Setting Intentions

"It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea. A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water, and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning.

But off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing."
                                                             ~"Jonathan Livingston Seagull: a story" by Richard Bach

My intention is to practice.

I have a busy schedule, a lot of responsibilities and copious titles. Twenty hours a week teaching, ten hours for graduate school, single mother, breadwinner, I'm supposed to start dating again soon, the floors need scrubbing, did I feed the turtle?

At the dawn of each day, I am pushed and pulled by waves and currents. Still my intention is to practice.

My goal is to practice everyday, but that's a long range goal. Right now,  my intention is to mark my progress weekly. That might mean I practice three days; or I read the texts and thinkings on internal arts; or I talk to one of my teachers. One day I will arrive at my goal, but for now I will rebuild my foundation with intention, with consistency, with practice.

I am a first degree black sash in Shaolin Tai Chi and I have been out of practice for two years. More than that really because I took a brief detour into the external arts. I learned that I don't like hitting people. I enjoyed learning to defend myself, but I detest inflicting pain upon another person. So I'm returning to my roots (in more ways than one).

I studied Shaolin Tai Chi under Master Michael Reid for over five years. Then I moved away. There is a Shaolin school within walking distance from where I live, and though the teachers and students there were welcoming, it never clicked as home. A yoga teacher once said to me that when you find your guru they look at you and they see you. Master Reid looked at me and he saw me. Though we are over 500 miles apart I know he still sees me. And when I called him up out of the blue, aching to reconnect to the art, he told me that I needed to practice; that I have enough material to work on on my own. So...

Tomorrow I will begin my practice.

"Look with your understanding, find what you already know, and you'll see the way to fly." "Jonathan Livingston Seagull: a story" by Richard Bach