Motivation

Image by EricMagnuson via Flickr

Lately, I've been examining motivation, since I need a lot of it to get to the next level of my Wujifa practice. Motivation is like the gas that makes the car go, or the hunger that drives the cat (or fox) on to catch the mouse.

I used to think that the process itself was the motivation for me... for a while, this was working pretty well, but lately processes are not giving me the juice they once did. This left me in a very confused state for a while, wondering "why isn't this working anymore?". Well, now I've noticed that I'm changing and a new motivational strategy is emerging for me.

It's about results. It's not doing the laundry that motivates me, it's the clean socks. It's not the doing the stance that motivates me, it's the ease and power I am developing. It's not the process that holds the juice for me, it's the results. I am glad I went through a stage of really focusing on process because now I can appreciate whatever process I'm involved with WHILE I'm going for my goal or vision.

It's something we talk about in class a lot... "purpose" or "intention". At one point in my training I was pretty confused about what these two things meant... more specifically my ideas about these concepts were on a different "chunk size" as my capability for action. I was kind of a "head in the clouds" kind of guy. Now I'm beginning to connect concepts and action in a different way. Now, for me purpose is a more practical thing. For example, to have the money to do the psychology and martial arts training I want to do.

The really cool thing is - when I get the right sized purpose, I get this really cool feeling inside that just naturally drives me through the process. That, I believe, is motivation!


Special thanks to:
Wujifa - I don't have the words to say how important Wujifa has been in my life.

Mr. 20/20 - I really want to thank 20, because a lot of these ideas have come from him, and I'm just discovering how they work for myself now, some 2 or 3 years after I met him. 20, I miss you, man. When are you coming back up to Michigan? :)

Home is a feeling

When I think about home, I think about belonging. I think about a sense of stability, a groundedness. I think of that old phrase "Home is where the heart is". Home is a feeling.

Image via Wikipedia

Many of us have felt lost in our lives. I know I have. I can't stress enough how painful it can be to feel completely lost - like there's nowhere you belong. If you've ever felt this way, you know. This is where I was when I got into studying Wujifa.

As a practiced the simple exercises like Zhan Zhuang (standing meditation) I began to feel my body more and more. I began to feel more and more at home in myself.

Everyone deserves to feel like they belong in their own skin, in their own body. It's a home that never leaves - it's always there for you if you choose to claim it.

So at class, we were talking about ways to feel even more at home, to be at home in push-hands. It was clear that the more I felt the principles of Wujifa (Relax, Balance, Structure, Connection, etc.) the more "at home" I was in the practice, and the more sturdy and grounded my home was. There was also the idea of the "mobile home" as a metaphor for the Wujifa practitioner's body. This means that you don't have to stay stuck in one place. Home is a feeling, and you can move and adjust to maintain that feeling. This can also mean sinking your home into the ground more so that it can maintain itself in response to external pressures.

Home is where the heart is, and my heart is in my body in a very literal sense. Thanks in an large part to Wujifa, now my heart is with my body in a much deeper way as well. It's there in the feeling of connection I have to my body as a living organism. It's there in the love that I feel for myself as a person. It's there in the grounded structure that keeps me in alignment even when other pressures start to come in. It's good to be home.