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This desire to learn is only the first step, though. Without an understanding of proper practice mechanics, and without an awareness of our own internal workings, we’re almost certain to use up the initial inspiration and motivation that propelled us into our endeavor, leaving us feeling we cannot reach the goal that had seemed so worth striving for just a short time earlier.
The answer is that this mindset influences everything. It is the blank page on which we draw our lives. It determines not only what we draw but also what we are able to draw. It shapes every aspect of who we are, what we become, and how we see others. It is self-discipline and self-awareness. It gives us patience with ourselves, with others, and with life itself. It is certainly one of the most powerful and meaningful gifts we can give
ourselves — and yes, only we can give this gift to ourselves. Our culture today is one
It lives in the present and has laser-like, pinpoint focus and accuracy. It obeys our precise directions, and all our energy moves through it.
Because of this, we are calm and completely free of anxiety. We are where we should be at that moment, doing what we should be doing and completely aware of what we are experiencing. There is no wasted motion, physically or mentally.
They had none of the technology, but they had much simpler lives and perhaps a better understanding of how their minds worked.
If you are not in control of your thoughts, then you are not in control of yourself. Without self-control, you have no real power, regardless of whatever else you accomplish. If you are not aware of the thoughts that you think in each moment, then you are the rider with no reins, with no power over where you are going. You cannot control what you are not aware of. Awareness must come first.
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When we practice anything properly, the fact that we are engaging in a difficult learning process disappears, and, more important, the process dissolves into a period of inner calming that gives us a rest from the tension and anxiety that our “get it done yesterday” world pushes on us every day of our lives. For this reason, it is important to recognize and be in control of the process and to learn to enjoy that part of life’s activity.
A paradox of life: The problem with patience and discipline is that developing each of them requires both of them.
We have a very unhealthy habit of making the product — our intended result — the goal, instead of the process of reaching that goal.
To me, the words practice and learning are similar but not the same. The word practice implies the presence of awareness and will. The word learning does not. When we practice something, we are involved in the deliberate repetition of a process with the intention of reaching a specific goal. The words deliberate and intention are key here because they define the difference between actively practicing something and passively learning it.
When you focus on the process, the desired product takes care of itself with fluid ease. When you focus on the product, you immediately begin to fight yourself and experience boredom, restlessness, frustration, and impatience with the process. The reason for this is not hard to understand. When you focus your mind on the present moment, on the process of what you are doing right now, you are always where you want to be and where you should be. All your energy goes into what you are doing. However, when you focus your mind on where you want to end up, you are never where you are, and you
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When you shift your goal from the product you are trying to achieve to the process of achieving it, a wonderful phenomenon occurs: all pressure drops away.
This awareness of being where you are and in the present gives you the constant positive reinforcement of reaching your goal over and over again.
When, instead, your goal is to focus on the process and stay in the present, then there are no mistakes and no judging.
All these judgments require your energy, and none of that energy is going into learning the music and getting to a point where it is effortless for you to play it.
We waste so much of our energy by not being aware of how we are directing it.
lose touch with what you are aiming for. You continue to use the final goal as a rudder to steer your practice session, but not a...
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Where we fall down in this activity is when we drop out of this present-minded approach and become attached to the outcome of our attempts.
We look at the outcome of each attempt with emotional indifference. We accept it as it is, with no judgment involved.
judgment redirects and wastes our energy.
What we are doing here is objectively observing and analyzing the outcome of each attempt. This observation serves only to direct our next effort. It
Our goal is to stay in this process and to direct our energy into whatever activity we are choosing at the present.
We are mastering ourselves by staying in the process and mastering whatever activity we are working on. This is the essence of proper practice.
harder and harder, with no end in sight. By not staying in the process, our minds dash all over the place all day long, the horses running free with no one at the reins. We think too many thoughts at once, most of them the same thoughts we had yesterday and the day before.
such thinking is human nature.
During our school years, we begin to develop a bottom-line belief that states, “Results are everything,” regardless of how we achieve them.
It would be more accurately stated as “Instant gratification, short-term satisfaction” because anything we acquire in this way has no real, lasting value to us.
When we focus our energy on the process of attaining something, whether it be an object or a skill, and through patience and discipline we achieve it, we experience a joy that is just not present when something comes too quickly or easily.
We remember our mastery of our undisciplined nature, the patience and perseverance that we developed, and the joy and satisfaction we experienced then. What we remember is timeless, because we experience it all over again.
“You are going to find out that buying the car is much less satisfying than working for it.”
Once we experience the shift to a present-moment, “process, not product” perspective, we know that it is right. We calm down. Our priorities adjust themselves, and we feel peaceful and fulfilled by what we have and where we are. That age-old saying “There is no destination in life; life is the destination” has real meaning.
In summary, creating the practicing mind comes down to a few simple rules: • Keep yourself process-oriented. • Stay in the present. • Make the process the goal and use the overall goal as a rudder to steer your efforts. • Be deliberate, have an intention about what you want to accomplish, and remain aware of that intention. Doing these things will eliminate the judgments and emotions that come from a product-oriented, results-driven mind.
When you catch yourself in these moments, just gently remind yourself that you have fallen out of the present, and feel good about the fact that you are now aware enough to recognize it. You have begun to develop the Observer within you, who will prove so important in your self-guidance.
The problem with patience and discipline is that developing each of them requires both of them.
“And then?”
become aware that we have the potential to perceive life in this manner and to know that our culture reinforces our tendencies toward it.
We make a major detour on the road to happiness when we adopt an image of perfection in anything.
True perfection, in contrast, is limitless, unbounded, and always expanding.
At each stage of growth, from seed to full bloom and beyond, it is perfect at being a flower at that particular stage of a flower’s life.
We consciously or unconsciously pick a point of reference in whatever we do and decide that nothing will be right until we get to that point.
If you step back routinely during your day and observe where your attention is, you will be amazed at how few times it is where you are and on what you are doing.
Stop yourself during the day as much as you can and ask yourself, “Am I practicing flower-like qualities and staying in the present with my thoughts and energies?”
Their idea of perfection is always moving away from them; it is always based on their present experience and perspective.
Remember, the reason we bother ourselves with a lifelong effort to gain a practicing mind
We work at it for one reason: it brings us the inner peace and happiness that we cannot attain through the acquisition of any material object or cultural status.
In Zen, this state is referred to as “beginner’s mind.” When you are a beginner in any activity, accomplishing it takes all your concentration, and your mind is empty of chatter. As you become more adept at the activity, concentrating solely on performing it actually becomes harder.
The different forms of martial arts serve to teach the participants how to function in the present moment and to force them into this state of mind through a desire for self-preservation.
Why do we find it so much easier to focus on something we consider play than on something we consider work?
have found that the only difference between the two sorts of activities is that we prejudge them.
