The Future

I'm not sure what it is lately, maybe the fact that we're coming up on the three year mark here in China, but it seems that lately, many people have been asking me about my future plans. I don't generally like to think too much about my future back in Canada. Not only does it tend to distract me from my current training, but it usually makes me quite homesick.

I know I want to open a school. I don't know where, when or how. Although, I do have some ideas as to the curriculum, and how I want it to be set up, and what kind of students I want to attract. Still, I try to not get lost in my ideas and create visions of grandeur. I know opening a school is going to be difficult. I also know that it is not going to make me money right away. I do believe however, that after I have finished my time here, I will have a lot to offer people. I just have to demonstrate the confidence in myself to convince others.

New Interests

I had my first Chinese calligraphy lesson Thursday morning. I've been wanting to take classes for ages now, but I always found an excuse not to go. So Tuesday afternoon, I went and met the teacher, who is this amazingly spry and enthusiastic old man.

I imagine this is going to be a tedious process. I spent half of my one hour lesson learning how to sit and how to properly hold the calligraphy brush. I spent the other half learning one of the smallest strokes. After the half hour, I realized how long learning calligraphy will really take. But I decided that while I'm here, I have a great opportunity, and I should really take advantage of it. And my teacher is so fun and excitable, I can't imagine getting bored too quickly.

"The Forty Rules of Love"

For a couple of weeks now, I've been totally immersed in a book I've been reading called, as you may have guessed, "The Forty Rules of Love" by Elif Shafak. Now the point of this post, is not exactly just to talk about how great this book is. It's fiction, but it is partly the story of the famous Sufi poet Rumi and his closest companion.

I have found many gems of wisdom inside this book, but last night I read something that really made me think about the way I interact with others. There's always going to be people in my life that are not like me. People that have different interests, carry themselves differently, and have a different focus in their life. And sometimes, I'm not going to feel particularly close to these people. I may find some of the things they do or say frustrating, irritating or offensive. But, in saying that, I generally make an effort to try to just accept people the way they are.

Last night I read this paragraph and it really just clicked. An epiphany of sorts.

" This world is like a snowy mountain that echos your voice. Whatever you speak, good or evil, will somehow come back to you. Therefore, if there is someone who harbors ill thoughts about you, saying similarly bad things about him, will only make matters worse. You will be locked in a vicious circle of malevolent energy. Instead for forty days and nights say and think nice things about that person. Everything will be different at the en of forty days, because you will be different inside. "

So today is my first day. I have chosen to start with only one person, so that I can really focus my attention. And now that I've written this post, it will be easy to look back in forty days from now, and see what has become of this commitment.