A Subtle Celebration
Day 218
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09567976221075302?journalCode=pssa
Today we're taking a little break from our journey through our minds, to check-in on an aspect of how we're doing our practice, rather than what we're doing.
Sometimes, as we're practicing together day after day, talking about this or that aspect of our minds (for example, last week it was the beginning and end of individual thoughts), it can feel like maybe this is where you should be. And while it is important to understand something about the nature of thoughts, it may well be that right now, that's not what your practice looks like. Maybe you're in the middle of a catastrophe, and your practice is about just dealing, or maybe that fact about thoughts is old news and you're working at a much finer granularity of mind.
The point is, you do you. The practice is simply to be aware and accepting of what is happening right now, just as it is.
Related to this, most of us have a tendency to gloss over, or entirely ignore our day-to-day, subtle growth. It just doesn't look like anything is happening (to our eyes and fast-moving thoughts). It's like watching a field of corn or your children grow – you don't see it, but for the people who see them twice a year, the growth is remarkable.
If we can't see our growth, it can start to feel like it's not happening. This can be demotivating and is simply false. The study pictured above is evidence of this.
The practice itself will start to tune you in to this subtle, but inexorable and accumulative transformation. Growth in nature is multiplicative. One seed can make thousands of seeds, each of which can make thousands more. Your growth is the same. By practicing daily, you are tapping into this force of nature. This level of amplification and momentum is required to change your strong and (at first) fixed mind.
PRACTICE
Deliberately look for your incremental gains. What does 1% growth look like? Once you tune into that level, what does 0.01% (...0.001%...etc!) growth look like? Have a subtle celebration every time you notice. 😐+1%🎉
What does your celebration look like?💃🏾