It's been a while, I know. Life is an ever flow of events and I sometimes find myself caught up in the excitement of it all. Needless to say, (by the lack of my posts) blogging has been about the last thing on my mind lately. Imagine my surprise then, as I was in the middle of enjoying my breakfast, an interesting thought popped into my brain, and my laptop chirped at me simultaneously, as if telling me I had to blog about it. So here I am--about to reveal some of the ever flowing thoughts that rattle around in my brain!The question of the morning is: If practice makes perfect, or at the very least makes one better, does this apply to everything we do? Let's see, what are some of the "practices" we as humans do on a regular basis? Hmmm. Breathing, eating, sleeping, thinking, talking...? These activities maybe aren't viewed as "practice" because it has nothing to do with playing a sport or musical instrument, but, isn't anything we do regularly a form of practice?
The questions begin to snowball...
If thinking is practicing, what reoccuring thoughts are happening in my brain? Am I thinking positively or negatively?
My heartbeat picks up pace as if I were a convict getting ready to be sentenced. Oh, I know I have lots of thoughts that are happy, upbeat and filled with life, but what about those negative, pesky and downright ugly thoughts like, not being in better shape or not having enough money? When those thoughts occur more than ONE time, (and I definitely plead guilty on this) --then it is ultimately something that I am practicing.
What am I talking most about? Lack? Or Abundance? Am I talking about how happy and grateful I am to have water and food to eat daily? Over 75% of the world does NOT have that privilege.
Or am I talking about what I don't have, repeating a negative story I heard on the news, or gossping? Am I living in love or in fear? Which one am I ultimately practicing more and getting stronger at?
I find all of these questions to be very sobering, if I take a good honest look at myself. Am I subject to having these thoughts control my life? Hell no!
The good news is, I remind myself, we have a choice in the matter. Always. A choice to become aware of what is happening in our brains, and to actively replace bad thoughts with good ones. Comforting isn't it? Kind of like this hot cup of joe.
The more we practice awareness, the stronger we will become. And the stronger we become, the closer we are to that gold medal of abundance. That my friend, is something amazing to think about!
Now, back to my coffee...
Hi Leanna,
ReplyDeletepractice doesn't make one better.
Discipline does. Focus does.
Considering your last paragraph. Imagine this: your house is on foreclosure, you have 2 kids and no way to feed them or house them, your wife/husband left you ... how many space is there left for good thoughts?
What I just want to say is that we (I think I can safely assume this for most of the readers on this site) are privileged. We must absolutely take care not to project our biotope to people who aren't as lucky or talented as we are. For a lot of people, the choices you mention are actually non-existant. They don't think about awareness, they think about surviving.
Love,
Charles
Hey Charles,
DeleteThank you so much for sharing your thoughts and insights. I agree with you whole heartedly that we are privileged people. I also agree that discipline and focus are what makes one better. That is actually what I mean when I use the word practice. It encompasses both those things. Without those two key elements what would practice be anyway?
There are many people all over the world who, survival is their life,...acquiring the basic necessities such as food and water. I have been fortunate to travel much of the world and see this with my own eyes. However, I will say, that some of these people who I have met, who are living in homes made from mud and cow dung, are some of the happiest people I've ever met. This caused me to consider two questions: How can they be so happy when living in such dire conditions, and then find so many people, who have all the basic necessities and then some, be unhappy?
This is what let me to think about awareness of our abundance. I hope that clarifies a bit more about what I was meaning.
peace & blessings
Leanna