April 30, May 1 Stripe testing / Journals due

May 3     Where Does the Rain Go? Rain Barrel Event @ Merrill Center 2 PM  This will be a wonderful benefit to our awareness and to help the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  Decorated rain barrels will be available in a silent auction and the debut of a video of our students learning about stormwater management at home.

May 14, 15 Stripe testing / Journals due Please be sure to bring your journal to class these days

May 17       Belt Testing

• • • 5/6 year olds 10 AM
    • 7/8 year olds 11:30 AM
    • 9-12 year olds 1 PM

May 26        BLS Closed Memorial Day

June 6, 7      Student Art Show

June 10        BLS Closed Instructors will be out of town

For me this comes back to how we talk to ourselves, and listening to the words and feelings of others that may bring us back to our ‘attitude of gratitude’.  Yesterday was not my best day of being a teacher.  I had been disappointed in a few students at the begining of the day and somehow I allowed this to affect my teaching style the rest of the day.

Has that ever happened to you?  Your disappointed by something or someone and you feel like you need to fix everything right now in this very day or moment.  What I should have done is as soon as I could see and feel this disappointment, is step back and look at what I have to be thankful for and meditate on that for a few minutes.  Had I done that I am sure I would have spent the rest of the day in a better frame of mind, and maybe even taught a better class.

I have said this before but I will repeat this again, for my own benefit.  You never accomplish your goals or be your best when you are trying or acting out of fear or anger.  It is only when you act out and respond to challenges and situations from a place of love and gratitude that you are able to reach your goals. I will continue to work on this and if you have ever had similar experience I would like to hear about them.  Sometimes it helps to know that we are not the only one that has an experience like the one I described.

One of the real epiphanies for me in this regard was the day I needed to eat lunch and I looked in the refrigerator and cupboard and decided “we didn’t have anything to eat”. Have you ever done that? Then in a moment I looked again and I thought to myself, there is a enough food in the house here that if we were a family in the (fill in the blank) I could eat for a whole year. What is wrong with me?

I enjoy shopping, but I never thought I was a slave to it. However, when we think of the slogan about recycling many times we forget the first two- Reduce, Reuse and then Recycle. Giving thanks for what we have been given already, allows us to register on an emotional and spiritual level that we have in fact, been given enough. Take some time and decide to stop shopping for 2 weeks to start, and feel the effects. While doing this practice give thanks for all the things that you already have.

Often times whether we are 5 years old, a teenager or an adult the “getting the belt” or the “color of the belt” is the biggest hindrance we have. The harder we try to attain this “belt” the more time it takes. In martial arts as in many things in life, when we work hard and enjoy the journey the results come faster or at the very least seem to come faster. So here are the thoughts of my instructor;

I think we should stop giving black belts to kids. Junior black belts, yes. “black belts,” no.
Give them something to work on.

Second, I think we should stop giving black belts, period…that is except to those
people who put forth the most steady, committed, long-term-practice effort.

No more 2.5 or 3 year black belts…BJJ shames us. You get a black belt in BJJ
and you’re one bad-bad-bad athlete. Get a black belt in most tkd and kenpo schools
and you’d be lucky to punch your way out of a wet paper bag.

Of course I’m not talking about YOUR school…I mean industry wide, in general.

We should NOT sell “black belt courses” –we should make brown or red what black used
to be. Black belt rank should go to people who have, literally, put in 100′s and/or 1000′s
of hours of consistent, skill-building practice.

The industry has, in general, diluted the rank of black belt to mean so very little…and
we have, in many cases (me included) set or standards so very low.

We should adopt the BJJ 5 to 8 year black belt —and make the darn thing MEAN something
again. I have had some black belt kids join my school lately that are about yellow belt level
‘and I wonder why? Why do this and when did it become ok?

We should all start a movement to make it all mean something again…REAL skill, real
experience…and nobody gets a black belt for “putting in the time’ or because the bought something.

Tom

I am sorry that I did not get more photos of those that attended. I had a great time walking with our students and their families. Thank you again!

from picasaweb.google.com posted with vodpod

from picasaweb.google.com posted with vodpod

Interestingly worry is always about the future, the next minute, the next hour, what might happen or might not happen.  The worrier always projects themselves into the future and imagine something bad happening.

Andre’ Dubus said, “It is not hard to live a day if you can live through a moment.  What creates despair is the imagination, which pretends there is a future and insists on predicting millions of moments, thousands of days, and so drains you that you cannot live the moment at hand.”

Gratitude brings you back to the present moment, it reminds you that right now things are pretty good.  It reminds you that so far you have received many things, and chances are you will continue to be supported on your journey through life.  That support may come in ways that you never guessed or chosen for yourself.

Don’t all of us have so much to be thankful for?  Today I am thankful that I get to see a group of students come in and with so much excitement test for their next rank.  They and their parents make me smile and remind me of when my own children had special days.

7/8 yr. olds @ 11:30 AM

9/12 yr olds @ 1:00 PM

April 13 – Diabetes Walk Navy Marine Corps Stadium starts @ 10 AM (be there a little early!

April 14 -18 Teacher Appreciation Week -Invite your teachers and let them see how you are doing

April 19 10: AM Rain Barrel painting.  There will be barrels for every age group.  We are still looking for some artist and schools/ groups to take part in this with us.  Please have them call Mr. Joe at 410-263-0050 for more information.

April 16, 17 Stripe Testing & Journals due.

Word of the month next week we will discuss Who are my favorite teachers and how can I thank them?