"Shanghai Noon"

with Jackie Chan

Viewed January 20, 2001

Eeehaw! Jackie Chan sure knows how to make a Western, and it was one that kept us all guffawing throughout the movie. It's been a long time since I've laughed this much during a flick, and Jackie Chan did a great job with the martial arts and gunslinging. The best part was the male bonding between the two main characters, which was hilarious and natural-seeming at the same time.

But enough about the movie itself! The discussion started with Question 7, and didn't stray far from that question all night. We talked about how important the assurances that we get from others are, and yet how we can only seem to "hear" those assurances when we have enough self-esteem to begin with to allow us to let the assurances into our brain. Other ideas were that the negative self-talk that we subject ourselves to may stem from both poor diet/nutrition/exercise, as well as from the habits we've built from seeing and absorbing the negative thought patterns of our parents and others around us. Both of those factors make us particularly susceptible to the judgments and/or disapproval of others (Question #4), and they can make us feel powerless (Questions 2 & 3).

We really tackled the way we damage or sometimes demolish our own lives by the way we choose to think. One of my favorite comments was when someone said, "I spent years trying to figure out why my life was so crappy. Why, why, why? Then I finally realized that the reason my life was so crappy was Me, Me, Me!"

Here are the questions:

SHANGHAI NOON

  1. How much am I willing to give up to maintain my integrity?
  2. At what points have I felt powerless in my life, and what have I done about it?
  3. How would I like to claim my personal power in my life?
  4. How have I been judged or disapproved of because I didn't fit in? How did I deal with it?
  5. What rigid rules have I been ingrained with, and how have I gotten past them?
  6. What wouldn't I do for 100,000 pieces of gold?
  7. How much assurance do I need of success in pursuing my dreams before I'd be willing to leave the life I know?
  8. At what points in my life have I felt oneness with others?