Looking back to look ahead

I've been doing a lot of reflecting as of late, registering and evaluating what and where my mistakes have been over the last few years and what I have done to facilitate the failures. At this weeks I Ho Chuan meeting, the question was asked "Who's grading this year"? It was the first time publicly (or, in front of my folk) knowing the demands and the responsibly that it will bring, where I raised my hand announcing my intentions . Especially over the last year, I have spoken with several Black Belts, asked about their succeses and failures and found there is a common path in all their stories and it parallels to where I have developed or crashed. Why am I not a Black Belt, simple, "I'm not acting like one"! This was the first "work week" for me where I stopped following the negative self talk, listening to the procrastination committee; I had to stop following my thoughts and instead do what I'm supposed to. The one thing that sticks out for me is "reaching out and asking"; I asked a White Belt classmate to practice Da Mu Sing with me, so I could learn and teach, I asked an Orange Belt to teach me a weapon form that he has started, I jumped in with a Blue Belt classmate when she was practicing stick and came away with correcting a huge chunk of "my" form, I jumped at the chance to fill in for an instructor in the Lil' Leopards class and faked it for 30 minutes, pretendimg that I actually knew how to be around these little ones; then it was made more possible when one of the little guys grabbed my thumb and did laps with me,........at least "he" knew what to do, one more time I just followed. I guess this is just a long winded version of "whatever you did before, don't do it again"! I've found out as of late, "no matter how, who, when, where or why" I ask, there is always someone to help or point me in the right direction. But in conclusion, "If you have to sign a waiver, it's probably worth it", Robert.

We were also asked to list our additional I Ho Chuan goals:
1) Hike the Inca Trail in Peru,
2) Prepare and run in "The Great Canadian Death Race",
3) Volunteer at the Edmonton Institution in Addiction Recovery,
4) Continue with "Date Night" once a week,
5) 30 hours of cooking classes,
6) 5 continuous minutes on "Jacobs Ladder",
7) Hit the gym 3 times per week,
8) NO-processed red meat,
9) NO-candy
10) NO-french fries or potato chips,
11) NO-use of plastic bags,
12) NO-television.

TOTALS-WEEK 1
Push-ups - 1505
Sit-ups - 1030
Forms - 17
Jacobs Ladder -1 minute
Gym - 3
Horse Stance (done properly) 1 minute