Some of you probably don’t know what the abbreviation LHBF stand for, let alone the meaning of it. Back in May 2012, I talked about what is liuhebafa (LHBF)? Read it if you haven’t.
What we call ourselves or how others view us is not really that important. What is most important is how we view ourselves and how we feel about what we do. If your goal is to get colored belts or certification, you are in the wrong class. You can imitate forms and can pass through exams but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything to you. How often do we hear of people graduating in one discipline and yet their career is totally unrelated? How often do we hear of poor customer service or billing errors or implementation fiasco of computer systems. I am sure that they are all ‘certified’ to do their job. Yet, there are also people that never graduated and yet they changed the world. What these folks have in common is that they are so passionate about their vision that they think that the “cookie cutter” approach to their personal education is more of a distraction from their destiny. (Don’t try to imitate the drop-out portion of the equation, that was not the reason for their success).
It may sound like a cliche but isn’t having fun and satisfaction while working awesome? I love what I do whether it is computer related, gymnastics or martial arts. Just the other day, my daughter asked me, did you plan on teaching gymnastics or kung fu when you were young? The honest answer is that I didn’t. That was never part of my ‘dream’. Actually thinking back, teaching kung fu wasn’t part of my sifu’s career plan either – he came from a good family but got thrown into the situation because of communist China. What is the same between my sifu and me is that we never looked for recognition but the recognition came because of our passion for what we do and learn. With that passion, we can solve any challenges in front of us.
The name LHBF can mean everything as well as nothing. I am hoping that it does and yet I don’t want you to be limited by the name or by me. It is important for you to go through the journey of finding out because ultimately, it is the journey and not the end destination that is most important. After 40 years of practicing, I am still learning, exploring and still get energized by little discoveries.
Exercise
Does any part of LHBF mean more to you now than last year? Did you take any steps to understand it more? If not, do some research and tell me.