Signing

Shall I learn sign language? There's a short course for sign language for religion in my church and I was thinking, it is such an elegant and beautiful language, I am tempted. I see glimpses of it when the deaf community gathers for Sunday morning mass in one wing of the church and they're all signing with the intepreter intepreting to them. It's so poetic it goes straight to the heart . The snag is that I am not a natural at languages, learning new ones I mean. I struggled with Chinese for years and still not that fluent in it. And I did a passing bit of french, only just about enough to order food in a restaurant and not much more. (Ah, yes, the important bit of the language, I agree).

I'll think about it but if anyone wants to weigh in on the conversation, please do. Or what version is worth learning.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Sometimes we fear to dream too much. Safety and security matter a great deal to most of us as they do to me. However once in a while, I need to dream to and while in much of my life I have clung to what is safe and familiar in my life choices, that desire for venturing into the unknown sometimes rears its head. It is built into the human psyche, that desire to explore, to find that which is unknown, to seek that which is not limited by our own experiences thus far. And when we encounter that which we find limitless and beautiful and terrible, then the emotion we experience is wonder.

For me, that desire has partly been expressed in my practice of aikido. And for me, today since I am grading for nidan in aikido, it really brought home to me that even for someone like me, who loves clinging to that which is safe, I too need my little bit of adventure, and I need to that sense of exploration and wonder. I have never stopped learning. I have never stopped being amazed by what I can be taught by those who are skilled both in the art as well as in the art of teaching, of sharing what they know. It is a joyous experience to step on the mat and simply see where our skills can take us. And I never thought I'd get this far or stay this long on this journey.

Gambatte!