Sitting down at Bookends coffee shop, waiting on a friend. I haven’t had much I’ve wanted to blog about lately, so to break the silence I’m going to try to blog about not blogging. Yes, it’s lame, but if you want to keep the flow going you got to just do it.
That’s one thing I’ve realized while trying to master various disciplines. The essential thing is to just keep doing it, even when it sucks, doesn’t appear to be worthwhile, or flat out irritates you. The funny thing is, usually after a certain point (assuming you’re actually doing whatever it is correctly) the discipline becomes easier. Not only easier it actually starts having a life of its own. In fact, once you’ve really got into the groove of doing something regularly it actually takes a good bit of effort to stop doing it. I told my friend Lion the other day that it’s much harder for me to go a day without formally meditating then it is to not sit. I blink my eyes, and then WHAM I’m on the cushion sitting. Just like that. Of course this habitual potency goes both ways which is why people are always trying to get fit, get rich, get together, or even get enlightened. The cool thing is, once you’re able to do any of the above, and do so with ease, then generally what it took to gain mastery in one area, will transfer over to another arena of life.
Some of these general skills I’ve learned transfer over from mastery of one area into mastery of another.
Discipline – I learned the lesson of discipline largely as a result of my years of long-distance running in high-school. I realized that in order to become the best long-distance runner around I had to train consistently. When I trained for the 1600M (1-mile) in track I would generally put in between 40-60 miles/week (nothing compared to marathoners!), and never skipped a day of training (unless i was injured, sick, or had just finished up a season). After years of pounding it out, day after day, I slowly built up a capacity to enjoy doing something beneficial for it’s own sake (damn I sound like Aristotle).
Prioritization – Another key skill I’ve needed to learn, especially when I have several things I want to master, is to prioritize things in my life accordingly. If I want to sit two hours a day, or workout 6 days a week, or whatever it might be, that time needs to come from somewhere. Having clear priorities, and an overarching vision that determines how I use my time, helps me decide where the time will be coming from.
Community – Community basically means people who are doing similar stuff. Spend time with other people who are into the same geeky stuff you are into, and who can help you become better. One of my weight lifting partners is also a meditation buddy. We pound out a few sets together and then talk about shamatha! Granted, you don’t have to take it to that extreme, I’ve found it pretty interesting. As I sing at the gym, “YOUR SHAMATHA IS STUCK AT STAGE 3″
Gumption & Forgiveness – These are kind of two things, but also go hand-in-hand. One has to have gumption, a kind of stick-with-it-ness, even when they’ve failed (which is why I distinguish this from discipline). The ability to just keep trying something over and over again, despite the numer of times you’ve “fallen off the wagon”. And forgiveness comes in, because we do fail at new things all the time. Life conditions become overwhelming and suddenly we’ve stopped going to the gym, or practicing that new guitar, or whatever it might be. That’s totally normal, so we have to forgive ourselves for being human, and then get back to it.
