Sometimes the most you can muster is a single mindful breath.
\nAnd sometimes that’s all the meditation you need.
\nOne set of crunches.
\nOne line on your manuscript.
\nOne walk around the block.
\nWe often overestimate what we can accomplish in one day, while we underestimate what we can accomplish in five years if we were to start taking small steps now.
\nSet an intention to take a small meaningful step today.
\nWhat’s your minimum viable commitment? What’s the thing you can start doing each day, or each week, that you’re sure to accomplish and can help you get the momentum going in the direction you want?
\nI built a meditation practice from a one breath commitment, and a martial arts practice from five minutes per day. These are both activities that have transformed my mind and body in the years that I have been doing them.
\nWhat I marvel at most is how difficult even a small commitment can feel.
\nWhen we take away all of the excuses of time, then we’re faced with our real blocks. In facing them we get to do our real work.
\nFor me I encounter my perfectionist and the part of me that always asks if I’m really doing enough. The part of me that doesn’t allow me to celebrate or take pride in the small steps. It’s that journey, the journey of being gentle with myself, that I am exploring through martial arts and meditation and the discipline that surrounds their practice.
\nMy practice is a reflection on being enough, doing enough, and allowing my journey to be my own. Not a comparison to others or an artificial standard.
\nThe more I confront and unravel that the more joy I take in the doing.
\nAnd I’ve never changed from that small commitment, though my discipline has expanded greatly. I might practice for four hours or meditate three times. What I’m capable of has greatly expanded. But on some days five minutes and one breath is still enough.
\nMinimum viable commitment. Because the difference between something and nothing is infinite.
\nDevon<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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