2.27

We are officially more than halfway through the year. It sure doesn't feel like it though. A lot of things have been wacky this year, why not throw time in the mix. I feel like it should still be May and not the end of July. It also feels weird not having done any public performances, and I am very excited for the one that might be happening soon. It will be nice to do one as a team outside of the kwoon. I still feel a bit unprepared for it, but that's how I usually feel when it comes to something of this scale. Hopefully that feeling will disappear, but it's not the worst if it doesn't. I know that this post was unorganized and it didn't seem to follow one train of thought, but that's just how I've been thinking lately, kinda all over the place.

2.26

Wuxin is a very important topic that is simple yet difficult to fully understand. To be able to achieve wuxin, you must realize what your intent is. To find your intent, you must focus on what you are doing. Once you find your intent, it can change. Your intent depends on what you are trying to accomplish. When you focus on what you are trying to accomplish, you have found your intent. Doing this can be difficult because of how often we tend to change what we are trying to accomplish. Once you clearly know what your intent is, you begin to learn the meaning behind Wuxin. No mind. However, there is a difference between no mind and no thought. No thought does not have intent behind it. It's essentially doing something just to do it. No mind has intent behind it. No mind is doing something without thinking, but still learning from the experience. That is my understanding of Wuxin.

2.25

Yesterdays "open training" was a very good reminder that we are still a team. Even though we haven't been able to spend much time together on the mats, we haven't even had our first demo yet, but we are still a team. A great thing about being on a team is that someone will always have your back. No matter how far behind you are on something, someone will always be willing to help you. This comes in really helpful when someone gets behind on their numbers. If they reach out and say that they are behind, someone will suggest that they meet up somewhere and do some numbers together, and even more team members could join and get help if they need it too. All that's needed is for one person to say something, and multiple people will be there with them. The only problem is that it takes courage in some cases. But overtime, you start to trust your teammates more and more to the point where it takes very little courage at all to do something like that. That's the point that we should be at by this time of year, but if not, then do your best to go out of your comfort zone and try it.

2.24

One thing that I've noticed over the past few weeks is how we try to follow the guidelines, but we usually end up breaking them without realizing it or meaning to. We don't realize that we're doing it because it's not what we're used to. This isn't either a good or a bad thing, as it shows how some of us haven't fully adapted to new "standards", and how we tend to forget about new things while not paying attention. This just shows how short our attention span can be at times. Sometimes it's better than others, but when it comes to stuff like grocery shopping, we don't think that hard about much. But when we do realize that we have unintentionally broken the guidelines, we try to fix what we did. For some of us, the only reason we try and fix what we did is because of Kung Fu. Without Kung Fu, none of us would be the same person we are today. That is one of the many reasons I enjoy Kung Fu, because it helps us be better people.

2.23

As of last Friday, the school year would've ended if the world hadn't gone sideways. Instead it finished a week earlier due to the lack of tests. It feels weird knowing that the last day of regular school that happened was already over three months ago. Shortly after that, the Kwoon closed. But now the Kwoon is back open, and school is now closed for the Summer. This is how it goes every year, but this year it seems very different. This shows how background information can affect how we see/think about something. If we have no background information, this time of year seems normal, but since we do have that background knowledge of 2020, we know that "normal" is far from the truth. But we are getting closer to normal, and eventually normal will be back.

2.22

With the kwoon opening up for classes this past week, things are starting to feel closer to normal again. Even though the inside of the kwoon isn't the same way it was, just going to the kwoon to do Kung Fu feels great. On the topic of inside the kwoon, I think that it is very well done. The squares that we stand in, camera placement, how we enter and exit the kwoon, and everything else was very well thought through, and executed very well. I want to thank everyone that was involved for making this happen. Without you guys, we'd still be at home all the time doing Kung Fu. That's all I really have to say, hope to see you guys on the mats soon!

2.21

Over the past few weeks I have started to journal my numbers less. It's completely my fault, as I tend to get distracted easily after doing my numbers. However, I do keep my numbers at a specific total each day, making it easier for me to add them all up. As of writing this I am at 23 520 Push-ups & Sit-ups, Sparring is at 441 rounds/minutes, Kilometres are at 1327.7, Acts of Kindness are at 450, and both my Lao Gar and my own Nun-chuck form are at 420. Some of these are a bit behind, as we are almost halfway through the year, so I will need to catch-up and get ahead on those. I also need to start getting better at putting my numbers down in my journal, as that is still a major requirement. I do think that it will be easier to do once we start going back to the kwoon to do classes. Words can't express how happy I am to be going back to the kwoon. It will be awesome to see other people in real life, and actually be able to talk to them. I'll see you all on Thursday night on the mats!