We Are A Team

 I made the decision to join the I Ho Chuan for many reasons. One of those reasons was being part of a group and getting to know new people. I can honestly say I didn't give a lot of thought to being a team member and what that meant at the time. I did wonder though how I would fit in. My primary focus was the daily requirements and I was overwhelmed by the thought of 50,000 of anything in one year. Add push ups onto the end of that number and wow!! I  remember thinking what the ____ have I gotten myself into?

The computer set up and journaling has been one of the hardest tasks to do. I am a very private person and usually only share under the right circumstances or with some one I trust. When I would journal the process could take hours and whatever I was currently feeling caused thoughts and emotions from the past to surface. A lot of fears resurfaced and the biggest for me was and is a lack of self worth. I remember thinking, holy smokes I've signed myself up for a year long intensive self improvement workshop! If it had been presented that way, I'm pretty sure I would have said thanks, but no thanks. So I started to feel like I didn't belong on the team and I worried that I wouldn't have anything to contribute.

Many months have now passed and we have all been learning and talking about being a contributing member of the team. Just like at work we are helping each other out, working together with a common goal, jumping in where needed, teaching and learning together and we treat everyone with respect.

There are always going to be other commitments that keep some of us away at various times. Work is the biggest obstacle that some of us struggle with. Being a good team member is more than just physically being here. When team members are away they are missed but it can also create difficulties. These same difficulties create opportunities for growth, learning and adapting. We all learn from the experience no mater where we are. Just remember if you are here or away please journal as it helps us to learn more about each other and helps to create a bond between team members.

We are all on our own journey and the experience will be different for everyone of us. As we travel together on this journey we are not alone. And when we travel and work together as a team we are stronger and can accomplish so much more.

Michele Ward

Random Thoughts

Pursuing a life of mastery is not about future results. It is about what is happening right now, in this very moment.

I find the idea of yin and yang, positives and negatives or paradoxes to be completely fascinating. We would not be able to have a positive without a negative. Light cannot exist without dark, good cannot exist without bad and so on. Everything is intertwined to some degree like we see when we look at the symbol for yin and yang. I get especially excited when I think about the idea of negatives. Even though there are negatives in our lives and in the world, there actually isn't.  They are all positives in some form. We just need to believe, trust and train our minds to see the positives that are there or occur as a result.


Numbers     week    total

sit ups         1090    24185
push ups      880     15717
walking       34.6     720.6
sparing        40        61
kempo         15        151
nunchuks     33        350
Aok             30        348

Michele Ward

Weekly Journals

Maintaining a public journal that is updated a least once a week is one of the requirements of being a member of the I Ho Chuan. There are many of us that are not posting a journal entry once a week. I, myself have missed a couple of weeks and I know from personal experience that it can be difficult to think of some thing to write about. If you don't know what to write then find a inspirational quote or just tell us about your week. It can be anything. Don't forget to add your totals for the week.

Journal benefits:

Form of communication to other team members
Strengthens the bond between team members
Keeps team members engaged (especially those that work out of town)
Documents your personal journey
Increases your writing and communication skills
We learn from each others successes and failures
It is a very powerful resource

Every week that we do not post a journal entry is a lost opportunity. As individuals and as a team we are missing out. So please everyone start journaling every week!

Numbers     Week      Totals

sit ups         1090        23095
push ups      775         14837
walking       36.54k     686k
Aok             23            318
kempo                        136
nunchuks                    317
sparring                       21


PS. When posting your journal, please post to the I Ho Chuan before clicking on publish otherwise I don't get them in my in box. I don't know if anyone else is having this problem. It would be preferable not to have to search just to see if some of you have posted. I don't want to miss any posts.

Thank you,  Michele Ward

Blessings

Another great week! School is out for the summer. Yay! If you weren't able to make it out to Rotary park on Canada day we all had an awesome time. There were lion dances and a couple of demos performed by members of the I Ho Chaun team. Sifu Brinker brought his giant 10 foot beach ball to play around with. Try crab soccer with a 10 foot ball. Fun and games! Best of all was the participation and energy of everyone involved and the support of all the Kung Fu students/families that came to watch the demos.

