Morning PhilosophersNotes Tribe! Today we’ll be studying Mastery by George Leonard.
Mastery by George Leonard
“We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.”
~ George Leonard from Mastery
And some words from Brian Johnson:
Mastery. If we have any desire to live at our highest potential, we MUST master the concept of Mastery. And George Leonard, a life-long learner, educator, teacher, author, and Aikido master is our ideal teacher.
In this PhilosophersNote, we explore the simple, profound truths aimed at helping us re-orient ourselves from ineffective Dabbler, Obsessive and Hacker approaches to life to one of Mastery.
Life’s too short for anything other than our best, wouldn’t you agree? My vote: let’s dedicate our lives to a path of Mastery. Starting now.
And as always, what’s your BIGGEST Aha! moment from this Note and how are you going to implement the wisdom from today into your life? Drop a comment and let the discussions roll!And twitter users, don’t forget the #50days 
Also, because lots of people are joining in on the Challenge a few days late and in case you miss a day or two, check out this page » We’ve listed every Note that will be discussed (on which day) along with links to the discussion posts.Can’t wait to get the discussion going on today’s Note.
Talk to you guys tomorrow and if you haven’t got your 100 PhilosophersNotes yet, you can grab them here »
FinerMinds is hosted by 
Hi Team
I love the quote “The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.” To which I would add, the master is the one who has realised that most paths are infinite, there are few if any absolutes. “mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year.”
Plenty of examples in my life of “Dabbler, Obsessive & Hacker”.
So much truth in “How do you best move toward mastery? To put it simply, you practice diligently”.
Ahh — the illusion of the “endless climax” and learning to love the plateau.
The idea that “Ultimately, the master and the master’s path are one. And if the traveler is fortunate—that is, if the path is complex and profound enough—the destination is two miles farther away for every mile he or she travels” captures part of it. For me, the paths are infinite, in a very real sense there is no destination; simply the journey.
I love the reality again, that to learn anything new, we must be willing to become the novice anew, to make all the silly mistakes. Our looking good is in for a rough time — might as well get used to it.
“Intentionality” is essential. Having a vision. For me, it is a vision of a world where every individual experiences freedom, security and prosperity. http://www.solnx.org is my best plan for how to achieve it.
I understand many of the mechanisms of “Homeostasis” in living systems, and I am not sure that it is quite what is required, and there is a sort of a sense to it.
And I do agree with the need to develop habits that support the practice of lifelong learning. And sometimes life is like climbing a scree slope, one must simply continue putting one foot after another, and sometimes you are sliding backwards faster than you are going up, and eventually, you do get to the top. If it’s 3 or 4,000 ft of scree, you might be in for 6 or 8 hours of unrelenting slog. Pays to have done some training to prepare the mind and body for something like that.
“It’s easy to get on the path of mastery. The real challenge lies in staying on it” — that says it all. We all have our inclinations to laziness at a host of levels, the trick is in learning to recognise it quickly in each new level.
“Mastering the Commonplace” is a great recipe — stay awake, and in the present. Easy to say, so far from easy to do.
The “Getting Energy for Mastery” section has proved itself to me over and over again. If I don’t get up and move, my body seizes up, and movement hurts. If I just get up and stretch every hour, then I am flexible and movable, and quite capable of carrying a heavy pack for hours. Just taking the opportunities that present to rapidly accelerate rather than slowly amble, keeps the body prepared for acceleration when really needed.
Great Note — Thanks Brian and Vishen
Good morning, Ted. “Ultimately, the master and the master’s path are one. And if the traveler is fortunate—that is, if the path is complex and profound enough—the destination is two miles farther away for every mile he or she travels” captures part of it. This consistently reminds me of sailing. I always enjoyed the tack. It was nothing to crank up a powerboat and speed toward the destination. In sailing, it is more important (and necessary) to tack toward the destination. I much prefer the voyage. Otherwise, it is no more than a commute. I also do the same in skiing. Any fool can plummet toward the bottom at breakneck speed, but it is the love of the sport that invites the slalom and exploration of moguls and side trails. I might also say I do the same in golf…but I am trying to improve the lie in that one.
Hi Mark
Yes — At one stage, in the early 80s, after the oil shock, I trialled a sailing catamaran for commercial fishing, for just over a year. The port I was based at was about a mile and a half up quite a small river. I used to set myself the challenge of sailing right to the wharf, no engine use — a couple of big twists in the river, as well as about 20 little ones, so the course varied over about 200 degrees. Mostly I made it, sometimes would just simply run out of wind.
I’ve driven about a million miles, in many different vehicles. In my younger days I thought nothing a doing a 6 hour drive to attend a 10 hour meeting then turn around and drive the 6 hours straight back home again, catch a couple hours sleep and back out fishing. Too expensive in missed days fishing to do it any other way.
Don’t often drive more than 8 hours a day now. Try and limit myself to 16 hour days.
My golf still gives me the slalom experience anyway. Always trying to get that little bit more from the drive, and if the weight doesn’t come forward, the slice is there. I’m quite good at scrambling — of necessity. I try and avoid the lie, probably why I can’t get down to single figures
— just trying too hard — relaxing and letting the body do it is easy to say, but difficult to do — the temptation to always try that little bit harder — to interfere consciously, is so strong.
If I do manage to get this http://www.solnx.org project completed, and life extension a reality, then I don’t see any need for there to ever be boredom. The possible paths already appear infinite.
Maybe one day our paths will cross and we can play 18 somewhere. About 400 courses to choose from here in NZ — highest ratio of courses to people on the planet — about 1 for every 10,000 people.
Day 31.…I am loving these notes for the experience and the changes they will inspire
Where do i begin.…
I have never read or even heard of George Leonard. I know I’ve written it before, but I AM buying this book. These notes parallel the stage where I am right now. On week three of my new gym regimen I can say that I am truly loving the experience because I simply want to. I simply wanted to stop procrastinating and feel good about myself without a goal of losing weight or hitting some other benchmark. I know I will set goals in the process but for the first time I am actually enjoying the process simply because I am committed.
“In all of this, the specific content isn’t nearly as destructive to mastery as is the rhythm. One epiphany follows another. One fantasy is crowded out by the next. Climax is piled upon climax. There’s no plateau.”
