A Lot Of Passion & A Little Bit Of Talent- An Article By Shafagh Amiraftabi, Instructor WCMA
I recently read an article discussing the merits of passion versus talent. Some were arguing that all you need is passion to get on in life and others were arguing that talent is all you need with very little or no passion. This seemed to me to be a ridiculous premise and made me think back to my own experiences when I first started training and my experiences so far.
When I first started training I had very little strength, fitness and no flexibility. I had never attempted to learn a form and had never personally experienced official Martial Arts training. From my very first lesson I loved the whole experience. The lines of students standing to attention in order of seniority, the etiquette rules and regulations, the variety of exercises in one lesson designed to build strength, improve fitness and flexibility wowed me! Then came the blocking, punching and kicking exercises. And to put the icing on the cake, I started learning forms. I can say that from my very first lesson to the present day, I have not lost my passion for this Art form. After 20 years I have never been as fit, as strong, as flexible as I am now. I have not experienced a single asthma attack or chest infection in many years (both conditions which were frequent in my younger days). I am able to train for three to four hours continuously and wake up the next day and do the same again.
A lot of passion and a little bit of talent are the tools you need to achieve your goals and the acceptance that you need to put in the hard graft day in and day out. In my 20 years I have not experienced anyone with absolutely no talent. Every student that I have met has had some talent, some more than others. What in some cases has been lacking is true passion. Certainly they may have had the passion when they first started, but with the passage of time varying from months to years to many years, passion has drained away. Life is suddenly full of distractions that have always been there. My experiences have taught me many things. I can always tell when a student starts losing their way. They forget why they started training. They ignore the improvements they have made and the benefits that Martial Arts training has given them over the years. What is even more heart breaking is that, in some cases, they blame everyone else and everything else around them. This is so difficult to correct without sounding like preaching.
I considered myself to have a little bit of talent when I started. I decided straight away that Martial Arts and White Crane was going to be the Art form I studied. I decided that my development would be my responsibility, and that if ever I lost the passion or was not developing as well as I should, I would take a good look at myself. It is my responsibility to keep me motivated. My Instructor, Mr Russell Suthern is always there teaching and I am there learning and seeking correction. I set myself goals. Mostly these are “petit” goals; one step at a time. I don’t worry about step two until I have completed step one. I try not to apply a time limit as sometimes I achieve faster than I have predicted and other times it takes me longer.
My passion has not dwindled, and my talent has increased. It has been a talent I have had to fight for and still am. I very often train through pain (due to a spinal injury, not Kung Fu related). The muscle development due to my training keeps me upright and the deep breathing and Chi Kung exercises help me with my pain thresholds. Passion and talent both of which can increase, are powerful tools. I have completed the White Crane system and I am still training and I am still learning. White Crane is my priority and I will not be distracted. I am human and have other interests. I am studying for a psychology degree and struggle to learn mandarin characters. By being disciplined and clever timetabling neither of these interfere with my Kung Fu training. In fact my two other pursuits were chosen to aid me with my training and Instructorship.
There is one final point that needs to be made. The higher up you go in the system, the more you need to train, not less. The higher up you go in the system, the harder you need to train. Every millimeter of improvement is hard fought when you have been training for many years. This is not a hardship for me as I prefer to be in the training hall than anywhere else.
Shafagh Amiraftabi
Instructor WCMA