Lugnuts.
It started one day when my car started vibrating at speed. This could be due to many things, and as my many years spent under and around my various vehicles with wrenches, I had pegged a few things that could be possible, including bearings, tire issues, wheel balancing, rim damage, warped disc, and on and on went the list.
I determined, even, that the vibration came from the rear of the car, and so I jacked up the car, and rocked each hub individually, to check for play, checked the bushings under the car, really went through it with a fine tooth comb, but none of these things really fit with what I felt and what I saw under the car.
I discussed it with a friend of mine, and the conversation went thus:
Me: " I checked everything, yada yada yada (long list of things)"
Friend: " Did you check to make sure the lugnuts were tight?'
Me: "I have not once taken the wheels off the car. And there is no way the dealership let that car off the lot with mis torqued lugnuts. And therefore, since the torque specifications work, judging by the lack of wheels flying off this model of car around the world, I would not possibly believe it is even remotely possible that it is something that simple."
Which after this perplexing me for a while, I met my friend again, a few days later, and we had the exact same conversation.
So In order to allay his suspicions, I agreed to check the lugnuts, thinking it was 30 seconds I could have been twiddling my thumbs anyway.
AND I FOUND THAT 5 OF THE 10 NUTS ON THE 2 REAR WHEELS WERE LOOSE. Not loose enough that you could wiggle them by hand perceptibly, but loose enough, and way under torque specifications.
I found that I can also apply this lesson to kung fu!
Check the lugnuts. Maybe that little technique or combination that hasn't been thought about since white belt should be looked at, as it has gotten loose, even though it could be a really simple technique that gets scoffed at and say "Nay, not me. I know that little thing"
I oughta Consistently review the things already know.
Though it may be too much to go through everything constantly, make sure the most important things are taken care of. An analogy - Check the brakes first if there's only time to check one thing. My personal example would be that after I learned Kempo I, I told myself that I had to practice Da Mu Hsing at least once every two times I went through Kempo. I chose forms as my "brakes". Kinda because I have heard a rumour that forms are sorta really important in kung fu. y'know.
Right now as I write this I remember something that happened recently in one of the previous open training sessions that I found really inspiring. I didn't think much at the time, as I was rather confused, but I found the situation really made an impression on me.
Even though this is all super positive and everything, I'll keep the details to a minimum anyway, respecting those who may wish to remain anonymous :)
I was sparring with a group, all senior to myself, and as usual, learning and incredible amount during these sparring sessions when I'm lucky that everyone continues to be patient with me and teach me things. During one of these breaks between matches, one of the group asked another Sifu, who was by the mirrors, if he would like to join the sparring rounds; to which his response was " No thank you, I am working on slide stepping today." (not verbatim.)
This is now weeks after the situation, but it is still on my mind everytime I go to practice. I found this situation incredibly inspiring. If Sifu is practicing and going through one of the very first things everyone is taught, then that example is proof enough for me to also get into the habit of going back and checking the lugnuts on my kung fu. Which means maybe putting aside some of the new toys and techniques and shiny stuff for a bit to keep the things I learned previously nice and sharp and polished.
Months ago, I over-enthusiastically exclaimed to Sihing Robinson that I thought it was so cool that as I keep up practicing da mu hsing even as I go through learning kempo I, I keep trying new (to me) things in da mu hsing, that I could only get to by continued practice and repetitions of focused practice where my mind is on only what I am doing at the moment. And all these tiny little improvements I've made to my da mu hsing ever since I learned it, I can then also apply to kempo I. So then my kempo I gets the benefits of my having been practicing da mu hsing for 6 months longer than I have kempo I. Building off the shoulders of the practice time and effort before it. And then I can find things in kempo that I can bring back to da mu hsing.
But alas, looking at this has made me realize that this great discovery has lead to another. As it seems to me that my practicing of forms are a very macro level of checking my lug nuts. Such that those with much experience and kung fu knowledge also go back and polish the basics regularly but at a very detailed level. Which really shows ya that it's really all in the details.
I hope I get what I'm trying to say across. It's hard.
Anyway, I suppose that it is really as simple as keeping our eyes open, watching, and learn from the actions of those around us, and if we are open to it, every moment is a gold mine of things to learn from.
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