About noticing our environment outside and in, about staying balanced? About total awareness? “Zan shin” as the Japanese say.

Think about the last time your life was out of whack. A few weekends ago sucked for me because virtually nothing was going right. Really important stuff plus not-so-important stuff. It's been a long time since that much has been out of kilter at once.

(If you were wondering: 'Man, was I off-balance and falling fast!', the blog entry.)

Last year I was unprepared for my Chodan test: waited instead of testing, and successfully prepared and tested during the next cycle. I've been unprepared for martial arts classes, both for training and teaching. How do you feel when you're not ready for a class?

We know we feel better and learn more when we've done our work.

Martial arts training is learning technique, breathing, sparring, angles, body and mind control, weight distribution, good attitude, etc., etc.

'Our Work' involves learning all these things through practicing in class and at home.

Our accomplishments in martial arts prepare us for classes and rank tests. And for dealing with situations at home, work and school. When we progress as athletes and martial artists our confidence increases. 

For me, it's more than learning about myself. It's displaying the good and bad for everyone to see, and recognizing those things copied by students who follow my example.

We've done 'Our Work' when the good things get better and the bad things are corrected .. or at least made less bad.

• Noticing our environment outside and in.
• Staying balanced.
• Total Awareness.

There are countless ways of learning these things. I'm thankful I found martial arts training to continue 'My Work.'

Here's the blog entry:
http://www.PracticeKarate.com/[the-blog-link]