Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.
—William James
No, I don’t do that every day, I don’t have to. Opportunities to practice come by themselves often enough. As Alex Mathers says,
Happy people expect problems.
The main thing is to use them for skill development when they do come.
A couple have come to me recently and I managed to tackle one of them yesterday. I tuned into parasympathetic breathing to relax my body and clear my head and then thought like a physicist. I broke the problem down into manageable parts, started with the easiest one and worked from there. I didn’t hesitate to phone for help when I needed it, and didn’t argue when once I was told incorrect information. I just told the fellow what the website was saying and he was convinced. I focused on understanding what was happening, going over it many times so it felt familiar. I may have to do it again in the future, and now it should be easy.
I ended up feeling reasonably chuffed about the whole experience. Which is good, because the more that happens the less likely I am to waste time and energy worrying and fussing about problems. Just tackle them and keep learning and growing.
February 7, 2025
…standing the test is the order of the day now.
finally a quote that makes total sense to me and to my daily life… I just said to Bob, I do not want to clean the bathrooms today. I clean them every Friday. I said I am finding it more difficult to do the things I have done for 40 years and I put it off. I said I am flogging myself to do it. Once I started, it was easy.
just now Beau laid his head on my keyboard and I said, do you want to go outside? as I jacked myself out of the chair, I said sometimes you are a pain in the butt, but I love you anyhow, then I said to Bob. He makes us do what we don’t want to do, and doing this each time he asks and following him around the yard, is what is keeping me able to do it… I honed those skills when he got sick…
I got up to an email from a blog friend with a tech question and even though I did not want to research the problem, I did it and thus learned how to fix it when it happens to me…
goog job doing what you did…. when something I don’t know how to do in computer happens, I research until I learn it. I USED to remember it but the next time it happens I have to research again… unless I write it down, then I can’t find where I wrote it
Prayers also help.
God bless.
Interesting quote. There is a lot of truth in that though.
good quote to teach us to strengthen our willpower, so that when life does throw a challenge to us we are better equipped to conquer it. I need to practice this.
I need to hang this quote on the wall.