As Leonard points out, we’re bombarded with images of “endless climaxes.” Well I totally agree with what he is saying here. I see it everywhere sometimes to the point where I don’t want to turn on the TV or even walk through Walmart. I find it is really affecting children and the idea of endless climaxes (pardon the pun here but constantly bombarded with using sex to sell) to now reach younger and younger members of our society is disturbing to me. I almost freaked out a few weeks ago wondering how can I really guard my children this way. Being the mom of a pre-teen and newly turned teenager I can;t say I know exactly how to handle this delema. I’ve been working on this idea of instant gratification with both my children and not sure how we got here. Really, it’s like I woke up one monring and said…“oh oh, what have we done with our kids?” I am going to have to evaluate this area a little further.…I’ll be back, off to work
Good Monday morning all you wonderful peeps ”)
love how this is all affecting you! isnt it great? as far as the kids go.. first let go of the fear as much as you can… that only serves to keep you stuck… then trust in what you have given them and then trust them.. isnt that the honor we all deserve…
i teach kindergarten and have a 23 and almost 21 year old… though some of their choices are not the greatest they need to make them to discover their rightful place…and grow..
they are fortunate to have you as a parent on a path…
tell them you trust their choices that is a respect they will want to live up to…
have a wonderful day…
You are so right. Love can make miracles happen can’t it?!I am so grateful for all the learning and groundbreaking work iIve been doing with these notes. I actually look forward to disagreements with my daughter in particular and can see where I have grown from everyone of them (and so has she but she’s just not aware of it). I no longer seem to run away from any confrontation or conflict for I know that I will learn from everything that I am involved in. I just love all these oportunities to grow. Thanks for the advice and helping me see this area ina whole new light. From the bottom of my heart I thank you
your most welcome …
what your not running away from is EGO! the ego that shouts “hey, your the grown up here, take charge!“
most of the time that approach is foolish and creates havoc…
how wonderful that you can see yours and your daughters growth and one day you can tell her that.. and she will be aware! (dont be surprised if she isnt right now in fact)
let me know how it goes…
warm hugs
Hi again, Amp. This reminds me of Gay and Katie Hendricks’ latest “living on the edge of orgasm”. We get this feeling of climax in an uninterrupted flow when we are totally “on the beam” in our daily ritual and accomplishments. One epiphany follows another. One fantasy upon another. I can only imagine what a constant high feels like…it’s been a very long time. I do know the feeling of enjoying the journey, and I know that of accomplishment. Now I can see they go hand-in-hand…even though there are plateaus. Your experience with the kids and instant gratification addresses the lack of today’s society to actually enjoy “nothingness”. There is a great serenity and refreshment in non-accomplishment as well. It’s a matter of not feeling guilty when in a lull, as long as the practice is persistent and diligent. There are even books advocating the “art of doing nthing”, for those who may take the time to read. We don’t always need noise in our lives to remind us we are alive.
Good Monday Am. I have a soon to be 19 year old boy, and the best advice I could give you about raising children is to talk with them about everything and never to lie. Share your experiences, your thoughts, your beliefs, your concerns. Tell them why you make the choices you do, and then be willing to let them make their own choices. You will be pleasantly surprised at how powerful that can be. I think that your children probably already have a leg up on most, simply because you are aware of what goes in society, and that you take the time to make yourself a more enlightened person. Good work on keeping with the gym routine.
Well done with the gym routine. We’ve just had half term, so I’ve lost the plot with exercise, and my daughter was sick today. However, tomorrow, I begin again.
“We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.” That’s it in a nutshell. I am willing to try and fail for as long as it takes to fulfill my dreams but I need to stay on the path day after day, year after year.
Dabble/Obsess/Hack — I do all three depending on what it is I’m doing. The key is to select an area or areas where I want to be a master and then focus single-mindedly on that.
Loving the Plateau — this was a Eureka moment for me because when I reach a plateau I tend to give up and move onto something else. Now I understand that this is all part of the process and the journey I am on.
Is there something you’ve been holding back on out of fear of looking foolish?!? Yes.…my writing!
It’s funny, I went to this Buddhist center last Tuesday. There were about a hundred people in the room and the teacher asked us to pair up and ask the question, “What is holding you back?” Then we were to listen without judgment or offering advice. And then we were to ask again, “What is holding you back?” We were to pose the question three times.
To make a long story short, the answer that came up for me in all the different areas in which I have goals in my life (writing especially) is fear of rejection.
So, I really like the idea that rejection is something we need to PRACTICE. Like, we need to TRY to get rejected over and over and over, because when we are getting rejected, that means we are aiming really high and if it’s happening again and again, it means we are working. And if we are working, we are of course improving.
In Stephen King’s On Writing, he talks about how he hammered this long nail into his wall at the beginning of his writing career and every time he received a rejection slip he would put it on this nail. So, they were there for him to see all the time and he used that as a sign that he is trying and growing.
soma.…great story about stephen king and your lite bulb!
improving has to come from some sort of rejection, fear, failure.…or we would be perfect from the start…
its about not letting it stop us but letting that fear of.…. teach us how we need to tweak and adapt and succeed…
write on (that was corny)
Homeostasis — my rocket boosters are firing on all cylinders to get beyond the gravitational pull. This is a fantastic analogy.
“It’s easy to get on the path of mastery. The real challenge lies in staying on it.” This is a challenge I am willing to take on. I am on the path of mastery to become the person I want to be. I know the areas I need to focus on and I am 100% committed to mastering these areas of my life. I now need to develop a support system (of which this PN community is a big part) and follow regular practice.
Looking forward to the week and the fantastic books/notes that are coming up!
<looking at Jayne’s vapor trail>
I’m with you, Jayne. I dug deep a while ago and reinforced the knowledge of what I do best and most love to do. I quit it because of a dwindling interest and felt at a dead-end. Now I’m using that cul-de-sac as a launching point, whipping around in a circle and launching into action. The reason I hadn’t returned earlier? Because I said I had quit it for good. What I didn’t realize was that I had built up numerous talents and abilities to create an entirely new venture from it.
Godspeed to ya!
That’s an awesome analogy, Jayne. And that gravitational pull of the “thermostat” or your “habitual gravity” is such a real thing…
Wow.…that is a great analogy. I think I may “borrow” it if it’s OK with you. I am starting to realize the real challenge in creating new routines and habits and am starting to actually enjoy the work for what it is. This is such a great support system. I couldn’t imagine life without it…or without these last 31 days. I can just imagine what the next 19 will be like
I too am looking forward to the rest of the week and next weeks as well. It is actually one week where I read three of the books. i can’t wait to hear everyone’s take on them and again thanks for the analogy 
Happy Monday Morning All ….
