Some of them big goals for the next year in kung fu. It put a fire in his belly.
As for my events, I was happy with the performances that I put out. Tai He went fairly well. I had one moment where I lost where I was but recovered. I'm hoping the only one who may have noticed was Sifu Beckett. Tai Chi Broadsword went well. I have to admit, I really wanted to perform it in the other ring. The idea of doing a tai chi form for Sifu Brinker was pretty intimidating... I decided before I entered the ring that I was going to do the fastest tai chi form that I could pull off without sacrificing the technique I had been working on. The past month I had been working on really slowing it down and cleaning up the footwork and trying to eliminate any bobbing up and down. I decided to speed it up so that I would not put the panel to sleep. Finally, was the team form. Like I mentioned above, I was so focused on being proud of my girl that I hardly remember doing my part of the form. A very good day!
The rest of the day was also fantastic. I love watching the black belts perform their forms. So much to be learned just by watching how they move. I find having the visual is very helpful for me. Then the obstacle course... I nearly lost my pants in the tunnel. Life lesson - tie them up next year. Watching everyone else do the obstacle course was a hoot! Who would have thought it would get so competitive with people diving, broken bones and sprained hands. You guys are very hardcore!!!
Such a great day! Spending a day building lessons and memories with my kung fu family. Hard to get much better than that!
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