Styles and Languages, Intent and Lessons

I made a little realization over the last couple of weeks that contributes another brick to my understanding of intent. Spoiler alert, it’s another analogy. 

The word “the” is a really important word in our English dictionary. Some would argue that it’s of the biggest words. I would guess that we all say it atleast several times a day; how could we function without? I am currently learning Swedish and guess what? As far as I am aware, they don’t use the word “the”. 

In Swedish, the word “a / an” can be translated to “en / ett”. For example, “en hund” is “a dog”, and “ett hus” is “a house”. The intent of these words is referring to a random singular amongst many of one type of object. For example, “you can take a dog with you” hints that there are several dogs you can choose from. 

To say “the dog” or “the house” in Swedish, you move the “en / ett” from in front of the word to behind it and apart of it. These words become “hunden” and “huset”, respectively. At this point, I realized that a word does not need a direct translation; it’s the intent of the word that needs to be translated. “The dog” refers to one dog amongst the plenty; “hunden” refers to one dog amongst the plenty. 

I think this can be tied to my understanding of different styles of Kung Fu; sometimes I try to make a very straightforward connection or linkage. “How does this punch translate to something new” turns into me looking for some new punch, but in reality it’s the intent of the punch I should look for. 

I’m not sure if this makes a lot of sense, but it has helped me a lot with my understanding of both Tai Chi and Snake over the last few weeks. 

Numbers (Last 7 Days)

Pushups

62-62-62-62-62-62-62 (little bits of consistency!)

Sit-ups 

62-62-62-62-62-62-62 (more consistency!)

AOK 

5 a day  

KM

16 total per last 7 days 

Cycles

It’s been a long week. A friend passed away on my birthday this year, which was a pretty harsh experience. While I have been processing my emotions and grieving how I need to grieve, I’ve had a lot of time to be in my own head. To keep myself from spiralling too much, I’ve been trying to observe the world around me with a separate perspective. 

I was thinking that everything in this world belonged to a cycle. Cycles are everywhere, but I’ve realized that they aren’t a part of absolutely everything. It’s true that life is a cycle; we all start the same and end the same, and then it “repeats” in someone else. But what about a persons memories? I think memories you share with a person are “linear”; they’re singular. They don’t repeat. The memories that my friend and I shared between just us, even something as little as walking down the hall or sharing a quick joke during class, those exist only for me now. When I go, they’ll be gone forever. Never to be reproduced or reflected on again. 

It gives me a new appreciation to the alter and the meaning of it. Lessons and knowledge are memories; as such, they are, in their base form, singular. However, they possess the ability to become part of a cycle. We learn, we develop, we teach. Those we teach, they learn, they develop, and then they teach. Makes sense?

I am trying to focus on identifying those linear aspects of my life; those things that do not automatically belong to a cycle. For certain things, like knowledge and insights, I am trying to allow both my own and others the opportunity to become a part of a cycle. Yet other things, like those memories I shared with my friend, the beauty of them is that they don’t belong to a cycle. They are fleeting and temporary; as such, they have so much value.