This is the best time of my life…
I am experiencing the process of “becoming” all the time, as each plateau brings with it insight, direction, peace and surrender. I love the surrender. That’s the time when I feel I am open to my greatest growth.
Mastery!
Habits try so very hard to tug us back and so do those around us when they notice a change in us, as it scares them.
I think it was Wayne Dyer who said it “Nod and say, “ I thank you for your advice, I will consider it”. This makes the “tuggers” feel acknowledged and there is no long drawn out “ tug-of-war” of words…
Then move forward.
And of course, not taking any of it all too seriously!
Don’t Panic
Be Willing
And let it flow….
Enjoy the beauty of all around us!
Wowsers, PSue. I am happy for you! Yeah, if the little tuggers become fears ya can always just wave at ‘em. =)
Doncha just love when things all fall into perspective? Stuff you’ve always known but failed to put in a proper order so that they may better serve you. Seems we can do one thing or another, but never realize they can all fall into place to make the journey an enjoyable and successful one. I remembr taking golf lessons, and struggling to remember all the tips and instructions as I played the links. After a while, though, they all seem to corroborate one another and I actually enjoyed the game whether I scored well or not.
mmm
yea, its such a great trip, when you dont need to judge, confront, or aggravate over people and things you have no control over anyway.
Puresue, it makes me really happy to hear you say that. We are all rooting for you!
I think dwyers approach would really help keep the ego in check, you know because it is the ego, simply ackowledge and let it go.…I’ve caught myself in way too many tug-of-wars with those “tuggers” and the next time I am going to experiment with this approach and then move forward as well.
I am enjoying the beauty.…
yeaa! and it stops the tuggers for the need to push harder..
it also relates to a catch…if someone throws a ball you have the choice to catch it right?..
now if they throw out some fear it is also your choice to catch it or throw it back or drop it…
here’s to dropping it!
Before going back to work I have to comment on the idea of dabbling. That was so me and in a few respects it still is. Awareness is key here and I know dabbling is one thing that I have been working on in many areas. Whether it was work, relationships or lifestyle, I would try something and completely lose any interest within months. If it was a job.…six months tops.…and a relationship would rarely last that long. As far as healthy habits go, I couldn’t stick to anything long enough to form any. Isn’t it really neat to see things fall into plave even if it has taken years to see the clouds finally clear. And just like plateaus, I am sure that the clouds will come back some day, but my oh my, can’t they be pretty
You can’t have a rainbow without the rain and so too with life.….we can still find some beautiful lessons in those moments that seem so dull and boring. George Leonard is actually hepling me open up to my curious side, you know that side that was really strong when I was like three or four and wondered about everything. I am going to take some time today and look at something ordinary and find the extraordinary in it. I’ll be back with my observations.
I am SO with you there, AMP. Earlier in thses notes I proudly proclaimed my journey down many paths with immediate and brief brilliance…only to be dissuaded at the first obstacle. I’ve had a lot of 6–12 month relationships too. The longest has been ten years. That’s over too. I think my longest “career” was in the military, but the draft made me sign up so it was a matter of necessity that I remained.
I love to look at the rainbows and smell the roses too, but that shoud be a part of the journey, not the goal…which I admit to falling out of step to do. Now the clouds are merely veils over opportunities.
Mark I think it’s ok to fall out of step and look at the rainbows and roses now and again too
No one ever said the path had to be straight as long as you get back on the right path for you I think it’s ok to wander. Now, maybe I will learn different iin the next few weeks.…but it sounds OK to me.
But I guess what Mark is saying is that “smelling the roses” can also be a distraction, an excuse to avoid the discipline required for Mastery. The kind (I love the corniness of this) that leads to blissipline. : )
I hear you about the dabbling thing. I dabbled in many areas for many years and even convinced myself that it was ok to be knowledgeable about many things but master of none.…lol…how silly that seems in retrospect. Not that I would have really chosen to do any of them any differently, but now I have reached a place where I have a better view and I can look around and see that NOW is the time for mastery, and there has never been a better time than now. I love the reference to being like a little child again. I have been thinking about myself as a little child often lately. After recalling the wonder and openness and amazement that I had with the world, and also the care free attitude concerning how I looked or what people thought of me, I have decided that it’s time to go back and reclaim some of that attitude.
I guess being a dabbler was part of my path at the time too. Being a dabbler does help me appreciate fine tuning my skills and doing one job well done as opposed to starting many and finishing none. It so was the story of many an undertaking for me. I really do feel like life has more purpose and direction than ever. Whew, I new the notes would be good but I am stillfinding it kind of euphoric. Who woulda thunk, some notes, a group…presto.…it’s all goooooooood
True, it’s rather unexpected. : )
Don’t know if you’ve read Sarah Ban Breathnach. One of her books, Romancing the ordinary, is a wonderful look at appreciating the ordinary things in life.
Actually i have not read her although I have cme across her recently. Nice, kind reminds me of a buddhist story or book I heard about.…the art of making tea. I think the idea is similar. Enjoy the simplicity in every moment
Thanks for the recomendation.
PS. I have an interview on Wednesday for the job I applied for.….say some prayers for me
Mine are with you.
That’s great AM, I’ll be thinking of you, wishing you all the best
Maxine
Day 31 Mastery22 February 2010
Mastery is Persistence. Patience. Diligence. Consistency. Surrender. Optimalisation. A matter of becoming the journey. Enjoying the lulls, savoring the highs. Expecting no immediate gratification (realizing it CAN happen though). Visualization. Clarity. Living the practice as a part of life, giving in to the ups and downs as you travel the path with the goal in mind, not in sight. Striving to do the ordinary in an extraordinary way as an inherent manner of being. Seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, touching. Involving the body fully, exhausting energy reserves so more are summoned forth. Walking the walk. Dedication. Living the practice becomes a lifetime of learning, piling climax upon climax, stringing epiphanies as a lei of love and humility. Looking at life as a bubbling stream of consciousness, flowing over and around obstacles with a grace and ease developed by a dedication to the process. Yep. I think I get it.
