Lisa Clark's Journal (46)

Recently, I went on a long car trip. It was several hours of infamous German roads. Beautiful green landscape, 120+ kmph autoban, transportation trucks in spades, and me, being carsick, enjoying not a single moment. We still had a ways to go and needed to get the gymnastics in my stomach settled down. That's when I thought of it. Mr. Oliver talked about redirection some months ago.



When something is bothering you, redirect your attention to something more positive or productive. Kata… Continue

Today I realized how compassion truly is everywhere.



Sabrina and I are visiting her family in Germany. We are in a small rural town, similar to Nevada City or Grass Valley in both size and location. Her family is not well off. They live simply, eat well, work hard, and love life. They also are a model of compassion.



Her mother invited us to 'shop in the basement.' Sabrina got all excited. I had no idea why. Was this another mistranslation? Nope. The basement is like a store!… Continue

Master Gichin Funakoshi wrote Karate-Do: My Way of Life. His book is required reading for adult yellow belts, and rightly so as Master Funakoshi records his time in history. The narrative details how karate impacted him personally from a young age, how he brought karate-do to Japan from Okinawa, and his experiences along the way.

To me, the most poignant section of the book was Master Funakoshi's description of his wife's karate. There was no formal training as we might…

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You may or may not know about a program called Ride To Walk. The organization is dear to my heart. Located in Lincoln off of Hwy 193, it is a nonprofit organization which enables children, teens and young adults with nuerological disabilities to participate in equine assisted therapy. In easy terms, children with autism, cerebral palsy and deep brain injuries ride horses for fun and therapy. Its amazing.



My experiences with the horses on site have been very educational.… Continue

One of my first jobs was as a painter. The owner of the paint crew told me something that changed how I look at things. He said, "The most precious thing you can give anyone is your time." I didn't get it at first. My flippant thought was, *Well, I'm here.* Being physically in a place does not mean you are present.

What Marlin meant was being present with the person you are physically with. Look them in the eyes when they are talking to you and listen. Focus your body by…

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A while back, Mr. Oliver challenged us to keep our mushin in circumstances we normally lose it. I have long been of the opinion that commuting is not for me. I just don't like driving. There are any number of ligitmate and ridiculously silly reasons... pollution, car accidents, road rage, discourtesy, the shining blindness off of silver cars, ... You get my meaning.

Well, recently I moved and my commute tripled. In the mushin spirit, I tried to think of this as a…

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