You've Done it Before

To continue the conversation of the previous Zen Blog post called "Let yourself be a beginner", I came across a quote from James Clear that is a wonderfully POWERFUL reminder, that we have EVERY BIT OF ABILITY to do things and make things happen for ourselves.

"The common narrative is that kids learn faster than adults, but if you watch any toddler they spend a large portion of the day attempting things that are on the edge of their ability."

~James Clear

You've Done it Before!

EVERY ONE OF US has been there before. We've DONE IT BEFORE. We've been faced with something that we can't do at the time. Something new. Something challenging. And we put EFFORT, ACTION and PRACTICE into play to learn overtime, whatever it is we're trying to do / accomplish. There's the obvious things like crawling, walking, reading, writing, etc... and then some of the other things like learning to skate or ride a bike, learning the rules of a sport/game, learning how to build things or create something etc...

Somewhere though, over our lifetime, we've become "shocked" by the fact that some things require PRACTICE, TIME and EFFORT. Our deep health being one of those things. With that, the principles of the process remain the same as what James Clear eludes to in his words.

I'm amazed at the attitudes of adults today, when they're faced with something NEW and/or UNKNOWN, and how they DISMISS IT, PUT THEMSELVES DOWN for "not being good at it" or BOTH. Yet we've ALL done the process MANY MANY times in our life. It's time we slow down enough to start realizing it.

PRACTICE is how things GET DONE and how we LEARN

In terms of balance training, I've never forgot the phrase I heard early in my career; "In order to train balance, you have to be out of balance". It makes sense right? If I'm balanced and not challenged in the balance, I'm really not training my balance to improve. In order to do so, I need to be 'out of balance' to some extent, to train my body and allow it to adapt to the stimulus.

Our health and lifestyle work on the same principle. If we STAY in a place of comfort and "auto pilot" because it's familiar and do-able, then we will STAY THE SAME. Which is TOTALLY FINE by the way. HOWEVER, when you're seeking CHANGE it will 100% of the time REQUIRE CHANGE. It doesn't have to be drastic, but it DOES have to be something DIFFERENT than what you're doing right now. You have to try something that ("say it ain't so!") might seem difficult at first, but with practice and time it WILL become easier.

*Note: "Difficult" doesn't mean exhausting, painful or a "major" struggle. In this context, "difficult" means something that may require a bit of focus and effort to make easier. That's all.

Enter PRACTICE. Choosing that "tweak" / change that you'll make to create a SHIFT in your health and lifestyle in the direction that you're seeking. Then, DOING it AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN. Allowing that change to become your NEW NORM, to the point where IT becomes your new "auto pilot" or "default mode".

Kids learn to move their bodies, create, refine skills etc all through PRACTICE. Often that PRACTICE is in the form of PLAY. They try things, the adjust as they go, they stay in the moment with whatever it is they're doing and they do it often. We ALL have done this!! Yet now, a common mentality to health and lifestyle is, "If it's hard / I'm not good at it right away, I won't do it." 😳

The Answers to our Questions are Already in us

It's funny isn't it? When you hear analogies like this, it makes total sense! Many of you reading this will be thinking, "Right! I get it." We have ALL WE NEED to create foundational practices for a healthy lifestyle. But then, we LET THE NOISE IN:

After reading this post, some of you may hop on Tiktok or Instagram and be pulled in 12 directions in the next 5min...

You'll be chatting with someone you know who will tell you the latest and greatest health kick they're on, and you'll question YOUR own approach...

A random article or influencer will pop up in your social feeds and immediately have you jumping onto whatever they're touting OR questioning your own current state of health...

Yet all we need is to re-learn to TRUST OURSELVES. DO THE BASICS. DO THEM OFTEN.

Just like when we were kids.