I think that all of us here have been being all three at points in our lives, dabbler, obsessive, hacker. It was nice to see it so clearly laid out though, and yeah, I get it too.…when the going gets rough, it’s time to kick in the reserves, not time to run off in a new direction, and I’m happy to say that that’s just what I have done today.
Yes — that “Warrior of Light” quote keeps coming to mind — we can understand it in others, because we’ve done (or come so close to doing) it ourselves.
I am so copying this whole note. This is now the extended play version of the song for my purpose! I will shorten it and keep a copy in my pocket. Very very well done Monsier Hoover
I am so getting over it too. I can actually laugh and I mean really laugh at all my foibles (not sure if it’s even a real word) but I am in love with the moment right now.….Off I go to enjoy and savor some more posts
This reminds me of the Zen Proverb, “Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. “
The journey is the adventure. You manifest your love through your work and activities. Fulfillment does not eliminate the daily chores.
Good day pn peeps. Today is the 3/5 marks of our journey and I think I completely understand the 90% is only halfway there. I missed the last 2 days by choice, as I was feeling overwhelmed, and that’s how I have come to understand this principle. From here, for me, it feels like this is the hardest part…lol..to keep moving forward, to fight through the desire to let days pass by without doing anything. This weekend was one of utter laziness and complacency for me. And in it, I realized that no matter how overwhelmed I felt, that it was not worth it to take a break and stop…after all, the world doesn’t stop
So here I am, back for day 31 with a renewed desired to push forward and through the rough patch. Time to see what today’s note has in store.
) in toast…to all of us, for using our energy, fighting our gremlins. and keeping our torches burning.
Hahahahaaaaa.….ohh the beauty and joy of synchronicity. I can see where the last few days I have been being an obsessive dabbler.…lol…I’m so happy that I chose to get back up on the horse that bucked me off!
Ohh, how I do love the process. Many times in my past, when I have reached the place (plateau?) where I found myself last Thursday, I have simply stopped completely, not picking back up for months or even years sometimes. It feels really rewarding to have realized where I was and what I was doing, and to be able to make the choice to continue climbing, one small step at a time. It felt like everything in my life was falling apart over the last few days, my home, my relationships, my goals, my determination, and the smallest choice made the biggest difference. I simply chose to get out of bed today and believe that everything happens for my greater good. That it could simply be my perception that things were falling apart, but if they really were, then so be it. I decided to choose being who and what I want and believing in the upward movement of my existence. I decided to believe that “I can” and guess what? I could! Lol
Lol.…laziness.…“Disinclined to action or exertion; averse to labor, indolent; idle; slothful.” That is the perfect description of my last few days. All I did was cook food, no cleaning, no journaling, no meditation, no practices, no exercise.…really absolutely nothing, and it felt like crap.…lol. I thought that doing nothing for a few days would help me, give me time to relax, to unwind, but it it only made me feel worse, and once I made the choice that today would be different, well.…lol…I felt 110% better.
“Much of the world’s depression and discontent… can ultimately be traced to our unused energy, our untapped potential.” This pretty much sums up both my past issues with depression and the past few days as well.…unused energy. So I raise my glass ( of chai
Great to have you back threethrees!, well done for getting back into the challenge, you could so easily have fallen by the wayside, but you dusted yourself off, and got back on.
I can so understand your feeling of overwhelm. Normally, I like to take my time with a book, and gradually take on the ideas within. It has felt like we have been bombarded by so many good intentions, that it’s hard to keep up with it all.
Over here look at me. I took two weeks away from the notes because life felt like a land slide. Evrything for a purpose though.…I took those weeks and used them to implement some new routines and practices. I felt all that i was learning from the notes was too overwhelming so I decided I WAS going to take action and being the ADD woman I am I could not figure out how to take those new steps and keep up with the notes so I let them go (temporarily) and I am not going to punish myself for them. I realized when I came back (renewed and rejuvenated I must say) I realized how much i really missed the group, the notes and the whole process. These noptes really have become a great part of my life.
p It’s great that you are bakc here today. I have been exactly where you said you used to be too. If I fell off the wagon I rarely hopped back on and when I did, the next obstacle that knocked me off course usually kept me off for good or atleast for a very long time. This weekend I felt very much like you, I took two days off from the gym (after promising myslef I would go) and went back this morning with more fire than ever. the obstacles will not stop coming and I am not going to let any of them deter me from continuing on my beaautiful path. Reading your post I see you feel the same. So, go you warrior woman and take those abstacled for what they are and don’t let them discourage you from striving towrad the best you
art 2
Hi all,
Today I woke up very late feeling extremely overwhelmed. Reasons:
1. Weekend with family that was very stressful.
2. Feeling sick — a cold I’m fighting.
3. Getting a part-time job is taking MUCH longer than I expected and the process of looking for it freaks me out.
I think the great thing about this forum is being able to see that others are in the same boat. In the Buddhist tradition they often talk about how, when you suffer, summoning compassion for similar suffering in others makes things more workable. And I definitely felt that logging on today.
So, even though for the last two days I wrote for 30 minutes and then 10 instead my one hour and five minutes, and even though I’m feeling sick, I am going to draw inspiration from all of you and jump back on that horse today!
Hey Somasoma. I love this quote from Einstein and just have to give it to you…
“How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us here for a brief sojourn, for what purpose he knows not, though he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.“
~Albert Einstein
You see how he wrote in the last line that we do not just exist to find our purpose but we exist for others. This quote struck a chord in me so deep it’s still resonating and I read it on Friday. Brian was brilliant in coming up with the whole idea behind these notes. We are all seeing everyday how we are not alone. We respond to each other for what it’s creating in ourselves but also for what it brings forth from the other. It feels great…it really does. Your gut feelings are a true barrometer of what is true and just. I’m drawing inspiration right now from the fact that you’re sick and you’re still contributing. Now go get some rest and give yourself a big hug
Thanks John and AMPowers! You guys are awesome.
Yippee! To me, you’re creating your own energy for Mastery. Thank you for the inspiration to continue to create my own.
— John D.
Hi friend! Lovely to see you here basking in your practice and breakthroughs and soft and new awarenesses. Happy day. xxoo, John
Hi ThreeThrees, I celebrate your persistance and congratulations for getting back on the horse and continuing on with your journey. I have felt exactly the same at points during the last 31 days. Having experienced huge overwhelm at the amount of wisdom being created here on the PN Challenge tinged with the fear that I’m standing at the foot of a sheer cliff face and wondering how I’m going to climb it so I can see the amazing landscape I know is waiting on the other side. This is an exhilerating but ardous ride but I know one thing.….having spent £‘000’s on attending seminars, reading books, listening to audio’s etc, this PN Challenge is the only thing that has ever pushed me to the limits of my thinking so that’s gotta be a good thing right. Stay on the path ThreeThree’s.…great things are coming to you!
