What are you practicing these days?
If practice makes perfect (as my first grade teacher said) or if practice makes better (as our aikido sensei teaches) or if practice simply makes possible, it makes good sense to know what we’re practicing.
As human beings we’re incapable of not practicing.
Our biological system takes in stimuli from the environment, for example temperature, and quickly responds by adjusting, perhaps first by shivering if too cold, or sweating if too warm. We can then shift our behaviors to bring our biology back into equilibrium by putting on a sweater or opening a window for more air flow.
Pausing to notice what we’re actually practicing in our day-to-day interactions, at home, or in our work environments is invaluable. We practice moods and attitudes, behaviors and actions.
When we know what we’re practicing we can sync up our practices with what we care about, making our practices deliberate and our lives not only more congruent, but more meaningful in each moment.
Bringing conscious, intentional awareness to what we’re practicing moves us toward embodying an action or quality that supports our showing up to more fully engage in life vs. merely reacting out of unconscious habit.
So, what are you practicing these days? I’d love to hear.
And, by the way, if you’d like to read inspirational stories of others who’ve answered this question, check out The Practice Project (self-disclosure, you’ll see my practice there!) where you’ll read Julie’s story about beginning the Practice Project.