Just over a week ago, Fayne and I were in final preparations for the biggest weekend of the year; our annual World Tai Chi & Qigong Day Celebration. This year was even more special because we had Master Chen Bing in from Chen Village in China to perform at the event and provide four amazing Tai Chi workshops.
As I sat down (more like collapsed) in a chair Sunday night to ponder the week's events, I found myself thinking about levels of commitment. When I was up on stage leading some Qigong Exercises (between Tai Chi performances) I noticed some people were experienced and comfortable with the movements and concepts I was sharing, while other were trying hard to get it, some were less interested but moving with us anyway and a few were sitting down, content to watch things happen around them without any apparent interest in participating themselves. Then I watched Master Chen Bing's amazing Tai Chi performances (Chen Open Hand and Sword Forms) and I realized the potential available to someone who chooses to be committed to a particular focus.
Somewhere in between...
As for my personal commitment, I know I fit somewhere between the level of Master Chen Bing and the Latent Observer in the audience, as I think most of us do. The question is where? I always tell my students that you will find the most opportunity for personal growth in the places that make you most uncomfortable so I decided this week to make my students and myself a bit uncomfortable. HEY, its my job, and I love it! So the questions Fayne and I posed to ourselves first were;
1) How committed are we to what we do?
2) What drives us to be committed and passionate to that level?
3) What can we do to create more motivation and passion?
Question 1 - How committed are we?
Sunday night I looked back on four months of work and a long, challenging week of execution, mayhem, chaos, satisfaction and joy to find that NOT ONCE did I look around and doubt my purpose, goals and motivation for this work. When I shared my insights with Fayne, she smiled and agreed wholeheartedly, she felt the same way; we deeply, love what we do. Looking back to my 16 years in the corporate world, most days I found myself struggling to get to work, stay interested and feel that my work had value. I did enjoy a lot of the work that I did but what "real difference" did it make in the world? I knew in my heart that the world could do without one more customer service management tool, or database or special, financial whatever. This was proven to me when I was told my services were no longer needed only 3 months after the horror that was 9/11. He business is slowing down, we need to keep costs low. Sorry.
Question 2 - What drives us to be committed and passionate to that level?
Literally every week our students tell us that they are feeling better, stronger, more balanced, less pain, happier and/or more alive because of the teachings we share with them. This is what drives us to be better students and instructors, for them and for us. I too feel stronger, more relaxed, happier and more balanced because of my training. BONUS! There are days when i maybe got to bed late and am feeling tired, not having the energy to go teach a class but then I turn my attention to the students (friends) I am going to see and it truly energizes (motivates) me to step into my day. No matter how I feel coming into the classroom, I ALWAYS feel better when I leave.
Question 3 - What can we do to create more motivation and passion?
It is often easy to feel temporarily motivated to do something, just look at the annual statistics for the fitness industry's first quarter earnings and you will see what a little "New Year's Motivation" can do. By March more than 60% have wavered on their personal commitment and motivation. The diet industry is another amazing testament to the lack of personal, long term motivation and commitment. A multi-billion dollar industry that does very little to help people achieve their weight loss goals, unless of course you count the weight of the money leaving their wallets. Commitment comes from understanding what you want and being realistic and clear about your personal goals. Motivation comes from accepting every step in the process in its own time. Being in a hurry to achieve a long-term goal is a certain path to motivational distress and failure. When new students ask me how long it takes to learn Tai Chi I answer "your entire lifetime" which often sets them aback. Those that stay to train are willing to accept this fact and are willing to move towards this goal in a gentle, timeless manner. Desiring change for one's self is a good thing but attaching unrealistic expectations and timelines causes one to almost always fall short of the mark leading to discontentment, unhappiness and a shelf full of Diet Books that did not work.
Everything in its own time...
So you are committed to Tai Chi training, how do you stay motivated? Developing a layer of humility and patience really helps. My teacher often tests my metal by telling me, in complete honesty, that the "little thing" he just showed me will take me 5 or 6 years to understand. This is not to beat me down but to help set realistic expectations and allow my bodymind time to truly understand the lesson shared. This is a hard lesson to learn but it is very rewarding to let go and just be with Tai Chi.
So commitments, passion and motivation do not live in short term or long-term goals but in the journey. Look towards the future, be happy where you are and smile along the way.
1 comment:
I was excited to get to have a couple classes with you where you talked about commitment. I have had my commitment tested several times throughout my training. There was once or twice in my early stages, and then again in the past few months, it has popped up a lot. At one point, I forced myself to sit down, and write about it and ponder my commitment and what it meant to me and why. I came up with a lot of insight. I think its great that you shared this with your students. I hope they take it seriously and can find the time and inner motivation to realize what there commitment levels are.
On another note: "Look towards the future, be happy where you are and smile along the way" - I LOVE THAT!!! Actually it even put some tears in my eyes.
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