Progress in practice requires people, plus patience and passion:
People: To make interactive improvement
Patience: To endure inevitable challenges
Passion: To inspire enjoyable consistency
Of course, people naturally come and go, and come back, for all manner of reasons. Patience and passion also cycle. In any case, we are always glad – actually, only able – to support those who cooperate, commit, and continue on the WingChun journey. Moreover, systematic training is the only specific way to direct development. Thus, choosing a life of training means always intending to do better. As a Self-Defender, that means you are gaining:
Speed: Move faster, no matter your current capability
Strength: Get stronger, no matter your current condition
Security: Feel safer, no matter your current confidence
It’s valuable to spend several weekdays together mutually attaining those goals. Not to mention our weekend Special Events. Everyday, Americans watch an average of 5 hours of traditional TV – not including video via the internet, mobile devices, or DVR – according to Nielsen research from the fourth quarter of last year. WingChun is just as interesting and entertaining as popular shows, but you don’t have to wait a whole week for gratification. What we do is an engaged series of unfolding insights with holistic benefits that last a lifetime. Rather than a short season or two.
Sitting on the couch with offerings of chips and beer to the Tube is fine sometimes. But as a persistent lifestyle, this is the polar opposite of WingChun, which is enjoying the upgrade, rather than decline, of your physical, emotional, and mental states. We seek movement, not stalemate. We create power, not lethargy. We love doing, not dazing. Imagine spending hours a day living what you love.
Fortunately, for me this imagination is unnecessary, since it is my daily reality. Yet it is less luck than the natural outcome of a dedicated desire to do. Conceptual conditions are prerequisite but insufficient. So hopes, dreams, and wishes are fine for firsts but quite far from final. Because the way is for really walking upon rather than just talking about. 80% acting and applying, 20% thinking and speaking seems a decent proportion for progress in practice.
A million perfect ideals are nothing compared to one mediocre action.