An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. – Gandhi
How do we really know what the best balance is for us?
Of course, most of us love the juicy self development book like we are reading an Anne Rice novel. It’s part sexy, part scary and can be totally engrossing.
As my good friend Laura Gevanter says, so many of us are ‘Self Help Junkies’. She actually did a great Matt and Phil Show interview on the subject some time ago. I know this subject so well because I used to be a junkie too! I think this whole idea that if we read one more self development book or spiritual book, listen to one more Abraham audio, watch one more You Tube video, read one more blog post (!) on the subjects we are interested in, we will be saved. We will finally reach that point where it gets easier, where we will make the turn for the better, our lives and our businesses will no longer be so stressful, etc. It fits right into the desperate craving culture of consumerism we have here in America and much of the West.
He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast. – Leo Da Vinci
The truth is, I just think we are way out of balance.
As Leo states above we need to have both. I think for most of us, it’s not one more book to read, or one more audio or video to listen to and watch. I think that it’s much more about actually experiencing what we are striving for in whatever way we currently have available to us.
So, I have clients who say: “I don’t know how to meditate.” Well, as I have told them meditation could not be simpler. Just stop doing what you usually do and look inside.
Stop, sit, close your eyes, and listen to your thoughts, watch your body, your breath.
That’s meditation. Albeit, a very simple novice version but guess what?! They don’t call it “Beginner’s Mind” for nothing! 🙂
I think for the most part 99% of us are ALL GOOD on the theory, the reading, and the watching of shows, the listening to OTHER people’s experiences and sitting on the sidelines.
What about OUR OWN experiences?
How can you really change your life’s direction if you don’t actually do some things differently?
Now, I know I get some flak from my contemporaries on this subject as they say it’s all about thought and vibration, which I agree with….at first!
Yes, that is the level where the first change must take place, however, then I believe it is time to actually begin to live it, to experience it, to engage with it, to breathe into the new philosophy with your own breath, not stand on the sidelines and debate other people’s ideas about it.
If you haven’t ridden a horse, don’t try to tell me what it’s like, you have no idea.
If you haven’t climbed a mountain don’t debate about it.
If you haven’t stared into your lovers eyes at the most intimate of moments don’t try to tell me a story about it, as far as I am concerned, you don’t know.
I think Yogi says it best….
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. – Yogi Berra
Phil and I go pretty deep into this topic on the Matt and Phil Show and we end up in a pretty fun spot about quantum energy vibrations…
