The train rolls out, into the darkness.  Something suitably melancholy from Frank Sinatra plays in my earphones.  Far in the distance, just above the horizon, there’s a harvest moon peeking from behind the trees like a giant orange smiley.

You could say, it’s been one of those days.  And if you did say that, you’d be right.  To begin with, I was working on our website, when the computer file containing all of the nearly 100 page website…. Disappeared.  Just vanished.  Off.  I searched for about half an hour, but it’s really gone.  It was once, and it is no more.  So is there a backup copy?  Well…..er…..

It’s an awful lot of work.  An awful lot. 

I was strangely relaxed.  Arrived at class.  Juniors squabbling over how the mats go out. Kids and parents arriving.  I’m getting changed.  When I emerged, there’s a bit of a panic.  The young brother of one of our students, who must be about two or three, got his fingers shut in a door.  He disappeared to hospital with his worried father hastily enquiring whether big sis could stay with us.  And of course, she could. 

There followed repeated interruptions to the kids class, the seniors class, and the mixed martial arts class, as various arrangements were made and amended.  During all this young Iris (that’s big sis) was a picture of ideal behaviour, but the distractions, added to by the arrival of a family who dropped in but really wanted Wing Chun (it’s all right, it happens a lot in Chinatown!), meant that it was hard to build up a decent momentum with the classes.  As I left the Chinese Community Centre I felt a little flat, tired, and unable to finish my evening by whizzing through all those important things that I’d not managed to get to earlier.  Most likely, being back in serious training and back on the strict diet, isn’t helping my energy levels, as my body adjusts. 

So, am I stressed, miserable, and cursing life? Well…. no, actually.  The thing is, life isn’t straightforward.  Things go wrong.  It’s an essential part of martial arts training to understand that.  And to understand, too, that life isn’t fair.  In martial arts, we learn to focus ourselves on responding to, rather than complaining about, what life brings. 

The reason I am talking about this now is that this is one of the instances where the martial arts code, hewn in combat, can bring so much to everything else in the lives of martial artists.  In classes, I sometimes split the students into teams to play a game, and arrange that one team outnumbers the others.  It’s hardly any time before someone complains, and hardly any more time before I point out that fighting the injustice is not what we’re here for, but rather to learn how to achieve despite it. 

Where it’s not injustice, but just an unexpected difficulty, the same is true.  In a fight, you can’t complain that the person you are fighting doesn’t react the way your training partners react in the dojang, or that the move you felt you had perfected was not working the way it should.  You must recognise that something is not going as anticipated, and adapt to it without hesitation.  Just accept, and move on.  In self defence classes, I will try to get students to learn not only set moves, but principles which allow them to flow easily from one defence into another, when they find the first defence has come unstuck.  Indeed, we did a bit of that tonight in the mixed martial arts class in Chinatown. 

So, here’s the cross over from martial arts to life in general.  The website file vanished.  The classes were disrupted.  I was tired, and didn’t make any inroads into the long list of waiting-to-be-inroaded.  Well, okay.  We don’t expect life to go smoothly, and when it doesn’t, well…. it just is.  That’s life!  We carry on. 

That’s actually a great ability, don’t you think?

And there’s more.  If we can accept and carry on, it frees our mind and our emotions to see what is truly good around us.  The mums at the Chinese Community Centre are a great bunch.  Mrs Nim and Mrs Cheung wouldn’t leave little Iris to us, but selflessly took an open-ended responsibility for looking after her, without thought of what this might mean to their own evenings.  As it turned out, Iris (who is not Chinese) ended up with a bit of a fun evening and an experience to remember in a posh restaurant full of Chinese people, while things were sorted out around her.  Meanwhile, her brother was returning, thankfully not too badly hurt, but with a splendid bandage to show everyone how serious it had been.  It’s good to have been free to fully appreciate the kindness that was around, and just how good the mums in Chinatown are. 

And as if that’s not enough, I also had time to appreciate my students and assistant instructors.  At the drop of a hat, Ravi Akinlawon and Kelvin Chan improvised a class and got everyone worked out.  I’m very pleased to say that they appeared not a bit phased by the fact that things had not gone to plan.  Ah…. A smile.  I’m pleased to say that I’m so unstressed by the day that I am able to smile to myself over the thought that they must have been well taught! 

This doesn’t mean that we are LCTKD are bunch of Pollyannas.  Nor does it mean that the individual counselling that our wellbeing arm provides to people is of the “pull yourself together” variety.  Of course, sometimes terrible things happen, and it’s not going to be possible, or even sensible, to carry on unmoved.  No.  It’s just that when “one of those days” comes along, what we have learnt in our martial arts means that we can manage it without falling apart, keep smiling, and even find the time to be thankful for all the good that we’ve been fortunate to see.  And that’s really nice.  

Tags: MartailArts Chinatown Moreton Fitness

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