Practice, practice, practice
“With practice, altered states can become permanent traits.” -Ken Wilber
I was practicing Tai Chi on the beach the other day and it felt really good, in the way that something does when you haven’t really done it for a while. The funny thing is that Tai Chi is something that I do almost every day, and have for over 30 years, but I do sometimes go through periods when I’m not really doing enough, or I’m going through the motions and not really feeling the depth of it. But the other day I was really present through the whole set, felt the stretch and connection through every move, and moved deeper into myself. It felt great, present, connected, Alive. And it was a revelation: how critically essential practice is in order to grow, change, evolve. Otherwise I can be doing it and not really progressing. I see people all the time who want to go back to where they were before. Impossible! You can’t step into the same river twice. The only way we have to shape the inevitable change that will occur in our lives is with practice. And whatever we practice on a daily basis is what we become.
Dr Dave (before the Dr part)
If we practice movement every day we become a mobile person. If we practice sitting on the couch every day we become a stiff and cranky person. If we practice criticism and blame we become a negative person. If we practice compassion and gratitude we become an openhearted person. And the more focused the practice, the more accelerated the change is in the direction of our focus. It seems pretty normal for our practices to wax and wane. We go through periods with more energy, more enthusiasm or motivation, and then have other periods with less in the tank. Think of those periods as necessary plateaus. The trick is to have something that we do consistently to carry us through. Even on days that when my Tai Chi isn’t the best it is still a practice that carries me through that plateau to the next breakthrough. And then, as Ken Wilber says, the alteration in your state, with practice, will become a permanent trait. The new upgraded version of you.
Dr. David Carson, Coast Chiropractic