Follow up on New Years Goals

This is an excerpt of an article Dr. Tae Yun Kim published way back in 2010, but it is timeless and applies today and every day.

New Year’s Resolutions – are they not a desire to change?  People do not want to continue as usual – they want something different in themselves, in their lives.

I always ask my students – if you want to know what you will be like in 5 years, look into mirror now – this is you in 5 years, if you don’t change!  If you don’t want to be in the same place in your life that you are right now, you must change! 

So, one way I help my students keep focused on the importance of living their life purposefully is to look at their shoes before going to bed.  “Remember,” I say, “you really don’t know if you’ll be here tomorrow to walk again in these shoes!  While you were in these shoes today, did you go where you needed?  Create what you needed to create?  Did you walk with love?  So if you and your shoes are still there in the morning, remember when you put them on to live as though the new day could again be your last one.”

So instead of recklessly or carelessly drifting from day to day, why not seize this brief moment of time in your life and create an epic instead of a tragedy!  What else better to do with your time?  As long as you are alive and conscious right now, why not use this time to experience the most you can from life – rather than the least.  Or do you want to pretend you don’t have choices?

I really like this as it applies so much in my daily life! Won't you give it a try too and follow Dr. Tae Yun Kim's invitation?
I picked this picture of the very first almond blossom from Dr. Tae Yun Kim's garden as a symbol of change - and that Mother nature always knows best how to bring it about.

Kicking at Jung SuWon: much more than just physical

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim of Jung Suwon Martial Art Academy, clarifies the concept from the previous post:

If this is a bit too abstract at first, think of it this way: whatever materializes in our lives, were pictures in our minds first. Everything you see existed first as an idea that you entertained. When you want to change the picture, then you must work with the ideas, not only with the picture. For example, imagine you are looking at a picture of a slide projected on a screen. What you see on the screen comes from the slide in the projector. Any markings you make on the screen to change the picture will not change the picture on the slide. The slides in the projector are like ideas in your consciousness. Just as you must change the slide to change the picture on the screen, you must change your ideas, attitudes, and expectations to change the pictures of your world.

Kicking at Jung SuWon - it's not just in the legs!

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim explains why kicks aren't just for our legs...

As martial artists, we all know about how powerful correctly executed kicks are and how beautiful and graceful they can be. They combine power, speed, and beauty into true works of art. They are effective tools not only in self defense, and self expression, but they also tone your body in many ways.

But at the same time, they are so much more. They are tools for visualization, for achieving goals, for making your dreams a reality. How so?

One of my students was severely overweight when she started training. In fact she was so overweight she didn’t even want to start until she lost some weight! Finally she did, but while everybody participated with gusto, she would stand off to the side. When others shouted “He Can Do, She Can Do, Why not ME” she would say to herself, why not me? Because I am fat, that’s why!

Soon she started to come around. I explained to her the power of visualization. Every time she was doing a punch, or kick, she was now visualizing kicking away her fat, her temptations, and all the cakes, cookies and donuts she loved so much and that kept tempting her into sneaking those foods. Every time she was punching and kicking the bags, she wasn’t seeing the bag! She was seeing a giant donut, or a big piece of cake! You wouldn’t believe how hard she was able to kick, all of a sudden. Through visualization she not only gained strength and power, she also lost about 150 lbs, and has the most beautiful, graceful kicks as well! Her natural flexibility started to come through, and her confidence rose.

She had learned that visualization is not just idle daydreaming or wishful thinking. It is focused imagining, with the power of your will and persistence behind it. It is an immaterial activity that takes form first as a mental image, then as a material image.