A personal achievement

Over the weekend I tested and received my yellow sash.  One step closer to become more like the awesome women I write about. 😊  It was such an accomplishment for me, one that I worked hard  for, one that until about a year ago I never thought would become a part of my life.  (I should have known better since I love Tai Chi so much.) Ranking up hasn't ever been one of my goals - as long as I'm learning and improving, that is my goal - and I not prepared for how proud I was going to feel after I tested.  I am a student at the School for Marital Arts, and it is such a perfect fit into my life.  It is helping me become stronger inside and out.  The outside I had expected, and the inside I should have given how much Tai Chi has impacted me, but I didn't.  The instructors there are a beautiful blend of wisdom, strength, serious, and humor.  I remember as a kid, my sister had this poster which said, "There is nothing as strong as true gentleness, and nothing as gentle as real strength."  It was probably one of the first quotes I had ever read that grabbed tight to my heart, and I am pretty positive that it comes out in my writing.   The instructors at this Dojo, they embody this.  

Before I became a student, my daughter was a student (still is), and Mr. Donahue said to the Wushu class, "Better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war."  And I knew in that moment she was in the right place.  Every time I hear that quote it resonates within me.  I am not a fighter, but I have discovered through my practice that the strength to be if I needed it is there, and I am inspired to work hard to strengthen it.  Along with the strenuous physical test for yellow sash, we also had to write a paper (hopefully one day I will post it).  I almost think the paper was more stressful than the actual test.  I know, I'm a writer, it should have been easy.  However, there was so much that needed to be said, and it would seem that I can write either a few sentences or thousands of words, but I was supposed to write two pages.  Two pages to sum up my passion and everything that Marital Arts has done for me, why I continue to practice.  It was very similar to trying to write the blurb for each book I write.  It feels so impossible. However I did write it (shrunk the font a little to fit it on two pages).  One of the things I realized while writing was that it is the people in my stories that helped draw me in.  Marital Arts has slowly rooted itself in me over the last nine years, proving to me that the universe is patient and wise. [Of all the things that inspired me: my writing, Tai Chi, Mediation, it was my daughter that was the biggest inspiration].  I am in awe of how I have written Martial Arts into my books with so little knowledge of it, and I am even more amazed how stepping into the practice is actually helping me become the person I want to be. The writing of strong warriors and the balance that they find, it is a full circle.  Was it in me all this time, or the people in my stories?   I'm sure I'll never know, but I am glad to be at this point, and I am excited to see where this path takes me next.