First self development tape I ever heard defined success as ‘working towards a worthy goal’. Today’s book is a great reminder the head stuff on this is really easy, ditto on chasing the goal. The real journey is one step at a time. I do mad endurance stuff that I never really fit or prepared enough for. So the only way to get even close to the goal is to concentrate on each footstep. I must admit have not completed probably 50% of the events I have entered — so what. When your body thinks it can only do 60 miles and you managed to get it to 90 does it really matter that you missed the last 10. Also when you are pushing the boundaries that much there is only the present cos you do not have the energy or the mental bandwidth for more.
Neat slant on success isn’t it? Mastery as a practice, success as the work toward a goal.…hmmmm. I don’t think I have ever heard it put like that before but it makes total sense. Again, very buddhist…live in the moment (however bland it may be) and just be and that’s the goal…now. I recently started viewing life this way and it really is the only way. I find I’m very excited to simply be. I really think I’m starting to get it right and can’t wait to help someone else get it right too.
Just the idea that you have not completed half the events means that you are totally ready for self mastery and ready to fail and fail again he he.…I’m almost there!
As a recovering perfectionist, I like the idea of practice as mastery rather than focusing on perfection. I can also recognize myself as a dabbler, obsessive and hacker. Self-mastery is the one pursuit I can honestly identify as a life time goal — recognizing that self actualization is not a static state to achieve and maintain but a goal to strive for every day. Great book, great concepts — thanks for sharing this info. Namaste, PN Tribe!
The first quote says it all. We just have to keep on trying, and failing, and trying again, for as long as we live.
I know I’m a dabbler, as far as books go, for sure. I start reading one, then before I’ve finished reading a few chapters, I’ve found another one, that I simply must read. A scattered approach, never mastering any of them.
We must all be reciting the Diligently, patiently, persistently, (playfully) quote in our sleep. But are we doing it? I am delighted that with the PN challenge, I have made this a daily practice. It’s easier if like today, I make it the first thing I do, once the kids have gone to school. But if real life means it happens later in the day, I always ensure that I watch the tv episode, read the note and listen at least once during the day, and always write a comment, even if I didn’t understand/like the book. Today I’m trying something a little different. I’ve written in my journal, as I go through the note, with the intention that I will ACT more based on what I’m reading.
“To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life“
This quote instantly made me think of the many attempts at weight loss in the past. Each week that I lost weight, I would be ecstatic. Then the many weeks of hitting a plateau, and feeling so despondent. It’s such a shame that I didn’t serenely accept the plateau, and enjoy the fact that I was continuing to fuel my body with healthy food, and just know that the weight loss would come.
“Dedicate your life to lifelong learning”, well this challenge has certainly kick started this intention!!
Tips for mastery
Set priorities and make decisions
Take action
Get on the path of mastery and stay with it.
The George Bernard Shaw quote. I just love this quote. The first time I read it, in Coveys 7 habits, I put it in the front of my daily diary. This just inspires me so much.
The huge theme throughout this whole note is “At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path”. I really needed this today. I have been meditating spasmodically, but now I am going to practice this as diligently as my PN challenge practice.
Have a great day
Hiya Maxine. James Ray said that “Gratitude has been such a powerful exercise for me. “Every morning I get up and say “Thank you.” “Every morning when my feet hit the floor, “Thank you.” Then he proceeds to think of all he’s grateful for as he does things in the morning. He says “And I’m not just thinking about them and doing some rote routine. I’m putting it out there and I’m feeling the feelings of gratitude.” I have found that thanks in that vein move me to get on the path and stay there, because I’ve lost a helluva lot in the last five years. I wouldn’t be here, now, in this position, if I weren’t grateful for the power to pull through and set my sights on Monday…and Tuesday…and so on. You will meet your challenges one step at a time…no longer thinking “my day will come” when it is already here.
I guess todays note was good for a few of us, eh Maxine? I too, upon reading todays note, decided that there is no stopping, no turning back, only moving, and I have accepted (finally! lol) that sometimes that movement isn’t always forward. I guess I fell into the trap of believing in the continuous climax as well. Good job on deciding to make meditation a daily practice. I did for about 10 days before I fell into my laziness, or was it dabbling? Today is a great day for starting again, and I gave myself no choice in the matter. It really does become easier when you know that you have no choice…:P Here’s to us!
“Dedicate your life to lifelong learning“
I forgot about that quote. It just happens to be similar to my employers motto “excellence in LifeLong Learning” I always loved it. It keeps reminding me to learn from everything I have come in contact with…and I mean everything. I guess the challenge really has kick started it hasn’t it? There are so many components to the path.…and you are right, the theme.…mastery is practice ceratianly struck a chord with me. I never saw success as aprocess before. I may have read it but today it really hit me. Challenges, obstacles will always come but the path remains. Am I ever seeing things differently these days. You know when I checked my weight at the gym this morning I only lost under 2 pounds and I’m on my third week. Last year (heck last weeke even) I’d have let that discouraged me. Instead today I thought you go girl! And I really meant it. I am actually routing for myself this time, no hard comments no negativity. I am loving this process…thanks for being part of PN
I can remember doing a 6 week challenge at the gym, results were guaranteed. I think I must have been the only person who didn’t lose weight!! The trouble with working out is that sometimes you’re building muscle, which weighs heavier than fat, so the scales don’t go down as much as you hoped. But have you taken your inches/cm measurements? Sometimes we might be toning rather than losing weight.
However, good for you, for enjoying the journey, keep up the good work
Maxine
Part 1
Sometime back I start using the phrase “I love what I do and I do it very well” I apply this to everything I do, starting in the morning with meditation followed by the P notes and on all day. I realized that when I use the phrase before anything I do, things work quite well and I am enjoying myself and I get things done in a better way.
Plateau. Yes indeed I don’t like plateau, I rather have a continuous uninterrupted flow, and at the same time plateau are good for digesting the new information perhaps that’s the reason for them to be here. And it is part of going with the flow, something I had to learn and practice. The waiting period is what get’s to me, I am not very good at waiting so I fill the waiting with in between project just to keep my ADD mind at peace.
