December 2nd - Getting Back on 3rd Shift Schedule

My Thoughts 💭 个人想法

Today has been good. Decided to get off my butt and go help my sister change her last name to her husband's and then I took her out to go eat some Mexican food. Man, I hadn't eaten Mexican food in a while but it did remind me that when I'm in China I've gotta take my girlfriend out to eat some real Mexican food. But where in the world do I find authentic Mexican food in China? Iunno. 

Thanksgiving and just relaxing has really helped me organize my days better. I'm training, reading, studying and more everyday. Sometimes I forget that just relaxing can help your mind tremendously. All I have to do is keep at it throughout all of December.

My training has been going alright, nothing intense like in the summer. Just simple calisthenics to keep my muscles "activated", practicing simple Kung Fu exercises (Basic Kicks, Forms, Punches etc)  and stretching to keep my flexibility improving so that I can be ready for my two years at Maling Kung Fu School. Once I'm in Minnesota I'll be doing more intense training to really push myself. I think all I need to add to my current workout schedule is Cardio... time to start running 3 miles every day again.

Not much to say today as I'm feeling good.

Personal Note:

Yesterday I changed up the website a little bit. Only editing some colors and fonts but I think it looks better. I also like the look of my "Daily Tao" segments.

Christmas Story 🎄 Day 2

"The mother of Jesus Christ was Mary. And this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. Mary was engaged to marry Joseph. But before they married, she learned that she was going to have a baby. She was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary's husband, Joseph, was a good man. He did not want to disgrace her in public, so he planned to divorce her secretly."

 -Matthew 1:18-19

I'm excited for this month as I feel that I can do a lot. I've already bought a few people gifts but I still need to buy many people gifts.

Dad ✅

Mom ❌

Sister ❌

Sister's Husband ❌

Grandma ❌

Niece ❌

Nephew ❌

Girlfriend ✅

Buying gifts is hard...

(Dad, If you ever see these I hope I'm doing the Christmas Story verses right.)

Daily Tao ☯ 智慧 

"One might say that wisdom is not simply a mental process but the sum total of a human being."

-Deng Ming Dao 

So today, I've read my daily reading from 365 Tao and a chapter from Thinking Body, Dancing Mind. The reading from 365 Tao was about what wisdom is. To me, wisdom is knowledge learned from your experiences in life, whether good or bad. This chapter partly agrees with this point of view stating that knowing how to use the knowledge you've gained and building upon this with experience is how one attains knowledge.

For me, this makes me think about my language learning. I spent three years in high school learning how to speak, read and listen to Spanish. In those three years and after I never really felt confident in my Spanish speaking skills though I tried on a few occasions (at markets and restaurants in California and at work in Illinois). Compare that to my Chinese ability after 1 year of studying and it is completely different. I can actually read some and speak some with confidence. Even though my vocabulary isn't as vast as what I had learned from Spanish class I am able to do more with little knowledge. And I think part of that is because I've learned from my Spanish class days that it isn't all just memorization but actually using what I learn.

What have you grown wiser about?

-Johnny