Trust the process
"Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.” - Zen masters on emphasizing the need for committing to and thriving during the process in any pursuit.
Are you able to touch your toes?
During one of my trips to Texas, my long time friend Hedison and I went for a run. Hedison knows my love for running and we spoke all about it and pushed each other. After we got back, Hedison asked: Are you able to touch your toes?
A picture is worth a thousand words:
Hedison has been practicing Kung-Fu for 20 years and teaches martial arts in Dallas (https://www.wahlumdallas.com/).
After seeing how inflexible I am, he suggested a simple plan:
Before you run, 20 deep breaths folding from your hips. After you run, 20 deep breaths folding from your hips.
What he managed to do is to suggest a habit that’s so easy to follow especially on days when I lack motivation. In addition to this, a periodic check-in has prompted me to stick to the habit.
Practicing the Way
While I’ve been stretching for a while now, I’m still not seeing results. No miracle has happened yet. I still can’t touch my toes. Hedison has continued to motivate me to keep practicing without really thinking about results too much.
This reminded me of Ekaku-san’s words on achieving mastery:
“Its like chopping down a huge tree of immense girth. You won’t accomplish it with one swing of your axe. If you keep chopping away at it, though, and do not let up, eventually, whether it wants to or not, it will suddenly topple down. When that time comes, you could round up everyone you could find and pay them to hold the tree up, but they wouldn’t be able to do it. It would still come crashing to the ground…
But if the woodcutter stopped after one or two strokes of his axe to ask the third son of Mr. Chang, ‘Why doesn’t this tree fall?’ And after three or four more strokes stopped again to ask the fourth son of Mr. Li, ‘Why doesn’t this tree fall?’ he would never succeed in felling the tree. It is no different for someone practicing the Way.”
Trust the process
What separates Masters from others is something surprisingly simple. Whenever we learn a skill, we frequently reach a point of frustration. We give in to these feelings and unconsciously quit on ourselves before we actually give up.
Hedison has been mastering the art of Kung-Fu for 20 years. He mastered this skill when he was young and buried in his mind is the sensation of overcoming frustrations and entering the cycle of accelerated returns. In moments of doubt in the present, his memory of the past experience rises to the surface.
Masters trust in the process and trudge on well past the point at which others slow down or mentally quit.
Until Next Time,
Keshav :)