All the notes so far are bringing new perceptions to the table and a few controversies as well, different views, and different ways of doing certain things. Not that one is better or worse than the other, just different. One needs to sort out through the maze and find one’s own way in applying the principles.
On the part in laziness, I never was lazy, I always believed in getting the task done searching for better and faster ways of doing it, And I have done this for over 40 years of my life and discovered that “hard work” didn’t pay as much as I was promised it would. I decided to slow down some and trying to work smarter instead, I haven’t found the right way yet and its’ coming.
Dabbler, obsessive and hacker, well I am sorry but I am not participating in any of it. Never had never will. But thanks for bringing it up.
Part 2
Diligently practicing, I see that in everything, I like the idea of always practicing that is how we get near perfection. I love the quote from Esther Hicks “we can’t never get it done, the good news is we can’t get it wrong” I remember when I was teaching guitar, I gave my students exercises to practice during the week and I told them you want to be real good practice 1 hour each day. When that feels good then practice 2 hours per day until you are totally committed to become a pro and practice 8 hours per day. I received many blank looks, the ones that practiced became very good in very short time considering. The others well some try to blame me for not learning and eventually quit. One of my best student was a 36 years old man, he had absolutely no musical abilities, he could not hold a tune, and had no sense of rhythm. I real challenge, he had the heart and wanted a simple thing learning few chords so he could join in around a camp fire and play and sing with the others. That’s all he wanted. He loved country music that was ok with me, country music is extremely simple and any one can swing a country music tune. So I though him two basic chords, using a variation of rhythm every week, I told him to practice, to start with no more than ½ hour twice per day. After a few months he mastered the two chords and could actually give it rhythm and musical sense. So I though him a third chord and practice one hour per day nonstop with any extra he felt to do. After only a few weeks this time he had master the 3 chords and low and behold, when I showed him what he had done he was amazed that he could follow me playing country music tunes that only required 3 chords. To this day I can see the grin on his face and that was a great reward for me. He went off to learn a few more chords and even some leads and accomplished what he set himself to accomplish. I should point out that when he approached me he told me that he tried with a dozen of music teachers and after the first lesson they all turned him away. I feel sorry for them they will never know what I experienced with this fellow and truly he was my best student. And ever since then I never turn away anybody willing to learn.
The quote from Seneca “You can only acquire it successfully if you cease to feel any sense of shame.” And: “You cannot, I repeat, successfully acquire it and preserve your modesty at the same time.” Open new horizons for me It seems that I always feel a sense of shame when I succeed in something, not all the time, all the same I notice that and always wondered the reason for it. I want to shy away from compliments and recognition. When I was racing cars and winning, most time I would just grab the trophy and would not attend the ceremony. I am a better today at accepting praises and I am able to stand and acknowledge, something inside is still stirring something, not sure what it at least on the outside I am ok. So I really love that particular quote, it make sense and explain what is going on inside of me, and now I am able to deal with it, the sense of shame that is. Thank you for that one.
A few days ago I had a vision of 3 glasses that were filled at different levels. They were beautiful glasses or cups seem to be made of deep green jade about a foot tall. The first one was 2/3 full the second one was ¼ full and the third was 7/8 full. I had no idea of the meaning of this so during morning meditation I focused on the 3 glass and ask the meaning of it and this is what came in. The first glass contains Activation Effectiveness and intentions. The second was filled with passivity. The third was activation. Here again some uncertainty on the meaning of it all, and so far this is what I understand the meaning of it is. Filling up the first glass by activating the thought process, and effectiveness focusing on our intention. The second glass get filled with passivity, not recognizing what is presented to us has possibilities and discarding new discoveries. The difference between the first and second glass believes and that difference filled the third glass and things became actualized. I am still working this out and it only make sense for me I thought about sharing this in case someone out there would have some electrifying explanations. I found amazing that the third glass is a reaction of one and two, further more by paying attention to everything that comes my way the second receive nothing, so in reality I only need to work on the first one.
Hi Bernard
I really resonate with your teaching experience. I did a couple of years teaching science at secondary school, and at one place I had the senior Biology and science classes, and my “penance” class was a 4th form slow maths group. Most of those kids couldn’t multiply, and a few of them couldn’t add, and I was supposed to be teaching the algebra. It took me a year, and I got every one of them doing algebra, but I had to start by creating relevance in their lives, so that their interest was piqued, and then start from scratch, one on one, working with each to ensure they got the ideas behind maths. The most exhausting and the most rewarding teaching I have ever done.
They were mostly farm kids, so we looked at problems relating to designs of water troughs for cows, and how big pipes needed to be for a given size of herd, or a given size of trough, and at cost benefit ratios around pipe size, trough size and herd size — and I’d finish every lessons with 10 minutes of pure exploration, quantum mechanics, cosmology, plate tectonics, games theory or whatever — something they wouldn’t be tested on, yet something from which I could create some relationship to their daily world.
Hi Ted
Great to read your post, there is too many people are ready to give up before even trying. I have found many marvels in people that didn’t even thought they had it within themselves, marvelous just marvelous to witness such a discovery. And Ted the way you teach kids make you an master.
Take care
Hi! I found the following quote in the “Mastery” PhilosophersNote to be interesting .…. Embrace our plateaus .…. Cool!
“Leonard beautifully captures his own process of discovering joy in the plateaus of his aikido practice—the moment when he found himself thinking: “Oh boy. Another plateau. Good. I can just stay on it and keep practicing. Sooner or later, there’ll be another spurt.” “It was one of the warmest moments on my journey.”
Thanks Brian for another great PhilosophersNote! Have a great day All!
Mastery.. I had three ahas.. first that I am a Master Dabbler. Second that I do “practice” self-awareness and spirituality daily and though, I feel I’ve come such a long way, I’m not a master on that level yet. And third, by the definition Leonard gives of laziness—I am not. Yay!
I totally get the thing about the plateau. Learning to play a musical instrument is a good example. You practice, practice, practice and you just can’t quite get it right. You get frustrated and set the thing aside. A few days later, you try again and voila, you’re playing like a… well, a master!
So… it’s all comes down to “keep on trucking.”
This is a very good and especially timely note for me. I have been recently tempted to just chuck it all and start being my old self again. Plateaus are hard for the dabbler in me. I must remember to love the path and focus on the practices I have set for myself to reach my higher, greater state of being.
