Learning new things

I read somewhere that no matter what age you stop learning, you start getting old. I realize that I did close my world off a bit when I went into the Kung Fu world. Not just with other martial arts, but also in terms of what I read and what I focused on. Even now, as I write books, it's all Kung Fu and this or Kung Fu and that. It's good to have a focus, but after I had kids and had to learn new things I realized it's important to always keep learning. First I started learning new things outside of Martial Arts, like Ballet and Music or what not. But recently I played some Jujitsu with a friend of mine... and liked it.

I'm old enough to not really want to be fighting other people to better myself. In fact the brief period of time I even considered this, I did not have good experiences. But learning new things, taking new classes, that sort of thing. Why not? I mean I haven't learned a new form in a long time. I have created a few, I have followed some Yoga out of a book and that was fun. But as I continue to meet new people with passions about what they do.. but in the martial arts and outside of the martial arts... I'm beginning to think.. why not pick up whatever I can? I mean when I was first learning Kung Fu I would meet a lot of older students who had studied for years (some martial art or another) but I was turned off by the fact that they had done so many systems mainly because they also forgot all of those things they learned. It depressed me that you would learn all these forms.... and then not remember them. I really wanted to make sure that didn't happen to me.

However, say, if I were to pick up a Hung Gar form now... the act of learning a new form would challenge my brain in a way that practicing Tiger Crane comes out of mountain... would not, because I already know that form.

If I learned a Wing Chun or Pak Mei form.... that would challenge my brain and my body in a different way. I would be new at these movements. I would basically suck at it.

And then going out of Kung Fu, if I started Jujitsu, or Kendo, or fencing, or Thai Boxing or whatever, I would not be good because I would be new. And honestly really trying to master this stuff would actually mess up my White Crane for a while (I know that from boxing) But if I just started picking it up, for fun.. I think it would be good for my brain and might inspire me. Also, inevitably students have requests to learn other stuff. So it's nice to have picked up a little bit just to give them.. like candy.