order, peace, clarity, and inspiration that I rarely miss a day. It took some
time for me to arrive at this relationship, so please be patient with yourself.
Turning Small Steps into One Easy Habit
Whenever you’ve learned anything new that required your full attention
and committed practice, you probably followed specific steps during your
initial instruction. This makes it easier to break down the complexities of
the skill or task at hand so that the mind can stay focused without being
overwhelmed. In any endeavor, of course, your goal is to memorize what
you’re learning so that eventually you can do it naturally, effortlessly, and
subconsciously. Essentially, you want to make this new skill a habit.
It’s easier to comprehend and execute any new skill when by repetition,
you master one small task or procedure at a time and then move on to the
next. Over time you string each step together as part of one coordinated
process. The sign that you’re on your way is when all the steps start to look
like one easy, fluid motion and you produce the intended result. That’s your
aim in learning this meditation as a step-by-step process.
For example, in learning to hit a golf ball, there are a host of cues that
your mind has to process in order to have your actions match your
intention. Imagine that while you’re preparing to tee off for the first time,
your best friend shouts, “Keep your head down! Bend your knees!
Shoulders square and back erect! Keep your front arm straight, but loosen
your grip! Shift your weight when you swing! Hit behind the ball, and
follow through!” And my favorite: “Relax!”
All these instructions at once could throw you into a state of paralysis.
What if, instead, you worked on one thing at a time, following a methodical
order? In time, it seems logical that your swing would look like one motion.
Similarly, if you were learning to cook a French recipe, you would start
by following its individual steps. Do that enough times, and there would
come a moment when you no longer would prepare the recipe as separate
steps, but as one continuous process. You would integrate the instructions
into your body-mind, merge many steps into just a few, and eventually,
cook the meal in half the time. You’d go from thinking to doing—your body
memorizes what you were doing, as well as your mind. That’s what a