“If a fool were to persist in his folly, he would become wise.”
- William Blake
Sometimes attention is the key to solving a problem. One may increase the quantity of attention in more than one way. Through practice, we may hone our attention to be sharper, stronger, or more intense. It has been said that “Practice makes perfect.”.
Another way, for those of us who might lack the innate skills or abilities granted to some, is to increase the attention by spending more time looking at a situation, in order to allow some perhaps less obvious solutions to present themselves.
For example, we take the case of two students studying for a math test. One student studies the example problems, or the rules and axioms, or perhaps just discusses the rules or problems in a group study session for about fifteen minutes.
Another student does this studying for maybe three hours. It seems to be just common sense that the student that studies longer will probably do better. In this case, if one does the math, the one that puts in twelve times the time and studies for three hours, will probably do better than the student that studies for only fifteen minutes.
This can be done by practicing, or by meditating or reading, or by any other method of giving a situation our attention.
When we practice or think about or read about our T’ai Chi practice regularly and by doing this, attend to it, how can it not improve?
This may be applied to almost any type of endeavor. It is applicable to learning or becoming more proficient in both learning and, perhaps even more valuable, in the gaining or acquiring of wisdom, as the above William Blake quote suggests.
One might attend to the concepts of balance and and centering. Practicing movement and attention through T’ai Chi or learning a musical instrument might generalize not just the specific tasks, but also might strengthen both the physical and attention muscles and help one to understand the larger perspective, from which wisdom may arise.
Don’t say, “I can’t do that!”. Instead, perhaps one might say, “I can’t do that yet!”.
Put in the time and you won’t waste your dime.
The Light within me honors the light within you (Namaste),
Daniel.
