Why is it that we expect to be able to do something well, that we do not practice? In my Heartwork http://www.heartworklife.com.au/ therapy sessions I often hear frustration and disillusionment as clients encounter their habitual patterns of thinking and ways of doing things. I encourage them to experiment with their ways of looking, listening and talking to themselves and to examine the practices that they use to support themselves, each day. By replacing expectations with attention to the practices that you would like to cultivate, you will get better at what you practice. Art making for me has become one of my regular practices, just like yoga, listening to podcasts, meditation, mindful breathing, walking on the beach & pausing. By attending to these practices on a regular basis they have come to replace many of my other mindless habits and have become more like healthy habits, that have become integrated into my life practices. Thinking of these things as practices also stops the tendency of the mind striving for perfectionism or that perfect illusive balance. With the ‘life practice’ mind shift if i am not practicing something i want more of in my life and I notice it, rather than giving into the habitual unhelpful self talk, i am motivated to make a plan to practice again at the next opportunity. If we practice our negative unexamined habits of thinking & reinforcing our self limiting beliefs we get more of them. If we expect to be able to do something like draw or meditate by doing it once then we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. We get better at what we practice! For more information about Heartwork and how to develop your own life practices, check out my therapy website.
Read MoreEverything is a Practice
