your daily rock : practice
I love this word, “practice.”
Sure, I practice my fiddle. And I practiced piano for 15 years’ worth of lessons before then. And I’m beginning (again) a meditation practice and a yoga practice. And I’m practicing saying “no” to sugar.
In addition to those external, physical practices, I want to practice some internal stuff too.
I want to practice:
Noticing my first thought (which might look like a knee jerk reaction) and working on my second (which looks a lot like empathy and love and understanding).
Pausing for 24 hours before responding to an invitation to give myself time to feel the answer.
Asking myself “what would love do?” in times of great irritation and in times of great peace.
Remembering to extend grace to myself when I screw up.
Acknowledging that people I disagree with are as sure of their own convictions as I am of mine.
Letting myself lower my bar, cutting myself some slack.
Dancer and choreographer Martha Graham has said of practice (one of my favorite quotes): “I believe we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit… Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.”
What would you like to practice?
Love,
(These beautifully painted rocks are created by Kim Mailhot, aka The Rock Fairy.
