Something I've found is that  my health, vitality and general well being is determined, for better or worse by my own actions. The things I do on a day to day basis; how well I sleep, breathe, eat and interact with people, and of course my personal Qi practice, regulate my performance level.

Obviously accidents and traumas can, and do occur in life, and a trip to the Doctor or help from someone else may be  necessary, but what I am describing is an attitude, one of regular positive actions to improve my well being, instead of having the expectation that someone or something will sort out any problems on my behalf, or having the assumption that good health and stable emotions will just continue onwards with no intervention or help from myself.

I take actions that raise energy, not deplete it, reduce, not increase stress and improve my physical, emotional and mental performance. 

• Something to consider is that a person's happiness is, to a large degree, linked to the physical state of their body.
• What sort of a day do you have when you have pain in your body?
• How are your emotions affected by lack of sleep, or by physical limitations?

Do you really want to leave these things to chance?

It all happened pretty quickly. I had no knowledge of martial arts other than a dated book that I once read from the local library. Around my 20th Birthday I competed in a Canoe marathon, it went badly and I retired from the race. On returning home, feeling pretty pissed off, I encountered a friend who also did canoeing. 

I had a vague idea that he did Karate or something like that, so I just asked, 'did he do Karate?' He said yes, and that he was going to class in ten minutes. And that was that. I dropped my Canoeing gear, jumped in his car and did my first session of Shotokai Karate, which I trained for the next four years.

It was a little bit surreal, as before that instant I had no intention of taking up a martial art, plus this was way out of character for me... diving into something new on the spur of the moment was just not something I did. It just seemed like the right thing to do at that moment. 

Looking back 18 years later I'd say it was the right decision, a real now or never, path changing moment. Another few minutes and I'd have got over my crappy day and put my focus elsewhere.