Another very special opportunity came our way this week also. Tony McKee is the program facilitator with the Remuda Horsemanship Program and he had offered the I Ho Chaun team a chance to participate in his program. Eight team members including myself joined Tom at his ranch on Saturday morning to learn about horses. After being paired up with a horse we spent some time getting to know the animal and allowing the horse to get comfortable with us. The morning progressed with different exercises working with our horse and learning how to communicate and give them direction. And if the horse didn't follow direction we had to go back and figure out where we went wrong and how to effectively communicate the commands to the horse.

 We had talked about energy and intention when working with the horses before we went into the ring. I really believe that Tom's energy and intention right from the start set the tone for the day. Tom has a lot of experience, knowledge and patience and was a fantastic teacher. We also had a great group of people participating. While reflecting on the day afterwards I realised that the entire time I was there that I was totally in the moment and that the atmosphere was calm and relaxed. We had talked about energy and intention and also staying calm and in control. We also discussed being assertive vs aggressive and what that means. With aggression there is anger and loss of control. I think that there is a fine line between the two and that assertiveness can easily become aggression when we loss our calmness and control. Everything we talked about and learned when working with the horses can be transfered to our Kung Fu and our everyday lives.

Thank you again, Tom for the amazing experience and knowledge that you shared with us. I am feeling truly blessed this week.

Michele Ward

Camping

Another great weekend! Logan and I headed off to Wabamum Provincial park after school on Friday after school to set up our tent. We were close enough to be able to come back into town so that I could take part in the I Ho Chaun class and then head back out to our campsite. By the time we got back family friends had arrived and were set up also. Everyone had a great time and we all enjoyed relaxing in the great out doors. The combination of camping and the extreme heat did however create a challenge when trying to get in my push ups and sit ups. My totals for the week in those two areas are down a bit, so I will be trying to boost them back up this week if possible. Normally I try to post on Sundays, but we didn't get back from camping until Monday and I was exhausted. Better late than not at all.


Numbers

sit ups        910             21,005
push ups    730             13,327
walking     37.81k        618.26k
kempo       15               134
nunchuks   5                 298
AOK          22               274


Michele Ward

Family

It's been a great weekend! My oldest son Dustin and his girlfriend were here for the weekend from Red Deer. It was great to have the 3 kids and myself all together. A friend of Dustin's came over on Saturday and they all went on a long bike ride together. It was especially good for Logan as he doesn't get the opportunity very often to hang out with his older brother. We celebrated Father's Day with my dad coming over for dinner. Family, fun, laughter,and sunshine. What more could you ask for.

Totals for the week:

Sit ups             1085
Push ups         849
Walking         28.15km
Kempo           17
Nunchuks       7
AOK               28

Have a great week,  Michele

Change

"The only constant in life is change." I'm sure most of you have heard this before. We experience small changes every day as part of our regular daily routine but fail to recognise them as change and just go with the flow. When big changes occur that we aren't expecting or wanting we usually perceive them to be negative and unwanted events in our lives. This can be stressful and cause us to feel overwhelmed and even depressed. We can fail to recognise new paths being created and the potential for new beginnings and opportunities. At times we expend more energy trying to keep everything the same while resisting change. The cycle of life requires constant change. The natural flow of life is disrupted if change is not allowed to happen. Endings create new beginnings.

 Just recently I was telling someone about my struggles at work and that I was considering going back to school. I had talked about a couple of career paths, but wasn't sure yet what direction to take. She was excited that I was about to embark on a totally new path in life. She was more excited for me at that moment than I was for myself. At the time I didn't quite share her enthusiasm, but she is absolutely right. It is a new beginning. Exciting and scary at the same time. 

I've been struggling lately with a lot of changes coming at me from all different directions. I'm afraid that I haven't handled them as well as I should have. It just feels like too much all at once. Even though I know change is positive and can bring about some exciting new beginnings, I'm having a hard time making decisions and working out the logistics. I will be off work for the next 3 weeks on a medical leave of absence. The plan is to do some research in order to make some of those decisions, go to the morning Kung Fu classes, check off some items on my to do list, walk with the dog most days and get some rest in between.

Numbers to date

sit ups        19010

push ups     11728

walking      502km

kempo        102

nunchuks    286

AOK           222

Michele Ward