Saturday, October 6, 2018

Mediocrity and Mastery

Sifu Brinker has recently reminded those of us on the dog team about memorizing 'Mastery' by Stewart Emery.  I used to keep it on my bedside table and not only read it every night, but study it's meaning and how it relates to my life.  I would ask myself, "what am I doing to reduce mediocrity in my life, what more could I be doing, and am I on the right path towards mastery.  Since coming back from BC, I seem to have misplaced my copy of mastery and so have fallen behind with my memorization, but I found a copy of it online, so have gotten back into studying it daily.

Last night after kung fu, I was exhausted and couldn't wait to crawl into bed.  But as often happens, I get reading and searching google.  This time it was about mastery and mediocrity.  I read articles and listened to podcasts.  Naturally I ended up staying up far too late and work today was a struggle.  I find that mastery and mediocrity are deeply related to my current situation right now.  I have really been enjoying the black belt classes and have tried hard to put to practice what we are learning.  I have dedicated a lot of time on my forms and my demo.  It seems I can't find enough time to practice as much as I want.

Along side of that is this never ending thirst for learning.  This past year I spend as much time as I can searching and absorbing all I can from a variety of subjects; meditation, how to support people with addictions, birds, nature, photography, internal energies and anything else that I want to understand more of.  That is what I do every night as soon as I crawl into bed.  I grab my meditation book or my ipad, and I search, read and learn.  I've never been one to come home and plunk myself in front of a TV.  This past Monday I started my second webinar with planet dharma which has focused on a Year of Joy.

Back to mediocrity.  I fall into mediocrity when my life is put on autopilot.  I stick to the same routines day in and day out because that is where my comfort zone is, and perhaps for some people, because they may feel that's what the rest of the world does.   I no longer want to be like the rest of the world.  If I was to stick with the same daily routines, then that's where my future would remain and my growth would not go anywhere.  I have been taught to ask myself, where am I and what am I doing?   I  answer the questions and then ask, am I where I want to be and doing what I want to be doing?  This to me is an important part of the process.  I love my kung fu and the tools it gives me to live a more wholesome and meaningful life.  Yet, I'm not really where I want to be.  I want to be in the mountains.  On the weekend of Nov 3, I will be moving to BC.

This decision has been a real struggle for me .  It took me weeks of pondering, deciding yes to move, then no I can't, and coming up with all kinds of excuses why not.  I was very afraid, as I have no job lined up, I'm leaving my kids and grand kids, leaving a good job, my teaching and leaving all my belongings here for now.   Then of course there is the I ho chuan. I'm not a quitter.  They say fear has 2 sides.  "Forget Everything And run".  Or...."Face Everything And Rise".  Well, I've never been one to run.

I can think of all kinds of excuses why not to go to BC, but realistically none of them are legit.  They are all just excuses so I don't have to go and face the fear of the unknown.  Not having a job lined up is a concern, but not a problem.  I can always return to Alberta if I want or need to.  My kids and I can visit back and forth as I will only be 6 hours away.  Through my journals and modern technology, I can still remain part of the Silent River Kung Fu family.  I have wanted to return to BC for years now as the mountains are home to me.  There are many like minded people there to surround myself with as well.  The only thing that could keep me from going is fear.  The fear of not knowing what is going to come next.  My life will become fully unpredictable.  I talked things through thoroughly with Sifu Brinker and my friend Dean.  They never made the decision for me, but simply gave me different perspectives, and things to consider that I had not thought of.  It still took me some time to decide what to do, but I managed to get over the fear and now I'm excited for it.  So many options and so many possibilities.  I'm not afraid of what will come next but rather I welcome it.  As my boss says, I'm a fighter and a survivor and I know I will be OK.

As I learn to live each moment for what it is, accept my situations as they come along,  I recognize
great things happening.  I feel full of positive wholesome energy.  That energy, I am finding, brings positive aspects to my life and instead of me looking for great experiences, the great experiences seem to be finding me.  I try to live my life to the very fullest I can, and it's becoming easier and easier to do.  When I leave mediocrity in the dust behind me, the easier it is to see the path to mastery.

I used to think that mastery was achieved by really smart people, rich people, or people with natural talent.  That's not true.  Many uneducated and poor people have attained mastery in some aspect of their lives.  The kind of intelligence that creates mastery doesn't come with brains.  It comes from a strong intensity of the desire to learn and by taking the proper steps to develop a high level of skill.  As I have learned from 'Mastery', it takes humility to look up to and learn from others, confidence, dedication, desire and commitment.  In my experience, I have learned that it also takes a full understanding of  who I really am and connecting with my natural energies and forces.  I also find that mastery comes from finding and participating in challenges that toughen me up and helps me to improve.  That's how I find and reach my potential.

I've been very busy packing up and getting ready to move.  I'm going to take a chance.  I'm going to take the risk and I'm going to follow my passions.  I'm going to search for greatness.  I'm going to leave my daily routines along with mediocrity, behind.  Some say I have perhaps bit off more than I can chew.  To them I say, it's better to choke on greatness, than it is to nibble on mediocrity.


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