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.

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.

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.

Acts Of kindness 2

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.