Learning From Children

We don't bring children into the world to teach them; they come into the world to teach us.

I met a pair of 2-year-old teachers the other night while waiting for a seat at the Olive Garden. They may have been young and oblivious to their class of amused students, but I heard their lesson loud and clear.

When I first entered the restaurant, there were several families gathered in the lobby ahead of me, all waiting their turn to be seated. With very little to do except wait, a number of adults and teens had their cell phones at the ready, thumbs dancing across numeric keypads, mini-keyboards, and touchscreens.

In the midst of this, a 2-year-old boy waddled away from his parents and towards another family, who had a 2-year-old girl with them. He took her by the hands, babbled something incoherent, and then the two of them began giggling and dancing together! (Undescribably adorable.)

His mom quickly noticed and moved swiftly to pick up her son and take him back to the opposite end of the lobby, apologizing to the other family. Things were back to normal.

Except the little girl followed them both, took him by the hands, and then they resumed their dancing in the lobby, much to the amusement of everyone.

The hostesses, waitresses, and all of the families in the lobby couldn't help but smile, laugh, and talk about how cute those two looked together! The conversations lasted well beyond the lobby, because the families decided to request adjacent tables so their children could be close by, and everyone in the lobby continued to chat about what a beautiful moment they had just witnessed.

Leave it to a pair of toddlers to teach a roomful of adults to reach out and have a friendly conversation with one another. I will do my best to honor their teachings.

Hitting the Trails

Today, I went for a jog, scouting some new trails for my next group of black belt candidates. I also did some thinking about my progress and my next plans for action.

On a good note, today I hit a lot of short-term milestones! My 7-mile loop brought me over the 1,000-mile marker of combined on-foot mileage (hiking & running), I hit my 1,000-form goal as well, and I'm sitting pretty at 30,000 push-ups and 36,000 crunches since I committed to the UBBT 7 process in late April. I'm not stopping though! (But I am taking an extra breather day this week to focus on projects at my day job. hehe)

I feel really jazzed about the upcoming year. There are areas where I know I will perform well and others which will be a struggle. I still have a lot of work to do physically, and while my diet has improved greatly, I must continue to be mindful. My clothes are fitting differently, but my weight's been fairly constant. Intellectually, I know why this happens and I know I need to stay the course, but emotionally I want to kick myself on some days.

Next steps: I plan on getting my student team up and blogging in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'm planning to host some parent sessions in order to keep them informed about our process and how they can best support us in our quest! I'm also working on scheduling some presentations with Brian Williams at the high schools in my area - very excited about this!

Only 73 more days until we begin! So much to do! More to come.

Dating Again

"There's something different about you. I don't quite know what it is, but I like it. You live with new purpose and although you've always been thoughtful, there is a depth to your eyes which I haven't seen before. In a way, it's almost like I'm getting to know and fall in love with you all over again."

That's what she told me as I drove her home.

I feel AWESOME.

I spent Saturday with my girlfriend, and like the martial artists that we both are, the first 2/3 of the day was shared with friends at a black belt test, and the other part was our "date night". I always look forward to these evenings, sometimes in a selfish way. After twenty years, she has become the guardian of my innermost self and I know that when we have our heart-to-heart conversations, no matter the topic, I always wind up feeling revitalized and inspired.

This time, we talked about the "Live" program and how much work I've been doing to prepare. It's inspired her to train harder and get the kind of results that I've found in the past six months (and am still reaching for!). I feel like I've grown so much from being exposed to so many wonderful ideas, people, and missions....and she sees it too. It's not that I hadn't already recognized it in myself, but to hear it come from her only inspires me further.

My training has been revitalized, my relationship is renewed, my teaching has been inspired, and I'm seeing others transform as I take positive steps along my own journey. This ROCKS.

Thank you everyone for being so awesome! :)

Helping Abroad

My students and I are organizing a collection of food, clothing, shoes, and blankets to contribute towards the relief efforts in the Philippines. They're being hit with a second storm this weekend (a Category 4 typhoon), and while thousands have been evacuated, they will still need help.

Perhaps we can all get involved!

Monetary donations can be sent to the Red Cross here.

A quick Google search can help you locate the nearest donation center in your area. In the Philippines, they are referring to the storm as Typhoons Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma). Some collection centers may be using the Filipino designations for the storms in their press releases, so using them in your searches may also be helpful.

Philippine Airlines will ship all relief supplies for free.

We have every opportunity to help and groups of motivated students willing to act with us. Let's do it. :)

Thanks in advance for your kindness and thoughts.