Thursday, 31 March 2016

Reverse AOK

I like to think of myself as a kind person but these last few weeks have brought a few things to light that I am not very proud of.  I wanted to take a different spin on our Acts of Kindness so I have been trying to recognize when I am NOT doing something nice and then ask WHY?

I really noticed that I was the least considerate when I was in a hurry.  I became very self-absorbed and really self-centered.  It was even worse when I was driving.  This really scares me, because I am sure that these feelings must also be in many of the vehicles around me during the morning and afternoon commute.

Here were a few specific examples of what occurred:
- I did not let people in when I normally would have and boy was I surprised at my excuses I made to myself to justify these actions. Why do they need to change lanes now, they should have done it sooner.  They are driving slow, I don't want to be behind them.  They can get in after me.
- I became judgmental of people around me and it changed the way I looked at events.  Seeing an old or homeless pedestrian starting to cross the road when the hand light started to flash had me focusing on how this was going to affect me They are never going to get across, why couldn't they wait instead of on them Do those other cars see him, will they stop?
- I ignored people around me.  I would run from one place to another, not really noticing if someone else was coming in the door behind me where I would have normally stopped to hold it.  I did not smile or make eye contact at the people around me.

Although am quite embarrassed about admitting these thoughts (and there were others that are not listed here), I am also okay with it.  As I recognize the WHYs when I am not being the person I want to be, only then I can change my triggers and the fundamental way that I think and I hope this will make be a truly kinder person in the long run.


Sunday, 20 March 2016

A Kohut Adventure

Today we had an adventure!  I was heading to Stony to get this weeks groceries when I noticed a dog walking down the middle of the road.  A car was coming towards me and had to slow down as the dog would not move off the road.  I had to come to a complete stop as the beautiful brown and white Husky walked up to my bumper and eventually walked around the car to let me by.  I proceeded on my way and as I approached the top of the hill, I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw him sitting in the middle of the road, looking around seeming kind of lost.

Many things went through my mind at this time, but two that I remember clearly are:
"I am sure he will find his way home eventually, I really need to get groceries."
"What will happen if on my way home I see that he got hit by a car, boy will I feel bad"
Then I realized that I was just being selfish.  The very least I could do was try to help him, so I turned around and pulled into an approach.  The dog followed my car and when I opened the door to see if he had a collar, "Harvey" jumped right over me and sat in the passenger seat.  He looked at me like he was saying "come on, let's go!".  So I drove back home to figure out what to do next.


Mike was in the middle of supper so "Harvey" (the kids named him immediately) caused a bit of chaos to the Kohut household.  Between three dogs running through the house, trying to find "Harvey's" owners, getting supper ready, kids ready for school, finishing up the spring cleaning we had started, and figuring out what to do with "Harvey" if it will take a few days to find the owners. Everyone pitched in, it was awesome!

After a few hours of the chaos, Mike and I decided to take him for a walk where I had found him. His owners must be missing him by now and maybe we will get lucky.  "Harvey" rode in the vehicle better then either of our dogs, or our kids for that matter.  I put him on a leash and away we went.  He walked right to a house and sat by the garage.  I rang the doorbell and asked the elderly man if he owned a dog.  He told me that he does not have any animals and then looked down and smiled.  "But that guy is Thor and he keeps running from the family that is looking after him right now".   He introduced himself and phoned the owner of the dog to let him know that he would hold Thor until he could be retrieved.  I had a nice conversation with his wife as well and they asked us to come back and visit on another day.

As Mike and I drove home, we laughed how this little wrench in our day had us meeting "Harvey" (he will always be Harvey to us), making a new relationship with a couple down the road, and seeing our family pull together to get a lost dog home.  We didn't get any time to reminisce though as we drove up to our yard and found OUR son trying to get OUR dog unstuck from under OUR neighbours shed....but that is another story for another day...

My wish to you is that you may have the opportunity to have an adventure this week, you just never know where it will take you.


Sunday, 13 March 2016

The Path not to take!

I just wanted to start off with assuring Sifu Beckett that I did not miss Thursday and Saturday because I forgot 18 Temple Motions.  I was not in class on Thursday as I had a minor day surgery procedure, it went very well. I actually felt AWESOME, my biggest complaint was a minor sore throat from the airway. My first thought is "woohoo, now I have two days off" ..... so I didn't rest as much as I was suppose to, I didn't follow the instructions that must have been written for other patients.  I was happy and elated and had a long list of things to do!

But later my family dealt with the grumpy version of Jackie because I wasn't feeling too well and now I actually had some pain, just enough for me to be cranky.  So they had to deal with me for four days instead of probably only the two that it should have been, and yet they were so awesome to me. Thank you family!  

So please learn from my lesson, listen to your body but also follow the instructions you've been given no matter how good you feel.  Ignoring this advice will only cause you to take a longer path then you needed to and miss out on a whole bunch of cool Kung Fu.  This is one path I do not wish for any company!

Sunday, 6 March 2016

Moving forward

I was so excited after open training this week.  Sifu T. Beckett helped me finish the 18 Temple Motions form.  I can feel this form is already helping with centering and with stances.  Sifu Beckett also helped with a few of my areas where I was over-exaggerating my motions thus throwing off my center.  Funny how that all relates together.

I am a person that needs to go over and over and OVER a form before it cements into my head so I practised until I was sure I could remember it when I got home.  My plan was to go home and video tape myself so I would remember the form for next week.  Things got busy so I was going to tape it tonight.  Guess what?  I couldn't remember all the moves!  I was so disappointed.  I almost just gave up but then I thought if I lost this much in one day, how much am I going to lose tomorrow.  I looked it up online and step by step filled in the spots that I missed.  I am now back to where I was yesterday but I know that if I don't practice it again tomorrow, I will slip back and not move forward. 

Here's to moving forward....