Zen-ish Thoughts About Everything

Practice

Everything you do is practice.

When I complain, or feel defeat, or get grumpy, I am repeating a behavior (or behavioral set). Repeating a behavior is how we learn to do that behavior more efficiently, effectively, skilfully, and increasingly unconsciously.

It's rehearsal. It's practice. Is the behavior I am repeating right now something positive that I need to get better at, with rehearsal and practice, or is this something negative that I already do more than I should, and often unconsciously.

When I yell at a loved one, feel whiny about my job, eat instead of exercise, spend a lot of time scrolling through low-value "junk" online, are these things I need to practice so I can do them with more facility and skill?

When I conduct myself with discipline, listen to someone attentively, study something I want or need to learn, when I express my feelings both faithfully to myself and respectfully of others, … these probably are things I need to practice so I can do them with more facility and skill.

Let's say that I play tennis badly, again and again. Then what I am doing when I play tennis is practicing how to play tennis badly. It seems in this story that I am already quite good at playing tennis badly. I don't need more practice at doing it badly. I need practice at doing it well. How does one make that transition?

The point of practicing is actually not to practice the same thing, but to practice nearly the same thing in a way that is open to and actively promotes change – gradually producing results that are technically better, and in many cases more artful.

Approach practice (which is everything you do and don't do) with a sense of exploration, curious to see in what way you might make it different and better this time. Wonder about it. Be open to seeing what happens. Approach the task with hope that you may gain some new insight or improved result, or maybe even find delight in what you accomplish, and in what you reveal.

What's the alternative? To take on a task with a passionate commitment to not gaining any insight, not doing it better? To take on a task with a passionate commitment to not find any delight, no matter what? Approach improvement through practice lightly, with grace, humility, and interest, and habitually. That is a practice in itself.

From whom can I learn? What principles do I get intellectually but miss in practice? What experiments do I need to conduct? What do I need to try? What do I need to require of myself? What do I need to let go of?

If I need to get better at something, even something I am not interested in but have to get better at, at least long enough to accomplish some near-term objective, let me take this as an opportunity to practice getting out of my own way, lowering my own temperature, increasing my calm, and my commitment to myself or others who will benefit from the objective this task serves.

Let me practice self-discipline without being unkind to myself. Let me practice doing hard, unpleasant work if it contributes to a worthy goal. Let me feel good about these things, even if I don't feel good about the task itself.

Remember this: If you do something badly again and again, you are more deeply ingraining how to do it badly. Practicing is the only way to get really good at things, but too often we just practice being bad at it rather than practicing in a way that is open enough and hopeful enough to promote improvement.

Autobiography

Everything you do is autobiographical.

What I choose to do, what I spontaneously do, what I accept being compelled to do, how I do it, how I don't do it – these things are all expressions of who I am in the moment I do (or don't do) those things, who I have been in coming to that moment, and who I hope to be as I continue to develop.

What does my behavior say about who I am? Is it honest? Is it well-aligned with the values I claim to have? Is it good? For whom? Is it morally well-balanced?

Can others see the "me" that I think I am by observing my behavior, or is my behavior painting a different picture? If my behavior does not clearly demonstrate the me I think I am or want to be, what am I going to do about that today and over time?

Art

Everything you do is art.

How beautiful was my art when I hurt that person? How beautiful was my art when I helped that other person? Did I prepare my breakfast artfully? – Yes, I did, whether I think so or not, so how good is my art? What does the way I prepared breakfast this morning say about me as an artist, about my view of life, or even just about breakfast, or of what I deserve, or of what I have to offer to myself and others? What does the way I ate breakfast this morning say about me? How well does that align with the me I want to be?

Am I living with an awareness of my life as a gigantic stream of mostly small and sometimes large artworks? Is my activity today making good art, or just crap? What do I need to practice so I will be better at being the person I like to think I am, or want to be? What does my behavior say about my biography – both my history, and who I am today? How can I live more artfully?