I can see clearly now….

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Spring cleaning started a little bit early this year. Well, I have to be honest. This is only the second consecutive year that I have subscribed to the idea of spring cleaning. But that’s another story.     Anyway, one of the first items on my agenda were my windows. I have cleaned them before, of course. Or at least, I’ve tried. Many times. But instead of getting them clean, all I’ve ever managed to do was to rearrange the dirt and grime. But I kept trying.     Taking the windows apart to clean them was difficult enough. Putting them back together was a nightmare. And yet I kept trying, doing the same thing over and over with the same grime streaked results. Finally, I gave up. If my windows were gong to be dirty, at least I had the satisfaction of doing nothing about...

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Mid-March Resolutions.

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Fit Tips.

I drove past the local health club a few days ago and noticed their sign boldly advertising, “New Year’s Resolutions? Join today!” That was strange, considering it is already mid-March. Maybe it was a mistake. A few days later, I noticed the sign had changed. It now proclaimed, “New Year, New You!” Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a mistake. But, it’s now early spring. St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner. Our New Year’s resolutions have long been forgotten and abandoned. The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and people are coming out of their winter hibernation with the promise of spring. Everyone is dusting off their bicycles, pulling out their golf clubs, signing up for runs, pouring into the local parks, and...

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Live and learn….

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Ninja Notes.

What a wonderful weekend I’m having! It started last night with a fantastic instructor training class at Kusa Dojo. Okay, so it was a bit difficult to get to the dojo on a gloriously beautiful spring evening, especially being Friday evening and everything. To make matters worse, I had to maneuver around all the revelers getting an early start on their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at the local pub. But it certainly was worth the effort. It’s amazing how much you can learn about how you move when you really slow things down, listen to the quality of your movement, and go back to the basics. Oh, and it also helps to have two highly skilled teachers coaching you. I was able to find where I was making my mistakes and now have the opportunity to work on them, on my own, without...

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Ballet Master

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The house lights grow dim, it’s opening night!The audience quiets. Enter, stage right. A spotlight appears, a bright, shining light.And follows the movement of one special life. Of a Ballet Master, mentor and friend.Artist, dancer, elite gentleman.                                                                           His ageless elegance, style and grace.A quiet reflection of a more gracious place.                                                       Firm and determined, and true to his art.He follows this truth with a compassionate heart. These are the rules, there are no exceptions.There are no excuses in this quest for perfection.                                                              His students adore him, with respect, love and fear.And they keep learning with...

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Sunshine, solitude and AAA.

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    Don’t you just hate when things don’t go as planned?     Last week my car wouldn’t start, leaving me stranded after ballet class on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. By the time I got in my car and realized it wouldn’t start, the last dancer had already driven away. I was alone, and I was stuck. I called my husband on his cell phone. No answer. I tried the home phone. I got the answering machine. Frustrated, I tried starting the car again. Nothing. Oh, well, at least the radio worked.     I listened to some music and noticed how blue and clear the sky was, and how nice that I was stranded right next to a park. I could see the high mountain peaks covered with snow, and I marveled at the contrast of the sunlight, blue sky, and blinding white snow capped mountains. Finally,...

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The Reluctant Ninja….

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Ninja Notes.

    Here I am, hard at work transcribing, editing and compiling eight years of notes from three different notebooks, several different legal pads, and a multitude of sticky notes gathered over countless hours of martial arts training, classes and seminars. This daunting project is in anticipation of  testing for my next belt level. Some day. This next level is a comprehensive test which includes everything I have learned (or supposed to have learned) since the first day I entered the dojo and began training. Reluctantly, of course. You may recall that I was going to take a few classes, learn a few things, and then quit. I thought it was a form of recreation. Then I discovered how serious these people were about their training. I mean, they had notebooks, for Heaven’s sake! “What...

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Valentine’s Day….hearts, flowers and toilets.

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    It’s funny to see how people respond to Valentine’s Day. Love it or hate it, it shows up each year. And it’s here to stay. Yesterday one of my single friends asked me if my husband had planned anything special for me this year. Why, yes, as a matter of fact, he did.     I had the day off, so I was going to go to ballet class in the morning, and after I came home we were going shopping for a new bathroom. For some reason my friend thought this was hilarious and couldn’t stop laughing. Finally she said, “How romantic! Shopping for a new bathroom on Valentine’s Day!”     I thought about it for a few minutes and realized that nothing says I love you like looking at toilets. It’s less fattening than chocolate. And lasts longer than flowers....

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Reflections and confessions of a techno-moron.

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Uncategorized.

      Don’t you love to laugh? I certainly do. I especially love to laugh at myself, and at some of my patterns of reluctance in trying new things. Just as I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of martial arts, it was the same story with technology.        The truth is that just a year ago all I could do on a computer was check my email. I didn’t even know what a blog was, let alone imagine myself having one. I had no idea what Facebook was or why anyone would ever want to be on it. I spent two years traveling a lot, and in the airports I noticed how many people had their computers with them. I wondered why anyone would possibly want or need their computer. And almost everyone was actually using them. I would glance curiously at the people busily tapping away...

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Surrounded by brilliance….and neuroplasticity.

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Cheryl's View.

Don’t you just love it when the gifts keep coming? Just as I am still marveling at my Sensei’s brilliance two weeks ago in martial arts,  I got another blast of brilliance from my ballet mistress. Dancers are visual as well as kinestetic in our learning experiences. We use our eyes as well as our bodies to learn choreography in our technique classes. We look in the mirror to check our placement as well as our movement patterns. However, sometimes we depend on the use of our eyes and the mirrors too much. For example, if we know we can look in the mirror and follow the other dancers, there is less pressure to learn the combinations. We can become complacent, and fall into the habit of watching each other instead of paying attention to the choreography. Last week our teacher gave...

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Gymnastics with numbers….and thanking a teacher.

Written by Cheryl on . Posted in Uncategorized.

    I love math. It’s so simple and so logical. I also have passion for movement.  Math is movement. It’s gymnastics with numbers. Isn’t that a fun way to look at it?     I didn’t always feel this way. When I was young, I didn’t do very well in math. I used to feel incredibly stupid, clumsy and frustrated. Everyone else seemed to understand and catch on so easily, where I always struggled. It did not help that I was told I had no aptitude for math, or even worse, that I just didn’t apply myself or work hard enough. Ouch.     I remember being in Algebra class when I was in high school. I was trying to follow along with the new material my teacher was presenting, but I was lost. Utterly, completely and hopelessly lost. Finally, I raised my hand and said,...

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