August.  The last month before school starts and life gets back into those routines that got left behind sometime in June.  Don’t get depressed….you’ve still got a whole month!!! Hopefully the weather will settle a bit and give us some nice sun, lower humidity, and just a few rainy days, ‘cause we’ll still need them to keep things green.  But while you’re having your summer fun, remember to think safety.  Life jackets, bike helmets, knee/elbow pads, approriate hiking clothes, bug spray….all those things that help protect while the user indulges in their activities.  And if you miss a class here and there, don’t worry.  Master Cindy understands.  In fact, she probably wishes she was doing some of the fun things the students come in and talk about! But no class doesn’t mean no practice!  Even if you can’t always physically practice, find a quiet moment and go through your material mentally.  That way, when you come to class, you  won’t be completely lost. Summer fun?                           YES! Summer memory loss?           Not so much…. 😊 Enjoy.   And be safe.

There’s a difference.  We can be justifiably angry at something without developing hatred.  Anger can be sparked by watching our own, or others’, rights, dignity, and even lives robbed by the powers that be.  Anger can also be sparked by recognizing when others fall short of expectations.  But anger can be a powerful motivator, also.  Anger can spur us into actions against societal injustices, as well as giving us an everyday motive to do our best. Hatred, on the other hand, seeks to dehumanize.  It has the potential to cause us to see others not as fellow human beings, but as animals, or insects, or aliens, or things….and such thoughts make it easier to mistreat others, or perhaps do even worse things. It’s important to understand that even healthy anger, if left to fester or remain unchallenged, can become embittered into hatred.  This is not a good result, and obviously should not be encouraged.  So how do we break away from this potential result?  Well, you’ll probably get a different answer to that question from everyone you ask.  There’s no real right answer.  Everyone deals with anger in a different way, some quite well, others, maybe not so much. There’s an old saying….never go to bed angry.  While that saying is often applied to relationships, the fact is, our minds tend to turn short-term memories into long-term memories when we sleep.  Thus, if you are unable to shed your anger before you sleep, there’s a risk of stepping onto that road of anger turning into embittered hatred.  Work hard to avoid that! Use your anger for positive results, or let […]

The course of our lives can be bumpy from time to time.  Few can say they’ve never had to negotiate a rough patch or two.  Sooner or later, things won’t go as planned, the expected reward is not as anticipated, and sometimes life just sucks.  No other way to put it. What’s that have to do with lemons?  Nothing much, other than it brings to mind that old saying… If life throws you lemons, Make lemonade.  That’s all well and good, and the meaning behind that phrase is fairly obvious…turn something not-so-good into something good.  Great.  What if you don’t like lemonade?  No, seriously.  If lemons are sour, lemonade is only the liquid form of that sour.  How is that an improvement?  Oh, sure.  Throw in lots and lots of sugar.  That’ll make is less sour.  But think about it.   Sugar is an additive.  You must actually have that ingredient to put into the mix. So when life sucks, what do you do if you don’t have an additive to make it less sucky?  That’s the question many struggle with on a daily basis.  And most do so quietly, falling further and further into despair.  It’s easy for those of us experiencing one of life’s better moments to say “just be patient, all will work out” which may be tough for the struggling person to hear.  And it may only add to their feelings of inadequacy and failure that they can’t seem to be patient. But how about this—“it’s all mental, just tell yourself to pull out of it, or get over it”.  You may think that little bit of tough love is […]

The Tiger is one of the animals we study.  It’s movements are decisive, controlled, and direct.  It’s a great animal to teach us strength and power.  But, we also look to the Tiger for the character aspect of self-control.  When we ask the kids what they think self-control is, the answer we get back the most often is “control of your mind and body.”   That’s a great answer, and nicely sums things up.   But, let’s look a little deeper.  Just what is control of your mind?  If you ask the experts (whoever they might be), you would probably get as many answers as people you ask.  But if you ask us, we think control of your mind means taking responsibility for your words and actions.  That old saying…you can’t control the behavior of other people, but you can control your reaction(s) to it” is very true.  It can be tough to not verbally retaliate against a real, or perceived, insult.  But it can be done if self-control is being practiced.   The same is true if we’re not talking reaction, but initiation.  Avoid making derogatory comments, whether in jest or not.  Doing so shows good self-control.  Sure, you might observe someone doing something foolish, but you need not comment on it.  And who knows, that one time you exercise good self-control and not make a comment that could hurt feelings, might be the one time that person needed to move on from a possibly self-destructive act.  Think about that…..NOT saying something might actually save someone harm.  How cool is that?? Moving on to control of your body…..  this could mean so many things.  When practicing your kung […]

Seth K. and Brendan R. successfully tested for their Jr. Black Belts on January 27, 2019.  Junior Black Belts are awarded to those students, aged 12 and under,  who successfully demonstrate the required material for this rank.  Congratulations to our newest young Black Belts!   You’ve worked hard for this honor!