The pure joy of a good practice

Last night's aikido practice was a welcomed return to normalcy. After missing a few sessions due to the flu, practicing last night was pure joy. Folks must of thought I was crazy for all of my attacks (as uke) were definitely 'sincere.' I threw a little extra energy into each exercise. And when it was my turn to be 'nage' (the thrower), I tried my very best to execute each technique perfectly; focusing on form and movement and blending and redirecting the energy offered by my partners.

I am reminded of George Leonard's book, Mastery, and of the chapter where he states the true path to mastery is many time found when we are enjoying the pleasant performance plateau of repetitive practice. Practice, practice, practice ... Surrender to the discipline ... and then practice some more.

Life should be filled with more moments of simple practice -- more moments of aikido or dance or just spending time with friends.

Tuesday was hell ...

Yesterday was spent cycling thru fever and chills -- sometimes with one end of my body 'on fire' and the other end 'like ice'. Isn't this how Dante describes one of his circles of Hell?

I probably slept most of the day under a self-medicated state of semi-consciousness.

But this morning I find myself at work cycling thru the e-mail and the client calls and thinking about just how resilent the human body truly is.

Now I must admit that I've spent some time checking into the BFL community and that I've touched base with Julie Whitt's site too while on break. (see www.helpjuliewhitt.com) Her story today of God and Satan was so vivid. After all, how many of us have surrendered to the temptation: "One bite won't hurt you."

I pray that Julie's given a pair of lungs soon. She'll whip them into shape. And even though she'd be okay with a set headed to the 'trash heap', they will soon be the lungs of a Champion.

In light of all this ... Yesterday's fight with the flu may have felt like hell. But it wasn't. Tonight I'll workout to follow the example of my favorite inspirational champion.

Victory over self many times comes a little bit easier when you can benchmark your 'suffering' with that of a true champ.

When you're ill, you must SLEEP.

Deb and I were decorating the house for the holidays. Up and down that ladder I went. Lifting and hauling box afer box of garland, nutcrackers, wreathes, etc.; I figuratively 'hit the wall' by mid-day.

Every muscle, every bone, even my hair ached.

After approximately 15 hours of sleep, I felt well enough this morning to go to work. Don't know yet if I'll go to aikido practice. But if I feel this good by evening, I think I'll do it.

Sleep ... sleep ... sleep ... sleep ... sleep! The body is an amazing self-regulating creation. I don't know about you, but it wouldn't take too much to convince me that there is in fact an Intelligent Designer overseeing our lives.

December 1, 2006

"Real self-respect comes form dominion over self, from true independence."

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Desk Calendar