Notes on Practice and Showing Up
One of my favorite New Year’s rituals has become choosing a word or phrase as a kind of anchor, creating a place I where I can regularly return for stability and inspiration throughout the year. I’ve done it the past several years with words like SIMPLIFY and PATIENCE and they become mantras, bringing me back to myself and my intentions at any given time. At the start of this year, only a mere few weeks ago, I was in a bit of a funk. Last year delivered a few high hurdles and I had been lingering in the trenches more often than I liked. For someone who preaches against carrying around a litany of “shoulds,” I had somehow let them sneak in and boss me around. My inner lizard, self critic, bullshit whisperer or whatever you want to call it was large and in charge and as a result I was quieter than normal and feeling rather small, so as we entered January, I was ready for a fresh start and a better vibe.
After giving it a lot of thought I chose the word PRACTICE for as my word of the new year. In many ways it’s the key to growth and success although I don’t subscribe to the myth that “practice makes perfect.” The whole idea of perfection in general can get people into quite a rut - especially women. I think of practice more as a gentle reminder simply show up and do my best.
Practice is about creating deeply rooted habits and stronger neural pathways.
Practice implies doing things regularly and on purpose so that we can eventually do them with more confidence and ease, and it can be applied to just about anything: writing, cooking, drawing - you name it.
What’s the difference between “practicing” and plain old “doing?” The feeling for one. When I’m in a yoga class and I repeatedly fall out of a pose, it feels encouraging to remember that yoga a practice. It helps motivate me to keep showing up. When I sit down to meditate and my mind starts humming the “you suck at this” tune, reminding myself that it’s a practice helps turn that sh*t down and makes me feel more patient and present, which is what it’s all about.
While a practice mindset is the key to so many things, the key to practice itself is to SHOW UP, so that’s my other anchor this year. These two things go together like peanut butter & jelly or fish & chips. To deepen a practice in just about anything you first need to commit to showing up on a regular basis, even when it’s uncomfortable or just a pain in the ass. And if, like me, you are someone who tends to isolate when their inner bullshit whisperer starts in with her perfectionist propaganda, sometimes the act of showing up itself becomes the practice.
For me, showing up means things like more regular blogging and communication with my Audacious audience. It means not letting depression keep me from social events and get togethers. It means picking up the phone and calling friends and family members who are far away to catch up and stay connected. And it means continuing the various practices that nurture and sustain me.
In 2020 I want to deepen my yoga practice and my meditation practice. I want to continue my writing practice by showing up for journaling and morning pages. I also want to show up for my practice of eating food mindfully and without distraction and I want to continue showing up to practice appreciation and gratitude every single day.
Some days I may be more distracted than others. Some days I’ll really want to procrastinate and on those days simply showing up to practice, even for a little while, may be enough. Just like with yoga, sometimes I’ll lose my balance, and some days I’ll nail it. There is no perfect. Each day is different.
Remembering to PRACTICE and SHOW UP can help me let go of where I think I should be so that I can remember to be present where I am, in all of its imperfect glory. And I’m definitely down with that.
xo
Lisa
