The title of this term's Lifesong is .. Driven. Specifically, what drives you?

The story was the actual life story of this dude, who was driven by academic achievement. As a result of his childhood, he went through life driven to be the top of his class, always trying to be #1.

It was kinda interesting because, in addition to some of my kung fu brothers losing their passion for kung fu, I was pondering myself, what drives me to head to V1 each and every night (mon thru thu) to spend that 2 hours training. I love Fed, I love bomber, I love hanging out with my friends. Yet every night, I sacrifice all of that just to head to the big empty hall, to make my strikes just that little bit harder, and the little bit faster, and move my body just that little bit better.

Ironically then, the answer to the question of "what drives you", was something that I spent the past two weeks pondering. I think, the one force that drives me more than anything else, is to learn. I always will have the curiosity of a child.

For example, in kung fu, the most basic thing we learn is the punch. I have seen people do the punch a 1000 times. I have done the punch a million times. Yet, I am always curious as to how someone else does the punch. The subtle differences between his or her punch and mine, could be incorporated into my punch to make it different, better, more efficient.

I have as much to learn from a 14 year old, as I do from a 40 year old. Quantum mechanics? Cooking a gourmet dish? Magneto-hydrodynamic drives? Krumping? Genetic engineering? Bio psych? Social psych? Hockey? Why I like the things I do, why YOU like the things you do? I am all interested in learning, in pondering, in philosophising.

I used to think that I too was driven by perfection. I think now, that I am simply driven by learning. Doing and perfecting is simply a byproduct of learning.

I'll end this by quoting something that was on my old blog site until recently.

"You grow old the moment you stop learning. The secret to eternal youth, is to keep learning."