Leave Something for the Archaeologists
2005-09-22
4:33 pm
Practicing a Thousand Days is Said to Be Discipline... Practicing Ten Thousand Days is Said to Be Refining...
"You must walk down the path of a thousand miles step by step, keeping at heart the spirit which one gains from repeated practice with whomever one can get to practice with, and knowledge attained from whatever experiences you can come by, without impatience."
--- Musashi
Last night, just after 9pm, I received the rank of Yellow Belt in Shinto Yoshin Kai Jiu-Jitsu. The smallest honor that can be given to a martial arts student, the most basic indication of progression, the initial rank that can be conferred upon a student - I know I still have far to go.
But I AM most honored. And happy. And beaming.
To think that I could accomplish something so physical, so technical, requiring so much discipline and practice - for me. And in half the minimum required time.
I feel as if I've actually DONE something, and may even be deserving of the accomplishment. So many degrees, so many honors given to me in the past - and I never truly felt that I had worked for them. But this time, I know that I earned it, I worked for it, I practiced for it.
And I did it.
With much owed to my Shihan and my teachers, and especially Shodan Spike ;) - who helped me practice on days we had no classes, and put up with my stubborness and insolence, and general whininess.
So now it's on to Blue Belt - the rank I'm aiming to tackle next.
But not too fast - there's an HORRIFIC physical fitness test that one has to take at the next belt after that - and I'm going to need a LONG time to train before I get a Green Belt
But I will...
