Endurance
“To
endure is the disposition of the sage.”
The
I Ching
In Zen
Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki said, “The result is not the
point; it is the effort to improve ourselves that is valuable. There is no end
to this practice.” In his case the practice is meditation, but I believe it
applies to anything we want to do well. Only prodigies are great from the beginning,
and most of us are far from prodigy status. What I have learned the hard way
over a lifetime is that if I want to be good at something, I must endure
through failure and mistakes. As a young woman, I could not do this—I was
impatient and expected too much of myself. I still don’t like to fail. Who does?
But now I don't give up in the face of it. Persistence is key to success.
If you
want to become good at something, give up the notion of perfection and simply endure.
Not all of us, for instance, are athletic by nature. Many of us do not have the
physical structure to be fast and strong. However, we can improve whatever we’re
able to do athletically by sustained practice. Do this one thing—do it until it
becomes easy, and then add a little something to make it more of a challenge.
Strength training is a case in point—we cannot start by lifting 100 lbs. But
maybe we can lift 10 pounds. My orthopedic surgeon told me, “Do that until it’s
ridiculously easy and then add five pounds.” Fast and strong do not happen
quickly—you must persist.
In my
artwork, I have finally learned not to stop just because I don’t initially like
the result. I keep going, and if I stick with it, I almost always improve—notice
I did not say “become the best” or “perfect it.” Improving is the goal, and
that takes time, focus, and repetition. Case in point, I made this crocheted
bowl from old t-shirts. It is lumpy and irregular and not at all beautiful. I
will not throw it away, and I will not pull it apart, I will keep it to
remember where I started so that when I improve, I will be able to see the
progress.
No
matter what you want to do well, you will need to persist through failure many
times. It’s important to love the effort rather than the result. And most
often, when you love the process, the result turns out to be something you like
as well. Whether we’re talking about bread making, planting your own garden, or
writing a short story, endurance will get you to the point of “good enough,”
maybe even great. Don’t give up.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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