I recently set a personal goal to practice my Soaring Crane
qigong every day. No exceptions. That resolution lasted for 8 days before I
missed a day of practice. I can claim a good excuse. I was in bed for the day
sick with food poisoning. Nevertheless, missing a day this early in my marathon
was a setback.
I got back on track the next day and kept counting days. I
practiced the next 4 days and then missed one again. I can't even give a good
reason for missing that day. I had plenty of time but I was just lazy that day.
That's when I decided to write this.
There are two possible ways to think about this. First, most
of us have a natural tendency to think the worst of a situation. My immediate
response is to say that I am a failure at this, that I am incapable of
following a plan. What's the matter with me? I teach tai chi. I ask my students
to practice every day. Why can't I do it?
Upon reflection, I realized that using this kind of label
for myself is very counter-productive. The problem with this negative self-talk
is that it creates a negative self-image that de-motivates me.
Here is the second way to think about this situation. I am
better off by regarding it as a small success. After all, I did practice for 8
in a row, missed a day, and then did it for the next 4 days. I did make some
progress toward my goal. I practiced 12 days out of 14 days. That's 86%. It's
not 100% like I wanted to achieve, but it's a whole lot better than I had been
doing.
To counteract the negative self-talk, I plan to congratulate
myself every time after I complete my forms. Completing the forms at all is
time for a small internal celebration. So, I'm back in the saddle and planning
on doing it again tomorrow.
Does anyone have any similar experience that you would like to share? I would like to hear how other people deal with situations like this. Please leave a comment.
© 2013 Eric Borreson
Note: I wrote this a week or so ago. I am up to 8 days in a
row as I continue to work on this.
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