I can believe I must understand the theory before I engage in practice, or I can believe that theory makes more sense when it explains my practice.
Theory and practice are partners, and more often than not, it should be practice that leads the dance.
If you think you know how to write a story but never do it, do you really know how to write a story?
If you think you know how to do a yoga pose but never do it, do you really know how to do that yoga pose?
If you think you know how to apologize for a mistake but never do it, do you really know how to apologize?
If you know what you want to do but aren’t doing it, do you really know what you want?
Because hidden beneath your goals and technical step-by-step instructions to accomplish them, there’s an obstacle course of personal context, personal beliefs, past experiences, and emotions.
And these, you won’t discover in books or videos.
These, you’ll encounter by doing.
And these, you’ll conquer by doing.
If you want to be a writer, write wholeheartedly and consistently until you start believing you’re a writer and you trust you’ll always be – then relax.
If you want to be a runner, run wholeheartedly and consistently until you start believing you’re a runner and you trust you’ll always be – then relax.
If you want to be there for your family, start being there for them wholeheartedly and consistently until you start believing you’re a family guy and you trust you’ll always be – then relax.
If you can’t fully focus
You’ll never be able to fully relax
And if you can’t fully turn it on
You’ll never be able to fully turn it off
We’re not able to see almost everything in life and are blind to only a couple of things.
We’re blind to almost everything in life and are able to see only a couple of things.
And of the things we are able to see, we (consciously or subconsciously) focus on an even smaller subset, and then turn a blind eye to the rest.
To live a creative life, there’s no need to create anything new.
Open your eyes, prick up your ears, smell the air, and feel the earth beneath your feet.
Then open your heart, taste your thoughts, sense subtle shifts, and heed the voice in your head.
When you marry your inner and outer world
insights unfurl.
Cut yourself some slack on a hard day.
Relax, take a break.
Because come what may,
In the long run, you’re strong enough to keep going anyway.
Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here today.
I can believe I’ve published the perfect insight – until I narrate the podcast version a couple of weeks later and suddenly notice subtle typos and, sometimes, logical flaws. The typos and flaws were always there – but did I make a mistake earlier?
I can believe I’ve nailed this yoga pose – until, during one session, I suddenly sense some tension in my neck I had never noticed before. The tension was always there – did I make a mistake earlier?
I can believe I’ve cooked the perfect dish – until one day, I notice that the sauce tastes even better with a little less salt. But, even before I noticed it, the improvement was always there – did I make a mistake earlier?
Maybe learning is not about errors but about gaining ever more subtle awareness.
