There is something you do to name this as failing.
Before failing, there was an intent, an intended way of doing things, perhaps also an intended desired result of taking a step, an action.
When this result is not met or when one has strayed from the intended way of doing things, there is often a gap.
What shall I do?
This gap is often filled, probably conditioned, by a moment of self-flagellation, self-punishment, naming, putting one's nose on the fact that one has failed in one's intent.
One of the essential principles of practice is that you are liberated from that conditioned reaction to self-perceived failure.
To give an example: one has decided one will practice a self-observation exercise where one will keep the awareness on the movement of breathing.
Following with one's awareness, inhale and exhale, perhaps for a number of breaths, let's say 100.
Before I start, I agreed internally:
The practice is over when I have followed 100 breaths without losing awareness of my breath, without straying with my attention into another topic.
This was the intention of the practice.
Or, I will sit for half an hour, and my only meditation object will be the movement of my breathing. I will count my breath. When I lose count, I return to zero and start counting again.
What does one do when one has strayed, lost awareness of the breathing, when the practice is set like this?
One returns immediately to the breathing.
There is no need to enter self-flagellation, self-punishment, self-judgement.
That is not part of the practice.
The practice is immediately returning to the practice intent.
This principle can be used anywhere.
Where would you like to stop hitting yourself? To stop smashing yourself? To stop judging yourself?
And return to the intent? To return to your being-level intention way of doing things?
"Firm in intention while flexible in action."
As one of my teachers once said...
This is the same gentle principle that inspired the Day Games - 52 small, playful, often humoristic, invitations to keep this return alive in the midst of daily life, without needing to step into self-judgement or even stay consistent with yesterday's story.
IN SEARCH OF ...
Rudolf Steiner on the value of practice and its daily life effects:
We must start with isolated instances that we choose intentionally. Then quite slowly and gradually, as if by itself, this new way of listening will become a habit. We practice this new way of listening in a systematic way.
Gurdjieff to his student Ouspensky:
There are moments when you become aware not only of what you are doing but also of yourself doing it. You see both ‘I’ and the ‘here’ of ‘I am here’ - both the anger and the ‘I’ that is angry. Call this self-remembering if you like.
From Idries Shah's story collections:
Do you cook yesterday's potoato peelings with today's potatos?
From G.I. Gurdjieff's practice hall aphorisms:
All energy spent on conscious work is an investment; that spent mechanically is lost forever.
THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU TRY
P.S. One spot with accommodation left, two without for the Spring Reheat— join our intimate group to loosens mental patterns through play, stillness and physical practice? Spring Reheat ↗
Join a sports café talk with 2 pro players on internal power in sports or "what pro athletes wish they trained earlier?" Join the talk on 19/2 ↗
Catch my April 18 workshop at the MAS Museum in my hometown Antwerp on martial arts beyond dogma? Expo opens on April 3 ↗
Or start simple with the 36-day practice-only Start Here (access all materials for 72 days, same seed, different form out of which Day Games grew).
Small steps, consistent shifts - your body already knows.
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