Are we really doing our best?

Hi Everyone

My deepest apologies for being so adhock with my writing.  A lot has been going on in regards to Tea and also Kimono.

In the last few weeks I have come to realize that I haven’t been giving kimono and tea ceremony my best effort. In writing that, I know it is not true and I am not going to erase it I will just come clean.  I realized it from last year and just ignored it, I turned a blind eye and rationalized it away.

I skipped two of my last 3 Saturday  kimono classes for no good reason, and the one 1 went to I was 45 minutes late.  I have not skipped any tea ceremony classes but I get there 5 minutes before class starts which is the same as being late. I do get to my Monday Kimono classs on-time but my tools are not in order or  I have forgotten a technique or two that I learned the prior class.

I had a wake-up call a few weeks ago and I had no choice but to stop and face the hard, stone cold truth.  I wasn’t  doing my best and it had to stop.  That wake up call was a dream of mine that came true:  I was accepted to study with the true masters of tea ceremony, at the birth place of tea ceremony, the Urasenke Headquarters in Kyoto (Konnichian).

It should have been a happy occassion but happiness was replaced with panic.  You see , this is the highest instituition in Urasenke, if I mess up here, there is no where else to go but down.  All certificates and permission are granted here.  No matter where else I go in the world I would still be at their mercy.  I had to either step up or give up the whole thing, there was no in-between.

So since the beginning of February, I have been re-evaluating my approach and commitment to my various pursuits.    The conclusion I came to is that my approach didn’t reflect true commitment, I was not doing my best.  Admitting we are not doing our best is difficult yet brave; finding excuses to let ourself off the hook is easy and a bit cowardly.  Finding the reasons why we are not doing our best takes even more work, but is so worth it in the end.

I am happy to say that I have flushed out a few of the root causes of my problem: a lack of focus and not being organized in a way that suits me.  SInce the start of February I have been working both on being more focused and organizing myself in such a way that works for me.

The problem is small things matter in tea and kimono.  For ex.  if I don’t wear a kimono to tea practice I need to take a pair of white socks to be able to enter the tea room. Well I own only 2 pairs of white socks and I study tea twice a week.  So in a busy week if I don’t do laundry I end up not having socks for tea ceremony and will probably just grab one I used the week before.  Soiled socks no matter how slightly will not go down well at Konnichian.  Monthly tuition for culture classes need to be paid in new bills so  getting to the  bank or the post office before closing time to get clean money is critical.  Many items for kimono need to be dry-cleaned, hand-washed, ironed, folded, removed and re-attached, sewn, and handled with extreme care.

Some Saturdays I have Kimono and Tea Ceremony classes back to back in two different places.  Going to bed late Firday night  and then waking up exhausted Saturday morning trying to choose which kimono to wear, put the collar onto my inner garment, and finding an obi and other accessories to match is pure chaos.  Not to mention making lunch to carry, eating breakfast and the extra time it takes to wobble to the bus station all adds up to being very late.  At this point I just give up and decide to just skip kimono class just so I can stop my heart from racing so much from running around.

Now common sense has started to kick in.  I have started to organize things to suit me and my lifestyle better.  Here the list of changes so far

• I need 5 pairs of socks and 1 ‘spare’ which I will always keep in my tea ceremony pouch.
• On sundays I need to prepare 2 complete sets of kimono (kimno, undergarments, obi and matching accesories) for the week.
• Make lunch the day before
• Set a go-to-bed  alarm so I can get enough sleep and be able to wake up early on Saturdays.
• Practice before and review after each class so I don’t make silly mistakes (doing this has made a huge difference in the quality of my performance)
• Keep one month’s worth of tuition at home in case I can’t make it to the bank in time (Fees for culture classes need to be paid using new bills)
• Organize the rest of my time so I can spend more time studying the theory part of both tea and kimono.
• Buying synthetic undergarments for my kimono which are machine washable, has a permanent collar, and requires no ironing.  (I was completely dependent on my silk ones which need to be hand-washed, ironed, and the collar needed to be removed and resewn).

The list goes on, and I am looking for new ideas everday.  The small changes I have been implementing are producing results.  I am not yet doing my best, but I working on getting  a great deal closer by the end of the month.

I am now looking forward to my classes with anticipation because I know that by taking the extra to be prepared  will allow for better learning and new personal levels of greatness.

In high school my English Literature teacher Mrs James gave me an A for the class coursework, A for attendance and and a C for effort.  I went to her with lava flowing from my ears.  She said ‘ You are naturally good at English Literature, I am sure you didn’t even read any of the books in their entirety.  The essays you wrote were very good but if you had put even a litle effort into it you would have written masterpeices.’  I accepted the C graciously.

In university、I touted a 4.0 GPA and thought that was enough.  I took Dr. Cooke’s Cross Culture Organizational Behaviour class.  At the end of the semester she gives each student a grade and a written feedback. She gave me an A and a feedback that simply said ‘You need to be more prepared’.  I went to her with lava flowing from my ears.  10 minutes later I accepted her evaluation graciously.

I remember these two great criticisms with a smile because today they are still true.  Is there something you haven’t been giving your best?  Do you know why?  What can you do or what will it take for you to commit to it a little more?  Please write and let me know.

Thanks for reading and please stop by again.