“The key to deep practice is to reach.  This means to stretch yourself slightly beyond your current ability, spending time in the zone of difficulty called the sweet spot.  It means embracing the power of repetition, so the action becomes fast and automatic.  It means creating a practice space that enables you to reach and repeat, stay engaged, and improve your skills over time.”

The Little Book of Talent, Daniel Coyle, Tip #12

Day 335 – Rolf asks us today:  “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”  Would I set more goals, consider New Year’s Resolutions, spend hours on lesson plans, chart my next week’s meals, pull out my calendar and organize my tasks?  Would I spend hours surfing the Internet, buy more books, ponder a career change or new certification to get, plot escapes?  What exactly am I afraid of?

In Rolf’s perspective, we mostly are not in dhyana; we are not working our “sweet spot” throughout our days.  He reiterates that “time spend on our mats or on our meditation cushions has the potential to be time spent when we are not afraid,” and “from that vantage point of our practice, we are able to view our lives without the corrosive influence of fear.” And yes, “fear is our reminder to resume living in the real.”  Confronting our fears and casting them aside, is really the ony way to begin to know “what we would do if we were not afraid.”