All Journal Entries (393)

Please join me for a Karate demonstration at Olive Glen Assisted Living Facility on Wednesday April 27^th at 3pm.  We will deliver homemade friendship cards to the residents that live there and then show them a few Kata.  My great grandmother lives in this facility and I know how excited they will be to have children visit them.  If you are unable to join us but still want to make a card or picture for them to enjoy, please deliver your artwork to karate class…

April is a new start. First step is to take stock. I have been avoiding entering the numbers into my spreadsheet. I knew the sprained thumb, stomach flu, and hip injury took a lot out of me last month. The numbers were sure to reflect it. Tonight I faced my the spreadsheet and was surprised to find encouragement.

I was encouraged because as I entered the numbers they were more motivating than deflating. I did how much despite the challenges? I am awesome! I have lost 15 pounds since…

My favorite chapter of this book was Recognizing True Karate (pg 91 - 95). Master Funakoshi starts out talking about martial artists and the tradition of breaking boards. He then explains how you can bring a person in and teach them karate for a few months and that person can break some boards too, and that means that "he has succeeded in strengthening his hands," but if he goes out looking for a fight "he has failed to understand the nature of karate." Master Funakoshi "always stressed the…

A few people have asked me what books I'm reading, or planning to read. Here is my list in the random order they happen to be stacked in...

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

High Maintenance Relationships: How to Handle Impossible People by Les Parrott III, Ph.D.

The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal…

This was a good week!

I had a bit of a lag in my pushups a couple weeks ago but am starting to catch back up. Stepped my mileage up a bit which is good. The weather is disappointing and I wish I could be getting some good rides in outside. I have to get the miles in somehow, so the stationary bike will have to do... Situps no problem. Doing a lot of breathing time because meditation is still a big struggle still.

It feels to have one kata learned. I'm so happy…

In affiliation with The Red Cross, PerfectMIND and ChampionsWay have started a relief fund to aid the victims of this unfortunate disaster. We will accept donations of any size from martial artists and martial arts business owners.

All monies raised will be sent to The Red Cross to provide relief for those in need. Please follow the link…

On April 6th, I will be flying out to Alabama as part of our mission to take our martial arts "out of the dojo and into the world." I'm going out there with fellow members of this years "Ultimate Black Belt Test" and together we are going to team up and build a house in rural America for someone in need. Ms. Georgia of Greensboro, Alabama will have a clean, warm, safe place to live because of the charity and compassion of the international martial arts community.

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Are we that far along already? I'm keep counting the weeks on my spreadsheet and it just doens't feel that we're that far in. Then again, I'm having a bit of denial about it being almost half way thru March...

At any rate, week 12 is just too far back for me to rmember really. Suffice to say that according to my numbers and my notes, I had some push up panic this week which led to a 1200 week total. I started stepping up my cycling workouts a bit, too. Not doing more…

I had high hopes for February that didn't pan out as expected, so I'm really glad it's a new month.  Just looking at numbers, I'm pretty amazed at the accomplishment so far--more than I have ever done over the course of a winter, when I usually hibernate. Each day has new challenges and new inspirations. For example, yesterday I was clobbered by a migraine, but today I was encouraged by coming out of the gym at 6:30m and seeing how light it was. My legs are feeling stronger on the cycle…

So it's really getting to be routine. And that feels good. I'm seeing that the things I focus on are rotating. I'm not sure if they're just rotating or if I'm actually marking things off the list as I go. I hope it's the latter, but we'll wait and see.

At any rate, this week I'm focusing on balance. Basically, I've been really lucky in that I can fit 90% of my workout in on my lunch breaks. But... I have a bike ride coming up and I need to start focussing on my cycling. I…