Happy New Year!!


    Now, I have been writing a lot, trying to get things as accurate as possible. I'm not sure that my time line is going to be 100% accurate, I may have it mixed up a little but not intentionally.

     At that time there seemed to be a pattern of training, sparring one night forms the next followed by techniques/combinations on the third night. Except for that summer, and now I may remember it wrong, but it felt like we sparred every night. Again for those that haven't sparred or are new to sparring,it can be quite intimidating. For me their are 2 reasons; 1. I don't want to hurt anyone and 2. I don't want to get hurt. Only being able to speak for myself, the feeling I get from sparring is sometimes overwhelming, but that's the point. Being overwhelmed and panicked but maintaining a certain level of calm and control. Not as easy as it may sound, while getting punched or kicked, the feeling of pain can sometimes leads to panic and confusion.

    Fast forward to my first tournament. I was terrified to enter as I assume most people are. This happens to be the first time I met Sifu Rybak. She was centre judge and it was myself sparring Sifu Tymchuk, we started as we always do, all D-8 as Sifu Frietag calls it. Sifu Rybak quickly broke us and told us to ease up, which of course only happened for a second, and after exchanging a series of blows the 2 of us had these huge grins, unusual for most most but common for us which had Sifu Rybak shaking her head at us. Who won? It didn't matter because I was there for the experience of a tournament.

   

     
To be continued...

   

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

     I have to rewind a little. Just to mention someone, who before I went to the orange class, joined with his friend. His excitement and focus was contagious. Travis Panasiuk was as inspiring off the mats as he was on the mats. If not for a tragic accident there is no doubt that he would have surpassed my training. For those reading that never had the pleasure of meeting or training with him his picture is on the alter in the Kwoon.

     There's an excitement, I assume all of us feel, when we achieve the next belt level. It is multiplied when we have to change classes. Definitely different than when I went from morning to evening classes. On how to describe it, I'm not sure of, a nervous excitement is the closest thing. You enter the Kwoon just like you have many times before but with new partners (some are the same) to train with and, for me, Sifus I hadn't yet met.

     I'm going to start with sparring in this class. I met with Sifus Tymchuks fists and feet here early on, even before I knew him. One of the first sparring classes, I think my nose was squished to the right side of my face by a punch, then quickly flipped to the other side by his kick (or the other way around) and he had this huge grin on his face easily seen thru my watering eyes. It was quite the introduction and one of my most memorable. It made me all the better because I worked that much harder after that so as not to have that happen again. Then Sihing Krebs came in and would hit me 3 times before I even knew he was throwing a single punch let alone a combination. Between those two I felt like the Kelly Buchburger of the Kwoon, protecting myself by blocking with my face, but not afraid to try. This may sound terrible but I thought it was awesome. This was just the start of sparring in the Orange class.

   

     
To be continued...

   

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

     Now the evening class, for me, started off a bitter sweet. My kids were both little so the short amount of time in the evening I had with them before they went to bed was cut even shorter due to the start time of the beginner class. The class itself was fantastic and I felt good about going,  there was large variety of students to work with and new to me instructors. A key to getting really great practical experience and larger base to the pyramid. I worked hard for my yellow belt then to orange so I could move to the orange/green class and have that extra time with my kids.

     Up to this point I only remember missing one morning class and no evening classes. The switching of companies forcing me to the evenings was a great move then and when my story gets closer to being current it will be clear why.

   

     
To be continued...

   

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

     I started with the early morning class (6:40) with usually 5 students, the now Sifus Bryant, Regier, Prince and Sihing Choy. At the time, I didn't tell my then company, I just started showing up to work late. They did not notice for 4 months, since I typically worked alone. After about 7 months I ended up switching companies and while I was being interviewed I requested a late start on Kung Fu days but was quickly told no. Of course, I then switched to evenings and a much larger class. Being someone who prefers mornings it was a little tough , I had 2 small kids at home that were still up at 18:30 but not up at 6:40,  so it was hard for me leave home in the evenings and go to class.

To be continued...

   

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Journey

   




    So I've been thinking about my journey a lot recently. Not just this year but since my first class on the mats. The exact day I don't recall ,but  I believe it was in September with Sifu Laurie. I didn't join with any real plan ahead of me, just , join get in better shape, learn a martial art and maybe, make a few friends. Little did I realize it would turn out to be so much more.

To be continued...

   

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Worthy

    ALL OF IT WORTHY

      Finally a little time to reflect. Sitting quietly going thru my year seeing my highs. The build up to grading day, working hard to fix everything I know I'm doing wrong , fine tuning the things I'm doing right. To my job growth and success , to 20 years happily married.

