Parallels in Learning

It is almost the end of 2023, yet I have not posted anything. So this is the first post of 2023, and it will be about the parallels in learning that I picked up from my experience in learning taiji and calligraphy.

Recently, I have been putting a lot of time into calligraphy practice, which all started because I needed to undergo grading, followed by preparing for an exhibition. After submitting my piece for the exhibition, I was actually not very satisfied and decided to put a lot more time into practice, and have been practising calligraphy for one to two hours almost every day.

I found a parallel with my taiji journey. When I first started, it was practice once a week, but I soon started to join my teacher's other classes when I could. About a year after learning from Master Kwek, I entered a local taiji competition, and working towards this competition became the reason for intensifying my taiji training back then. Although I came away with a silver medal, I was not satisfied and it spurred me on to spend even more time on taiji training. Similarly, when I had to take part in a performance in front of Queen Elizabeth II, that became the reason for me to learn Yang style from my teacher and work toward become good enough to perform.

While it is always best that we are motivated to put a lot of time into practice, for most people, it is hard to find that motivation or discipline. That is why there are competitions and performances in taiji, which I find to be similar to grading and exhibitions in calligraphy. They serve as a goal or reason to improve, providing a motivation that fuels the discipline for training.

Today, I continue to practise taiji daily, but not as intense anymore. I guess I need to find some motivation again. I also didn't managed to go back to Singapore this year, which is a pity. I hope Master Kwek is well. If I do go back next year, I guess my motivation would be to show Master Kwek that I had improved and not dropped in standard.