I’d never heard of this book or author and did mistakenly see “mastery” as perfection.
I see myself primarily as a Dabbler with Obsessive tendencies.
Loving the Plateau is so contrary to all the messages we receive. I struggled with grasping that until the Plateau was restated as the eternal now. A plateau is being present. Accepting – no more than that — loving where you are right now. Even if you’ve been there for a long time with no apparent progress or change.
As I pondered Practice as a Noun I realized my journaling is one. I’m totally in the moment and I’m not conscious of any benefit or goal from journaling. It is just a habit that I’ve grown to enjoy and keep up.
Holosync is similar. At first I wanted to get through all the levels as quick as I could. Now I just enjoy where I am, the time table in my head is gone. Even sticking with the PN 50 Day Challenge is a practice. I’m not getting graded, nobody is making me do this – it’s part of my path.
“How you do anything is how you do everything.” That is a cool line. I don’t recall hearing that before.
Homeostasis – the repeated big idea of a Happiness set point, comfort level, or Upper Limit to ourselves. Know it is there and don’t be surprised/upset when you get pulled back to that set point. Reminds me of notion of seeing the pull back as you backing up for a running start.
Brian — thanks for a big laugh at your extra high hope in the PNTV on this note.
“How you do anything is how you do everything.” That is a cool line. I don’t recall hearing that before.
Homeostasis – the repeated big idea of a Happiness set point, comfort level, or Upper Limit to ourselves. Know it is there and don’t be surprised/upset when you get pulled back to that set point. Reminds me of notion of seeing the pull back as you backing up for a running start.
Brian — thanks for a great laugh in the PNTV on this note. Your extra high hope cracked me up.
Hey peeps — I’ve been trying to type this all day but I just couldn’t seem to figure out where to begin. I love every one of Leonard’s ideas. Here’s what I know for sure: we all have a switch inside of us that when activated, spurs us into growth. Mine is on. I can feel it every single day. I can feel as soon as I gain consciousness in the morning. I’ve taken to thinking of it as a little spirit assigned to me by my true self. She is with me all the time nudging me into awareness and consciousness encouraging me to take up my practice each time I forget or put it down or walk away from it. I’ve taken to greeting her in those early morning hours with a smile and a heart filled with gratitude. I listened to the longer version of this note twice as I folded laundry this morning and found myself, perhaps for the first time, loving the process. I found myself being held by the strength and beauty and truth of Leonard’s teachings; enrolling me once again into my own practice reminding me that the stakes are high, and the payoff, grand. I found myself resting in the power of surrender and the freedom in resignation. The teaching on loving the plateau reminded me to be generous and patient and embracing of the whole process, to broaden my vision and see the beauty in each step along the way especially in the steps that seem to have no value. His teaching on the paths of Mastery, Dabbling, Obsessing and Hacking has me smiling and standing in choice once again. “Why do I practice?” is a gorgeous question, one that I get to ask each morning in those early hours as I am awakened once again by the impulse to reach for my greatest self. Every day, I get to choose once again, this path; the path of Mastery. (p.s. I bought the book and signed up for a Tai Chi class.)
I love reading your comments, Rumba and Tai Chi, wow, John, what a way to go
Maxine
i do that even in my sleep do you?
and have a heart filled with gratitude, surrender, patience and trust
sounds crazy but i wouldnt, couldnt live any other way.….
Aha!
To be a Master is often a way of life—Consistency in Your Constancy!
Mastery is just acquiring experience in that which I’m trying to master. Gradually I begin to focus and gain competence on that interest and then curiousity or necessity drives me to refocus and move in a slightly different direction. A lot of mastery starts out: “I wonder if I can do this?”.
I make progress because I like what I’m doing and I can try to take it a step further. I am acquiring experience in that which I’m trying to master. Sometimes I master a thing or an action that no one else has even considered.
That is not only Mastery, it’s Marvelous!
Mastery by George Leonard is one my top 50 self-improvement books. I studied from it about 15 years ago when I had the intention of mastering graphic arts, desktop publishing, technical writing and watercolor portrait painting. I never became Michaelangelo but I did get so I could sell some of my work and built a portfolio of my work to show potential customers. It took me a dozen years to feel my work was good enough to sell or in the words of the Leonard that I had mastered sufficient skills and knowledge of these fields of study to offer my services. For me Personal Mastery was a related part of self-actualization. After all I was the one devoted doing the work to gain the expertise. That same point of view was incorporated in the best selling book The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge. Since then I have gone on with the intention to master creative nonfiction writing and world citizenship. Am I perfect? No way. But I know a lot about these topics and have quite a bit of skills to be creative doing work in those areas.
I read something about the plateau in some other book referencing the book “Mastery”. I now see there is a lot of wisdom in this book. I decided to order it on Amazon.
I thought that mastery means perfection. I love Leonard’s description that the master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.
I would say that the master is the one who likes to play a lot. When I play I am willing to try new stuff and concepts. During the play I am willing to make mistakes, learn from them and try again. Playing is also an activity I could practice as long I live.
The challenge for me now is how to turn mundane activities into playful activities. I hope that there will be some hints in the book. Can wait that thet the book will be mailed to me.
Hello All…It’s so great how these notes seem to address something that we are all going through at just the perfect time. I too was away for about a week feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the depth of wisdom coming my way. It was one step back and now I’m ready to take a few forward again.
Dabbling with a bit of Obsession has been something that I do often with things. Hacker not so much. I guess I see it all as a preparation for whatever is next in my life though because all of the things that I get involved with are in such different fields of interest. I can’t waite to see how it all plays out in the end.
Have been working on being in the moment, the now. Some very good YouTube videos by Eckhart Tolle on this subject.
Much love.….
LEARNINGS
Hi all! The main ideas from today’s notes that really spoke to me are contained in the following quotes:
“At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.”
“Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you’re bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.”
Mastery is about the plateau. Loving the plateau — loving it is to enjoy the eternal.
“Oh boy. Another plateau. Good. I can just stay on it and keep practicing. Sooner or later, there’ll be another spurt.” “It was one of the warmest moments on my journey.”
EXPERIMENT
I’m really digging the mantra Brian has shared from his Vipassana meditation teacher — and especially the part he tags on about “play.” I think this is Brian’s version:
“Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently, persistently, and playfully. Patiently, persistently, and playfully. And you’re bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.”