     To the lows , where you wonder why you're trying to do it all. Does it make a difference , is it serving me? Not just in the moment , today , tomorrow, the next week, month and so on. To the  relationship with my brothers and parents all but completely torn apart and over. (Still not sure how to fix this one.)


      Is it all worth it?   The highs Definitely ! The lows not so much but they only define you if you let them.

Scott Fuhr

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." William James

Reflection

   




    I used to take time for just me. To sit and think or walk and remember. It didn't matter what I was doing , it was my time to reflect and energize and , I didn't realize I missed it until recently. I'm not sure where to go or what to do to get it back , but I do know that it's important for me.

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Unbroken boards

   




     Thanks again to those who organized and worked the Tiger Challenge.
   
     My anxiety gets the better of me every tournament. Therefor I get so wound up ,feeling rushed when I'm not. That I over ,or under think what I'm doing. If I could just turn off those voices that no one else can hear I believe that would help.
   
     I think I know where I messed up my board break sequence. Well there are really two things I could have done to make that a break. 1 have my target a little higher and 2 my trajectory was going down instead of level. Plus the fact that I was more worried about the knife hand break than the punch, and I hardly felt the knife go thru that board. Over thinking what I believed was the harder beak and over confident on the one I believed to be easier.


Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Injuries/Stances

     Injuries are a part of life. I've had my fair share  ,they have slowed my progress and changed my direction but I've never let them stop me. Broken toe , swollen knees , swollen elbows are just a few. Right now , my right elbow is a problem , I start my morning by taking anti inflammatories and end my day doing the same. Some days are better than others and I'm doing as much as it lets me. 

    This week I spent working on my stances in Kempo and their transitions from one to another. Fixing my feet , turning on the ball of my foot instead of my heel.

Scott Fuhr 

http://ihochuan.blogspot.ca

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca

http://flavors.me/scottfuhr

http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Vote

     There is a big day drawing in near. One in which I have little interest in usually, although I have voted before it is not the norm for me. That in itself is a little embarrassing, because I do care who governs us. Not their personal lives and what they did before they became politicians, even thou it has a direct correlation to who they are now, but what they are planning to do for their country and its citizens.

    This election I have not heard a lot of campaigning with platforms and reforms. What I have heard mostly (I listen to the radio) is a lot of " Why you shouldn't vote for the other guy". Maybe this is also normal, but I have never noticed it so prevalent as I have now. It seems childish to me to sling mud instead of highlighting your leadership abilities. Which leaves me to question who to vote for?  

     Anyways, the point that I wanted to make when I started to write this was that we ALL need to get out and vote. It does matter and it is important, we are fortunate, we get to vote and have a say in who our next leader will be. Vote for who you think will be the best for us all.

 Scott Fuhr

http://ihochuan.blogspot.ca
http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Why, What ,How

     I've been reading about leadership a lot the last couple years and was recently sent this video from a friend. While it is more business orientated I definitely found it relevant to the I Ho Chaun. Why is more important than the what or how.

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?utm_campaign=ios-share&utm_medium=social&source=email&utm_source=email

   

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Pyramid

    Training as a pyramid. The larger the base the higher the peak. The more we train, the more we practice the bigger our base becomes.

    Is our base limitless? Does it stop growing as the we start adding the layers above? I don't believe so. It will never stop growing or changing. We are given a large base on which to stand as we receive our yellow belts. After that, we have to fill the cracks with thoughtful practice and repetition while still learning more. As each crack slowly fills it pushes the base out a tiny bit further and as we discover how our body reacts to this practice we see it again fill a crack that appeared to be already full pushing the base a little further. It has a ripple effect filling other small fractures higher up the pyramid thus making the whole pyramid even larger and stronger. Our bases to me are now seeming endless, as long as we continue with mindful practice.

Any other thoughts?

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Success

     My focus seems to be narrowing , I'm feeling good with the progress these last two weeks.

      I heard a quote the other day which gave me perspective on this journey.  "SUCCESS IS A LIFESTYLE". This ,for some reason ,resonated with me. If not a lifestyle how would anyone do it. LUCK? Where does the success come from?  You didn't just wake up successful ,there were probably several sleepless nights to earn your success. Success can't be bought.

    For me success can only come from hard work and lots of it. My successes cannot be your successes because we all have different ideas on what success is and means to them. Regardless of that ,if you make success a lifestyle ,I believe ,it will be easier to achieve.


Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Blogging

     I started and finished two blogs today. Neither one of those blogs, after reading them, seemed to get my point across. Lots of insight here just poor writing skills.
Reading what I wrote was confusing to me, and I had all of the background. English in school definitely was not my subject, I had someone do some of my assignments. That decision is not serving me right now, but I can't go back. With some hard work better blogs will come. I may even try a video blog no writing involved.


http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca      

Relaxed

         Back from a week off in the foothills. We drove until our cell service quit and that's where we stayed. Couldn't have pictured a better week from home.The river steps away , cooking over a fire , the peace and quiet of the forest and my family with me. Training , fishing and quality family time , very relaxing.

Scott Fuhr

http://ihochuan.blogspot.ca
http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Direction and Thanks

   
     While I see myself moving like a tortoise as far as growth and achievements go , I know,  that is not the case. Sometimes I need a kick, to get back on the right track,  moving in the right direction.

    Just want to say thanks to Sihing Chervenka!  He helped me to keep moving forward when I lost my my focus! He made me appreciate all I've accomplished to date.

Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Seasons

    My life has always been very seasonal. Baseball , hunting , hockey they all have time limited seasons that are very intense while they last. At one point Kathryn was on the ice then at ball practice and Kung Fu all in one evening. This year hockey is going to give way to Kung Fu as both kids no longer want to play organized hockey. The biggest change for me is my job , I've been working a lot with no end in sight and this is not going to be seasonal or optional if I want to keep my position. Kung fu helped me get this position but it can be easily taken away and I don't plan to quit either.


     Where am I what am I doing? I'm living my life on my path. It's not always how I want but I'm adapting the best I can , the way I see fit.
   
See you on the mats.

 Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Happiness

     Happiness is the abscence of the striving for happiness.
Zhuangzi
   

     It may come across sometimes that I'm not happy or that I'm negative and yes that could be the mood I'm in.  But deep down that is absolutely not the case. In reality , these are first world problems. Not enough time to do all the things I want or the occasional technological breakdown. These pale in comparison to what so many others face on a daily basis. No food or water. No shelter or clothing.
     More appreciation for where I am , what I'm doing and the people I spend my time with should be where I am and what I'm doing.



Scott Fuhr

http://ihochuan.blogspot.ca
http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Race for ?

Where am I ? What am I doing?
     As long as I remember I have tried to keep it simple . Somewhere I got caught up in the race, not exactly sure when that happened. This story sums up how I'm feeling, not sure I will make millions but still running race.

A story similar in spirit to the philosophy of Chuang Tzu
Author Unknown

The American Tourist and Mexican Fisherman

An American tourist was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.

Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The tourist complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."

The tourist then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?"

The Mexican said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs."

The tourist then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The tourist scoffed, " I can help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you could run your ever-expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"
The tourist replied, "15 to 20 years."
"But what then?" asked the Mexican.

The tourist laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions?...Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

Busy! Same as you only different!

     First night not on a diamond or at the Kwoon or both since May 2. Not at the ball game or the kwoon tonight because no one at my house is feeling well including me. Should be on the mats on Wednesday , gonna setup the ball diamond , get the kids warmed up and let the other coach take over. Probably only night/day off until August long weekend.

Scott Fuhr

http://ihochuan.blogspot.ca
http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Ready or Not here I come!

       This final week of preparation will be filled with me , convincing myself that I'm ready. While I am not physically in the best shape of my life I am heading in that direction. Injuries will have that effect.  Mentally I feel I am strong , although my anxiety and self doubt is increasing each day , I hope I can use it to my advantage. Take those feelings wrap them up and release them , focus them intensely on what I must do to be successful. Luck will have no place there.

Scott Fuhr

http://ihochuan.blogspot.ca
http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Bench Warmer

    I have injured my left shoulder and my right hand so I've been watching from the sidelines this week. It's extremely frustrating not being on the mats, but sitting and watching I'm learning just as much if not more.   Can't wait to take it from the bench to the mats.

     Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Sustainability and Balance

      I feel like I lost my focus last year but looking back, opportunity was knocking on a different front. So I didn't lose my focus I just turned it onto something else. While I try to "DO IT ALL" I realize that it is impossible for that to happen. Balance and sustainability are my true goals.

   
     Scott Fuhr

http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.ca

Back at it.

     What to say? I don't like talking about myself or what I'm doing,thinking,feeling. I'm going to work on that.
      I failed the majority of my requirements last year , but I never stopped trying to accomplish them. My focus was shifted to work (I seen an opening) and family (Father had a double bypass and a new valve put in his heart). That's all for now. Baby steps for blogging.

 Scott Fuhr

http://ihochuan.blogspot.ca
http://scottfuhr.blogspot.ca
http://flavors.me/scottfuhr
http://www.silentriverkungfu.com