When it came to my Qigong training I used subscribe to a philosophy of ‘all or nothing‘ – I bet you’ve heard of that one.
I used to believe that if my training wasn’t perfect and if I didn’t practice twice a day, every single day then I was wasting my time.
As you can imagine this put a lot of pressure on my practice. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that bringing pressure to your training is a great way to cause blockages to harmonious energy flow – not get rid of them!
Now there is also a saying that goes like this:
How you do anything is how you do everything.
I’m here to tell you that taking an ‘all or nothing‘ approach to life is like playing a game on the ‘Super Hard‘ setting. It’s a great way to make life harder for yourself and who wants to do that?
Eventually I learned that it’s okay to do something poorly, or to make mistakes when I first started to learn, or do, something new.
In fact I’d go as far as to say it’s preferable. Learning from the mistakes I’ve made has been a valuable part of my growth, as a Qigong teacher, a husband and a father.
And don’t worry if you don’t learn from your mistakes, because I’ve noticed that ‘Life’ will always give you another opportunity, and another and another…
As I start the 2nd draft of my new book, I’m faced with the challenge of how to best communicate the application of the material in the book. You see, if you just read the book, the only benefit you’ll get is to be entertained for a while. That’s not what I want to happen.
It’s only by the application of the material in the book that you will gain the benefits that come from practicing Qigong to raise your Emotional Immune System (EIS).
I was watching a video on Youtube last week and John Kohler of discontjuicers.com used the term ‘Good, Better, Best’ – I’d found my solution.
It’s good to read a book on Qigong, it’s better to watch a DVD, it’s best to learn directly from a suitably qualified Qigong teacher.
Going for a walk is good, doing Qigong form is better, practicing Qigong is best.
It’s good to want to practice Qigong, it’s better to practice once a day, it’s best to practice twice a day.
You get the idea I’m sure. Do what you can, doing some Qigong is better than doing no Qigong.
Always aim for the best, but be prepared to accept good enough – especially when you’re starting out on something new.
Avoid the thinking I used to have that if I wasn’t doing everything I was instructed to do, 100% correctly, then I was just wasting my time.
Drop ‘all or nothing‘ from your strategy tool box and replace it with ‘good, better, best‘ – and remember, like most of my Qigong blog posts, this material is applicable to all areas of your life!