Lawris

--Tao Te Ching, Chapter 63 (Le Guin translation)

You can understand this from a few angles. One is to contemplate how any huge achievement is built from small steps over time.

No matter how mysterious or superhuman someone's performance may seem, they reached that level of skill by some progression, where each new challenge built upon what was learned before.

So if you want to achieve something great, figure out how to break it down into a progression of small steps. (The flip side of this is that if you want to influence the outcome of some project, it's a lot harder when the project is almost done.)

If you have no idea where to begin, start with finding role models who have achieved similar goals, and study how they did it.

A different angle is to contemplate how the small things you're doing every day are already part of some progression, even if you don't realize it.

Chapter 63 ends:

The wise soul, by treating the easy as hard, doesn't find anything hard.

All your actions contribute to a life trajectory, and you can change that trajectory by changing the presence of mind you bring to your actions.

What small shift could you make today, that you might look back on with gratitude, years later?

One of the regulars at a bar starts telling everyone that he's going to travel the world to find the perfect woman, and heads out.

Six months later he comes back into the bar looking glum.

"Didn't find her, huh?" the bartender says.

"No, I did," he replies. "But she was looking for the perfect man."

Yesterday, after publishing an essay with a typo, I said I was going to write about perfectionism. I thought that meant perfectionism in writing. But I just caught a whiff of something way more impactful: perfectionism in relationships.

One of the selling points of #ship30for30 is that you'll have a community of people to help you keep at it. I thought that sounded great!

But there's also a part of me that's afraid of community, afraid of judgment and rejection.

And when I give into that fear, I end up being the one who rejects other people, by holding myself back! Isn't it ironic? When it goes unchecked, the part recreates what it fears.

I can see how its fear grows out of my childhood experiences of feeling alone, and feel compassion for that. And I can teach it that things have changed now; that what it truly wants is within reach. I can help that part heal.

1. Contemplate why what you're trying to do matters.
   

2. Can't remember? Maybe it really doesn't matter, and you really should do something else. You have my permission.
   

3. Did you get enough sleep? Maybe this is a chance to be kind to yourself by lowering your expectations.
   

4. Maybe there's a more fun way to do the thing, and you're not letting yourself do it because you think it's not allowed. It's a 3-for-1 deal on personal growth! Do the thing, be creative, and examine a limiting belief!
   

5. Indulge in one of your favorite distractions, but pay very careful attention to how it's not that fulfilling because your attention is split.
   

6. Or, totally immerse yourself in the distraction. See and feel it like you're doing it for the first time. Let it truly nourish you.
   

7. Instead of trying to overcome your resistance, give it a voice. Throw a tantrum. Thrash a pillow. Have a good cry.
   

8. Just do a little bit of work, for 15 minutes. Set a timer. After that, theatrically celebrate yourself. Celebrate me too, for getting you to warm up.
   

9. Notice that there's a part of you that is insisting on getting to work, and a part that is resisting. Both parts mean well. Developing a loving relationship with these parts is the work within the work, and it will last your whole life.
   

10. You're doing great!

I was at a monastery in the mountains of northern Malaysia. The area was packed with people who'd come to celebrate Kathina. I'd woken up at 5:30 AM to arrive in time. It was raining steadily and we were huddling under a tin roof. Grumpy and overstimulated, I started reading a free pamphlet so I could have something to focus on.

Most, although not all, of what one experiences is the result of one's previous karma, and how one responds to the present experience will generate new karma.

In this dynamic interplay between experiencing results from the past and responding in the present, we literally create our own future, moment by moment. Karma is not fate, and the present moment is where there is the possibility of freedom.

I realized this applied to my experience in that very moment.

"It's very early, I haven't had any coffee, and I'm getting rained on. I'm having a bad time."

The first three things are facts, but the meaning that I give them is not a fact. It's a mental construction based on my past experiences, and it only persists because I'm unconsciously reinforcing it. As soon as I noticed, my "bad time" became a practice opportunity.

With presence of mind, we can work with subtle thoughts and feelings as they arise rather than replaying the past. It's a skill, and meditation practice develops that skill.

Just a tiny moment of presence can make a small difference in how you feel. And many small differences add up to big shifts.