An ideal vs. a value

Hi all,
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking about all the things in my life that compete for the limited time in each day -- work, family, rest, having fun, watching TV, and so on -- alongside my martial arts training. Most mornings, as soon as I wake up I'm thinking about "getting stuff done" and/or how much I'm looking forward to "just doing nothing" at the end of the day. I can make so many excuses not to practice my forms or do some front kicks or sit down to write a blog post.

KJN Jeremy talked to us in class last week about striving to have balance in our lives -- dedicating enough time and energy to taking care of all the most important people and activities. This reminded me of a talk that my wife and I use in the marriage preparation ministry (Catholic Engaged Encounter) that we help conduct. It's about recognizing the difference between an ideal and a value.

Here's the basic idea:
Ideals and values both refer to something that we'd like to accomplish or have or experience in our lives -- like getting good grades, being able to do 50 pushups without stopping, going to Disneyland, or earning our Aim High black belt. But if I just say, "That would be great," and don't do what's necessary to attain it, I have an ideal -- nothing more.

Turning an ideal into a value takes action. In a lot of cases, it's also going to require me to spend less time doing something else, like sitting on my couch watching TV, and/or to change my habits, like eating healthier and waking up earlier so I can make sure to exercise and build up my stamina.

We recognize our values in the way we live our lives, in the choices we make each day, and in what we're willing to sacrifice in order to make sure we achieve the goal we're aiming for.

What will it take for each of us to make earning our black belt a value?

Aim high!

- Michael