Week Four

Finally the month of January comes to a close. It is one of the three tough months of the year when it comes to being motivated. I still have February and March to go, but from past records I know that things slowly but surely get to be a little easier.

I am thouroughly dissappointed with my numbers for January. I have ALOT of catching up to do in pushups, situps, squat thrusts and forms. I should have been ahead in numbers for self-propelled travel; I have never done so much outdoor walking in this province at this time of the year. But my numbers on the bike slipped below what I had expected because I inexplicably began having a difficult time getting up at 4:30 am to attend my morning spin classes. I really have to find a solution to this problem quickly as my timetable for the next 5 months does not allow for spin work at any other time of the day. I am happy that my attendance numbers for I Ho Chuan, Black Belt Class, and Open training are on track, but I still find it a mental struggle to convince myself to go, and to stay. February is a shorter month, and that much closer to spring.

Last week, the lead teacher and I began our 'Kindness' curriculum. Our special students struggle with empathy and related skills. Sometimes the teacher and I wonder if we are teaching to the unteachable. But there is one boy, who really doesn't get it who provides me with hope. He TRIES to understand. He WANTS to understand. I think he knows he doesn't get it, and that is why he bombards us with seeminigly preposterous questions, like, 'Mrs. Finnamore, is it a Random Act of Kindness when you save someone from drowning even when you don't like them?' I hope that one day, despite his limitations, we will provide him with an answer that will work for him.

I am reading the most amazing book, by John Francis, Ph.D., called "Planet Walker; 17 years of silence, 22 years of walking". Back in 1971, when John was in his 20's, he joined thousands of people as they responded to an oil spill in San Francisco Bay, by scrubbing the beaches and fighting to save birds and sea creatures dying from petroleum poisoning. The event changed his life and began a deep personal transformation; he chose to stop using motorized vehicles, and he took a vow of silence that would last for 17 years. The book is the story of the next 22 years of his life, as he silently walks 2 continents spreading his message of peace and environmentalism, and, along the way, earning an undergraduate and master's degree in science and environmental studies and a Ph.D. in land resources. Though John currently has taken up a more traditional lifestyle, he is still an activist. He is the founder and director of Planetwalk, a nonprofit environmental education organization and he is developing a environmental studies curriculum based on the walking pilgrimage for K-12 schools and universities.

"Listen actively to learn. Be prepared to hear something new without judgment, and listen to what you have heard before from the place where you are now. Learning may come from a new understanding of what you already seem to know." John Francis

Claire Finnamore
Student Member, Silent River Kung Fu
Ultimate Black Belt Test
UBBT8

Week Three

Its been a tough week and not much to write about. I've been struggling with trying to simplify my schedule. I seem to be going all the time. As a result, I don't feel I am putting 100% into any one thing. What I want to do is really simple enough. I want to spend more time at home and training my dog. I want to do well in the UBBT8. And I want to ride my bike alot. Those are the big rocks in my bucket. But I find that there are a whole pile of little pebbles masquerading as big boulders, filling all the spaces in between and flowing out over top. Some aren't even my own pepbles, but as a mother, I have them in my bucket anyways. Its tough eliminating things on the to do list when you're a mom, but I've decided to start asking myself, "Where am I?" and "Why am I doing this?". Its a start.

Claire Finnamore
Student Member, Silent River Kung Fu
Ultimate Black Belt Test
UBBT8

Week Two

One of my UBBT8 goals is to take my dog to intermediate obedience training, and then agility training classes. One might wonder what this goal might have to do with my kung fu journey.

At first, I thought that challenging myself to focus on my dog would give me the opportunity to learn more about 'living in the moment'. Agility classes require that my dog be fit. I would have to take my dog for long walks, exercise her with games of catch, spend at least 20 minutes per day practising the obedience training. It would force me to slow down my own life, adjust my day to day priorities, be home more, enjoy the outdoors more, and watch and learn how a dog 'lives in the moment'.

The trainer at the obedience classes told me that dogs don't live in the moment. They live in the second. I argued with him that a moment is not to confused with a minute. When he looked at me askance, I referred to philosophies such as zen buddhism. The obedience trainer would have none of it. He had no time for philosophy, and 'living in the moment' mumbo jumbo; he'd rather spend time with his dogs.

Today, Lizzie (my dog) and I went for a one hour walk. Actually, for me, it wasn't walking, and it wasn't snowshoeing, so I would have to call it snow-booting. As we walked and snow-booted, I got to thinking. Lizzie is helping me profoundly with this 'living in the moment' thing. Not for the first time this year, I had adjusted my plans for the day on account of her. I'm not much of a winter outdoors person - so getting motivated, or adjusting my day, to go outside and just walk, and think, and clear the cobwebs out, relax, enjoy the freshness, and live in the moment is a challenge at this time of year. Lizzie has indeed provided the reason, the perspective and motivation I need. And in doing so, she has provided me with the opportunity to explore another of my UBBT8 requirements; Kindness.

I am currently reading the book, 'On Kindness', by Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor which explores the origins and history of kindness in our instincts, our religions, and our philosophies. The authors argue that kindness is instinctual, but in society we have come to be suspicious of it and view it as dangerous. In the authors' words below:

The pleasure of kindness is that it connects us with others; but the terror of kindness is that it makes us too immediately aware of our own and other people's vulnerabilties.

Dogs, like humans, are social animals. As I spend time with Lizzie, I watch her give and recieve kindness instinctively. Is it because she has not lost touch with that inter-connectedness that we all crave, or is it the other way round? As I bring loads of wood in for the wood-burning stove, and Lizzie dances around me, I begin to wonder whether there are a few things you can't have without the other - the ability to live in the moment, the pleasure of kindness, and the acceptance of both our interconnectedness, and our vulnerabilities.

"So it is not that real kindness requires people to be selfless, it is rather that real kindness changes people in the doing of it, often in unpredictable ways"
From "On Kindness"

Week One

Week One did not go as well as I would have liked. We are in the midst of snowstorms here, and so I was not able to get to the training hall on Friday or Saturday. My attendance at classes on both these days has been an issue that I hope to correct. I have made it one of my requirements in UBBT8 to attend 80% of this year's black belt and I Ho Chuan classes on Friday nights, and Open training sessions on Saturdays. I will have to wait until next week to get started.

Another of my UBBT8 requirements is to read 6 books on Acts of Kindness. This week I finished reading "Cool To Be Kind: Random Acts And How To Commit Them", by Val Litwin, Brad Stokes, Erik Hanson, and Chris Bratseth. I highly reccommend this book. Its about 4 young Canadians (the authors), who packed a motorhome in Victoria and embarked on a three-month non-profit marathon in 2002 which was called The Extreem Kindness Tour. Their mission was to commit as many random acts of kindness in as many Canadian communities as possible. Their dream was to begin connecting the world through kindness. When I finished the book, I was amazed and inspired. Amazed at the geniune depth of commitment, awareness, and leadership these 20ish young men displayed. Amazed at their excellent writing. And inspired by the many different things they did in each of the communities they visited and the impact their acts had on the receivers as well as the givers.

I have recently changed careers and am now in a position to make a difference in the community through my job. The team I work need my help in developing a 'volunteerism' component which will be delivered as a program to junior high students in an alternative classroom setting. My suggestion that 'Acts of Kindness' be the theme has been enthusiastically recieved. I am brimming with ideas after reading reading 'Cool To Be Kind'. What a great way to start the year.

If you want to have fun for an hour watch television. If you want to have fun for a day go to an amusement part. If you want to have fun for a lifetime - help others. From 'Cool To Be Kind;

Claire Finnamore, Student Member
Silent River Kung Fu