**This post was originally sent via Convertkit on July 31st, 2021**
Hey friend, and welcome to this issue of The Pause. For today's focus, we're going to take a moment to reflect on practice.
Yep. Practice.
Take a deep breath, settle in, and get ready to focus on practice in 3...2...1...
💪🏻 Practice
Until recently, I hadn't ever stopped to consider how my definition of practice could be affecting my life. I've mostly thought that practicing happens when I'm actively doing something I set out to do (eating more greens, managing my finances well, attentively listening in conversations, consistently moving my body, etc.), but a few weeks ago a meditation instructor offered a different perspective:
"Practice isn't just about the moments we're in the zone...it's also about the moments when we lose focus. It's about the moments when we choose to come back no matter how long we've been away -- the moments that, when they accumulate, start to become easier to find."
I started to think about the times I've said things like, "I've fallen out of practice," and for the first time I stopped to consider whether approaching practice in this way has been helping me.
What if practice isn't only about when I'm showing up?
What if I'm practicing even in the moments when I'm choosing not to do what I set out to do?
What if I *can’t* fall out of practice?
Consider for a second that losing focus and falling off aren't the anti-thesis of practice, but rather really important parts of practice that help us strengthen our literal and figurative muscles. What happens if we embrace these moments as essential parts of our progress instead of judge them for being "steps back" or proof that we can't change? What if practice is less about criticizing how much time it's been since we last showed up and more about encouraging ourselves when we choose to show up again?
There are certainly moments when I convince myself I'm slipping back into "bad" habits and not practicing -- moments in which I tell myself I only get credit if I do everything I set out to do. But here's something I'd like us all to consider:
Practice lies in every moment, not just the ones when we're succeeding.
Practice lies in the moment we skip our workout for the third time in a row. It lies in the moment we lose our temper with our kids. It lies in the moment we interrupt our friend in the middle of their story, and it lies in the moment we're unkind to ourselves.
In every moment of our lives we are practicing something, and in each of those moments lies an opportunity to choose differently.
So, if lately you've been feeling like you're in a rut or like you're losing focus, I encourage you to consider that you aren't falling behind or losing progress -- you're simply in the process of practicing, and whenever you decide, you can get back to doing what you set out to do.
- Lindsey
⏸ Pause & Reconnect
Remember, there are no right or wrong answers — just what’s true for you.
1. Is there something you feel like you've "fallen out" of doing that you'd like to get back to?
2. What is it and how can you help yourself get back to it?
3. If a similar falling back happens in the future, what can you do to help yourself get back to it faster?
P.S. In case you want to smile, this mash-up of Ted Lasso doing AI's practice speech made my day. Make a wonderful day for yourself, my friend. I'll see you back here in a couple of weeks. 🤎