24H Clock

Heyo everyone, the main topic in this weeks post will be about the purposes of the little things in life.

There’s dozens of small things in life that are easy to miss, and until they’re gone, we hardly notice they’re there at all. And there’s also things that we notice are there, and we sometimes think “why is this a thing” and then there comes a point where you need it and you think “that’s why this exists”. In both cases, you end up not appreciating either until it’s gone. When it comes down to it, every little thing in our lives has a purpose, no matter how small. The tiniest things in our lives are the glue that holds together the larger pieces, and if you take away all the little things you don’t notice, you begin to fall apart.

I’ve always been one to say “why do 24 hours clocks exist”. When I look at a clock and it says 6 o’clock, I can usually tell if it means 6am or 6pm based on common sense. There’s never been much of a need to express the am or the pm in my opinion, as it’s always been something you can just easily determine yourself. This weekend we did our hiking trip, and let me tell you, 24 hours and 25+ km of straight rain is something that not only drains a lot of energy, but isn’t the most enjoyable. When we decided to turn in to our sleeping bags at 5:30, I fell asleep almost immediately. When I woke at 9:30, I thought I had slept for 14 hours, and was slowly starting to get up. It wasn’t till Nate pulled out his phone and noticed that it was still Friday that I realized I hadn’t gotten 14 hours of sleep, I had only gotten 2.

I think it was at that moment I found a new appreciation for the am/pm indicators on clocks, because I may have gotten up, started packing my tent and getting ready to go at 21:30. And then I would have had to set everything back up, all whilst tired, cold and soaked. Something I viewed as one of the most impractical things we have in todays technological society ended up being something I never knew I needed. The purpose behind those little numbers that determines the evening from morning is just that; for when you’re confused or disoriented and you can’t tell it on your own. Knowing this, I know that almost everything in life has a purpose now. Nothing is there just because someone wanted it to be there.

When I take this concept of everything having a purpose and I apply it to my Kung Fu, it widens and expands my understanding of what Kung Fu is and what it does for me. Every small thing we do in Kung Fu leads us on our path to mastery and serves a larger purpose. Things which we originally consider of lesser importance are slowly understood to be worth a greater value. Something as small as keeping your toes in line in a bow stance seems like a small, irrelevant detail from the outside, but when you begin to understand your bodies mechanics and how your toes being 60 degrees off centre results in your vectors and your path of force being 60 degrees off centre. 

This leads you to understand the purpose behind Kung Fu itself. Kung Fu isn’t about the kicks and the punches. The purpose behind Kung Fu is to take you, and make you better. Not necessarily physically, but mentally as well. Understanding the purpose behind everything we see and experience is important when trying to see life the way it is. There’s purpose behind everything, and everything we do we put purpose behind.