A Wise Week

很好打太极的地方

This week has been a big change for me, I've had to help out my family by watching some kids throughout the week which has effected my training and study. But throughout this week I've had various insights. One good thing is that I've found a nice park to practice Taiji and Kung Fu. Though recently I've only been able to stretch and practice Taiji.

Throughout the week I've been seeing some "spiritual insights" as I've been trying to figure out how to get back on a normal schedule.

Monday - Spirit Hawk

Monday is when it all began with me beginning to read different books like, "365 Daily Tao" and "Battle Strategies For Prayer". But it was also the fact I kept seeing my dad's "spirit animal" that began to make me think about these various "signs" and their meaning. As this was the beginning to my daily sightings of the brown "spirit hawk" that my dad used to talk about.This day, on the walk to the park, I saw the hawk flying in the sky towards the park, as if it was guiding us there.

天气很好

Tuesday - An Old Man

I was able to practice a little bit of Kung Fu on Tuesday and after beginning to feel disheartened about my goal it was nice to see this old man that approached me at the park. We began talking about the lake and how it flooded but then he asked me what I was doing and I told him practicing kung fu. After a short discussion he told me to keep going at it which gave me motivation.

Wednesday - Chinese Wisdom

Again I was watching the kid and we went to the park so that I could practice a little bit of Taiji and stretching. While we were walking we began to see many large feathers on the ground and, sure enough, up in the sky was a hawk surrounded by smaller birds as it was chased out of the area. It seemed to me like it could be a bad sign of many challenges approaching or a good sign of how the "small" can win over the "big". I wasn't too sure what would happen this week. Though I was unsure what would happen this week my Chinese friend and I did talk to eachother and she gave me some Chinese wisdom:

鲁迅说：时间就像海绵里的水，挤挤总是有的。

"Lu Xun said: Time is like water in a sponge, squeeze it and you'll always have some."

This small bit of advice made me realize its not my schedule changing and having to take care of these responsibilities that effects my goal, its just that I don't manage my time well enough. Even Martial Club show that their training times isn't at the most convenient. So, I've decided I will train after work... how and where are still to be decided.

Thursday - White Hawk

 On Thursday, I had to watch two kids on this day which was difficult to balance with training so all that I got to do was stretch. This day was also a terrible day for me because many bad things happened; I lost my credit card, left my wallet at home, was late to work, forgot to pack lunch, didn't train and work was slow. All of this happened but as it began to get later in the day I saw a white hawk at my work escaping many crows that were attacking it. This was the first time I'd seen a white hawk in this area as normally the "spirit hawk" has been brown so I took that as a sign that these simple problems would soon be over and my thoughts were right.

Friday - Overcoming the Obstacles

On Friday, I finally felt relaxed that I got paid and the weekend arrived. Maybe I'm just a bit silly in the head but this week has certainly been different for me and a bit of a challenge. I hope that the continued practice of Taiji and Kung Fu combined with my reading and studying will help me throughout my journey to China.

Friday's meditation was all about solstice and how things have a cycle, if you can make it through the good and bad cycles while improving yourself then you will be able to live a good and long life. After reading this in the morning the whole week came together to finish off with a great Friday. Work was great, everyone was happy, I got paid, I had lunch and even stretched and did some Kung Fu.

I would also like to mention that the moon has looked really cool this week with it being different colors every day and being a full moon for almost three days! Yesterday, being the summer solstice, the moon a cool yellow color. Maybe this was just a mystical week and I didn't know it.

How was your guys' week? What struggles did you all go through?

-Johnny