It’s getting late today, so tomorrow I’m going to make a little 6 minute trance loop containing that mantra. I’ll play it through my iPod while I’m relaxing comfortably. If you want a copy, please reply to this and let me know. I’ll post it to place where you can download it.
Love the idea on homeostasis…I would always wonder why I would start with something, push it full steam and suddenly feel like…well, a little lazy.….and then drown myself in guilt and completely give up…now I know why…and I’m also clear about the importance of making things a practice versus sole visualization of the same…the latter doesn’t work by itself…need to work on the practice.
When I teach art to young children, I used to always run up against kids who want to tear up their drawings or paintings because they weren’t as good as Johnny’s. Now I try to cut off that behavior by telling them that what we are doing is “practicing.” In fact, all the work we do in class or at home is Practice. In the words of George Leonard, it’s “the plateau.” I tell them not to worry about the end result. “After all, it’s just practice.” So even though I’m using that term slightly differently than Mr. Leonard, it seems to have the same effect. Namely, freeing up my students to enjoy the process, enjoy the moment, and learn about themselves.
The Shaw quote “This is the one true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a might one…” spoke to me as I continue to feel that I’m not giving back to the world all that I’m capable of .
“Mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.” Reminds me of Yoda (“is no try, only do”) and Mark Joyner’s Simpleology (“keep hitting it until you hit it”)
Habits / rituals / practices..common theme in the notes. I like the new twist here that the practice is for the sake of the practice
Homeostatis — this is big. Both the opportunity to adjust set points (happiness / financial) per other notes, and for me the recognition that I’m a dabbler often.
As a musician who is still working every day on simply getting to and doing good practice everyday — I can relate to this article. Just practice and things will come. Sometimes if I need money, I just go and do a good practice session, and then soon afterwards the phone rings with a job offer. Practice is my best meditation. After practice I am healthy and unruffled. Without practice I am grumpy and tired.
I have recently been ‘given’ a beautiful studio to practice in, away from my family and the noises in the house. It makes a huge difference. If you’re having trouble practicing anything, I recommend creating a space for yourself that is always ready for you to go there and practice — for meditation, writing, whatever.
I find that when I’m frustrated with my music, I know it’s because I’m pushing through to the next level. When I’m like that, I’m not satisfied with anything that play. I know I just have to be patient and keep practicing and soon the new goal will appear, and with it the means to achieve it. Then I have to keep trucking away at it, and one day it will come. As it comes I will be thrilled to see it appear, and I will be happy to achieved that ability. But then… I’lll get bored again, or focus on some other thing that I want to be able to do but can’t. I used to get really dramatic about it all, but these days I know what’s going on, so I just keep trucking. I am happy with the many new abilities I’ve learnt.
I find it’s always helpful to have a goal in front of you, and a goal behind you. the one in front of you is the 2 steps ahead thing that you always strive to attain. The reason to keep walking. The one behind you — i’ve just been learning with P Notes. It is the fullness of what you are now, the Black and White lines that you have to Colour In. What you do Now is get your crayons and colour in the lines. As you use up your crayons, you choose your new colours and quality according to what your picture is in the future.
… something like that eh.
soooo true!
George is awesome; it is the journey that is most important, its not about what happens but rather how we perceive what happens. Some individuals will be disappointed with a silver medal while others celebrate the 5 hour marathon completion. Who is the winner?
We set your own goals, and reach for he clouds, be what you want to be, now!
We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.
To put it simply, you practice diligently, but you practice primarily for the sake of the practice itself. Practice, the path of mastery, exists only in the present.
The courage of a master is measured by his or her willingness to surrender.
Obsessive goal orientation. As pointed out numerous times in this book, the desire of most people today for quick, sure, and highly visible results is perhaps the deadliest enemy of mastery.
Be a master always, leads the way, let be the lighting lamp!
post 1 of 3
I found this to be an excellent note! At first I had confused George Leonard with Thomas Leonard (founder of Coach U) and so I am happy to find another incredible master to look up to
So first, I love the idea of Mastery that Leonard shares in his book, especially about mastery not being perfection but rather with the process. This is a great definition for my former perfectionist self…hehe
Being able to let go of the neediness to control so that I know exactly what is going has allowed me to relax into my own being and unfolding and see things that I otherwise would not have seen. It is very liberating! I agree with Leonard in that as a collective society only the highs of life are celebrated and I admit I used to be the kind of person that strived for only the highs. Thankfully I can freely enjoy the periods of stillness I find myself in every and now and then and willingly create them when I need them. It is during these times that I can appreciate my journey, become more clear on my next steps and let me creative self show me the way.
post 2 of 3
And I love that feeling, especially when it strikes in the most unexpected places…like during a stressful day at work or on a crowded subway surrounded by disgrunteled people. It’s a great reminder that I have come a very long way towards becoming more aware and concious of how I choose to show up in my own life!
It is also during these times that I fall in love with my own process of becoming
Although I have come a long way I do find myself stuck in certain aspects and after listening to the PN on Happy For No Reason I realize it is b/c of my own internal happiness set point. I loved hearing this concept of homestasis again b/c I need to constantly be reminded that I have the ability to up my happiness level. This reminds me of Byron Katie’s wonderful words of wisdom “Everything happens for me, not to me” I love this b/c it quickly puts me back on track to concioulsy be response-able and not give my power away to circumstances out of my control. Anyway, I know that raising my happiness level also means mastering the commonplace. There is happiness to be found in every moment and the more I actively seek the more I find it and be it!
post 3 of 3
Lastly…how much did I love Leonard’s description of a dabbler?! That is so me…totally!!! I get so hyped about something that I could barely contain myself but then once that feeling wears off it is long forgotten. I have let so many things go unfinished in my life b/c of this tendency of mine and I am just now starting to pick up where I left off and finish it all. This goes for both my own business and personal self. One of my bigges obstacles have been practicing diligence, patience and persistence and with my renewed energy, clearer vision and more positve perspective I am ready to practice! And I mean that as a noun
Mastery George Leonard
“We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a
journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year.
The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he
or she lives.”
Honor the practice — love the process.
Homoestasis tips — great!
Most of the worlds depression or discontent has to do with unused energy or untapped potential.
Wow
Mastery is practice and staying on the path –cultivate every moment.
Consistency is the mark of the master.
Great note,
Christina