Qi Gong

I was approached a couple of times recently about teaching Qi Gong. I am really excited about this prospect. It's something that I love, and I have certainly felt the benefits of. Also, it's something that I don't have a lot of  experience teaching, but something that I'm really excited about sharing. 

I know it's kind of crazy to undertake something else at this point, but I have a great opportunity here that certainly isn't going to come along every day. Life is funny sometimes. You decide to do less, and suddenly you have something new thrown at you, that you have to decided whether to undertake or not. Weigh the pros and cons and decide what's best for you. I think I've decided to go for it. 

Balance

I've been working for my parents pretty much since I got out of the hospital. Just a few hours here and there in the beginning. I couldn't drive and so would end up riding in with my mom and just doing what I could to kill time. I've been fortunate that I was mostly able to make my own hours and work as much as I could while often leaving randomly for appointments and heading home for naps when I was really beat. I've also been fortunate in that I was still putting in a lot of time at the kwoon. Staying for Monday, Wednesday evenings until 930 and not worrying too much about getting up for 545am. Putting my energy in where I most wanted to.

At work we've just hired 20 new employees and it looks like it's going to be a busy summer. I've been putting in full time hours, sometimes more just so I can finish my daily tasks. I've been really struggling to keep up with everything at work, and as far as my training goes, a lot of it has really fallen off. I struggle with my energy levels as I've mentioned before, and I'm not really keeping up. So, I've decided I need to cut back my time at the kwoon. I really can't cut back hours at work. I feel they've been more than accommodating for my weird schedule. It's time for me to buckle down and do my part. No more orange/green class for me. At least not regularly. I love that class. It's been the most rewarding for me to be part of. I felt like I was really starting to connect with some of the students. But my health has to come first. So there it is... 

How do you measure peace?

I heard a statistic on CBC radio this week that said, "the world is becoming more and more peaceful." I looked at Dan and said how do you measure peace?

From what I've read on this subject, it appears to be measured by the amount of violent crime and casualties of war. I don't know that I agree that we can measure peace just by less violence. But it also shows the power of the media and how our focus as viewers is always turned toward violence and war. What about those feel good fluff pieces? What about important pieces about our effect on the environment? And what about pieces where you hear about how to become more active community members? That's the news I'd also like to hear.

I feel that there are a lot of important exclusions in this study, but it is nice to hear, that among all of the news reports on violence and terrorism recently, there is a little gold nugget in there.

Addiction

I feel a lot of sympathy for kids nowadays. How many kids do we all know that suffer from anxiety? Is it because of new methods of bullying on social media, or is it because we're all so plugged in all the time we're just too overstimulated? I feel as an adult I have more tools and experience to deal with all this, but I see kids struggle. I heard on CBC radio last week that any screen time for a child less than 2 years old can cause developmental delays and problems with attention span and concentration. 

I personally feel it's really important to unplug on a daily basis. Not just when I'm doing kung fu, but reading a book, meditating and cooking. I try make sure to set my phone aside most of the time I'm at home so that I can live here, in the moment, without all of the constant distractions. I read that every time you 'clean up' your email inbox your brain releases serotonin as if you've accomplished an important task, and it's very easy to get addicted to those feelings of accomplishment and I find this to be true. So I practice leaving emails unread and take pride in leaving tasks unfinished once in a while. Yep, that sounds weird, even to me.  

But there are also great benefits to having access to "the net". There are more resources when you are dealing with a bullying situation. We have more information in regards to our health. And it's easy to keep in touch with long distance friends, or even make new friends with similar interests. It's just difficult sometimes to find the balance that we need between access at our fingertips, and the choice to unplug.