'You can't stop the birds of sadness from flying overhead; but you can stop them from nestling in your hair.' Sharon Creech


There is alot to write about this week - it was an inspirational week. But the thing I must own up to is my terrible start to the UBBT7. I continue to struggle. There are alot of reasons for this - some I can do something about, others I have to accept and wait out.
The UBBT7 tracker that Sifu Prince created for Silent River Kung Fu is an excellent tool. I've just updated it and had a look at all the red sad faces (8 of them) which indicate that I have fallen significantly behind my goals. My automatic response to all these sad faces is to dwell on the reasons and the obstacles. But that's not productive, so I am endeavoring not to waste time in that zone. I'm focusing on the plan for this coming week - to turn 4 of those sad faces into happy ones. There are two numbers which are easy to catch up - knitting meditation is a little bit behind, and I will enjoy the excuse to spend more time on that this week. The other one is techniques - I am supposed to pick one technique from the Silent River Kung Fu curriculum each week, and repeat it 30 times. This week, I will have to repeat it roughly 130 times or just under 20 times per day. Not really that difficult, or time consuming. That leaves two big numbers to catch up on. I'm choosing kicks this week (I'm supposed to do 525 kicks per week) because Sifu Brinker commented on a problem with one of my kicks in the Lao Gar form which needs correcting). Instead of doing only 75 kicks per day, I will do 225 side heel kicks from bow stance each day. That ought to fix both my Lao Gar and my UBBT7. And looking back on my numbers last year in preparation for the Black belt test, I see I was pulling off over 300 kicks per day, to improve my roundhouse. spinning back kick, combination kicks, and flying kicks. So this is not an unrealistic one week goal. The other big number to fix this week is the sit ups. Instead of 150 per day, I will be at least doubling that number.

Well, I must get started. And I'm looking forward to a few more happy faces next week!!!

Claire Finnamore
Student Member - Silent River Kung Fu
http://www.silentriverkungfu.com