Promotions:
Congratulations to the people who earned promotions since our last newsletter.
- Junior Yellow Belt – Mikey Donica, Frankie Iannone
- Junior Orange Belt – Aidan Johnson
- Junior Green Belt #2 Shayne Davies
- Senior Yellow Belt – Scott Conroy, Shirley K. Zavala
Allamuchy Harvest Festival & Demonstration
A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ATTENDED AND PARTICIPATED IN THE FIRST ANNUAL ALLAMUCHY HARVEST FESTIVAL. THREE STUDENTS RAN IN RACES PRIOR TO THE DAY’S EXHIBITS AND DEMONSTRATIONS, CASSANDRA ( 5 MILE) BROWN, BRIDGET DRISCOLL AND SUSAN TORLUCCI (5 K). WE ESTABLISHED A TABLE WHERE WE SPOKE TO MANY PEOPLE ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF ISSHIN-RYU KARATE. WE DID TWO DEMONSTRATIONS AND ALSO SOME SELF DEFENSE WITH PARENTS AND BYSTANDERS. EVERYONE HAD A GOOD TIME.
Weather Reminder
As we approach the winter season, listen to WRNJ Radio 1510 if the weather is questionable. I will make class cancellations by 4 pm on days when weather conditions may not be safe.
Annual St. Jude Kick-a-Thon
Our annual kick-a-thon for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will be November 8 to 13. Children kick for 5 minutes and Adults kick for 10 minutes. Everyone kicks in each class attended that week (or classes when they return after the official event). Help us help St Jude’s work by raising funds. I know I have been asked by every fireman and other organization in this area to help them . . . let’s return the favor to them. Again, the hospital and kids are the recipients of our winning efforts.
Holiday Gift Ideas
Take advantage of our holiday gift to you and your family . . . for Oct-Dec, the dojo is offering a free month of lessons/classes to any parent or sibling of an established student (good for new students only) . . . Simply see Kyoshi or Renshi Hughes or call the dojo. Also, consider these ideas for the karate student in your family:
- Sparring equipment
- American Isshin-ryu Association Lifetime membership
- IWKA Lifetime membership
- A new gi or patches for the gi
- Gift certificate(s) for a student(s) classes
- Hanshi Duessel DVD’s – Posters and limited books
AMERICAN ISSHINRYU SEMINARS
AMERICAN ISSHINRYU SEMINARS AT FIT HAPPENS FOR ADULTS – NOVEMBER 13TH
LOCATION: FIT HAPPENS
Panther Valley Village Square (mall)
1581 County Road 517 (off exit 19 on Route 80)
Hackettstown, NJ 07840
TIME: 1 pm to 3:30 pm (one hour seminars with a break)
COST: $20.00 for current AI members
$45.00 for non-members, which includes a lifetime membership
What is your life’s purpose?
It’s been said that there are two great moments in a person’s life. The first is when you are born and the second is when you discover your life’s purpose. The great architect Frank Lloyd Wright said that: “the thing always happens that you really believe in, and the belief in a thing makes it happen.” One of my favorite stories is the amazing Gold Medal Athlete Jessie Owens. In high school, he was just an ordinary scrawny black kid. Until his school held an assembly featuring the great Charley Paddock. At that time, Charley was the fastest human being alive! During the assembly, Charley asked the student body “Do you know who you are?” He asked this a couple of times. “Who are you?” Then answering himself: “You are a child of God, you live in the United States of America and you can become anything that you truly want to!”
When Jessie Owens heard these words, a burning desire was awakened inside him and he resolved then and there that he, Jessie Owens, would someday become that fastest human being in the world! And he did go on to achieve a life of athletic and personal greatness. The belief in a thing does make it happen!
All of us have those moments in our lives where, if we believe and decide, we can change in wonderful new directions. In any moment you can change your life just by changing your thoughts.
Decide to hold onto the higher ground you have claimed! This really does work but only if you keep a hold fast to your new thoughts and expressions. It has also been shown that people who return to their former daily habits, going back to their same old associations, adopting the old habits and settling into the life that they had before, within a week or two, all of those new thought patterns – all of those new resolutions simply fade away.
Don’t go back! Keep that flame of success alive.
Fill your mind with positive things.
People are measured not by what they say but what they do. Go out and do those new activities; see new people and success will accumulate. All of those good thoughts will be reinforced by the new reality that you are creating.
Many important decisions were made by ordinary people who started taking Isshin-ryu karate for a number of reasons: to get in better physical condition, to be better prepared if one has to use self defense skills, to learn a art that is hundreds of years old, to advance physical activity in a way that is not like going to a gym and lifting weights or doing an aerobics’ class. Some of those people are still in the dojo more than 20 years later. Others have wanted to start but find a reason to not get started now. Make the decision to go beyond the ordinary. REMEMBER – the difference between ordinary and the extraordinary is that little EXTRA.
This is powerful stuff!
