CAPSULE | READS: The Practicing Mind
Key Takeaways: On the DOC Technique, Process > Results & Patience through Perception.
ON DOC TECHNIQUE: A non-emotion-driven technique applicable to the practicing mind.
- Do the thing
- Observe the actions
- Correct the behavior
ON PROCESS > RESULTS: Focus on process over results.
- Pick a goal, then be aware that you are entering the process of achieving it.
- Put your energy into the practice & process that will move you forward.
- An incorrect note is just a stepping stone to playing the correct note.
ON PATIENCE THROUGH PERCEPTION: Patience is a natural outgrowth of shifted perspective.
- The process is in the doing, not the reaching or the results.
- Comparing your position to a goal reaffirms that you haven’t reached it yet — free yourself from this mentality.
- Create triggers that let you get out of your head, execute the response you have decided upon, then make the responses habitual reactions.
Awareness must come first.
If you are not aware of the thoughts you think every second, you are the writer with no reigns. You cannot control what you are not aware of.
Decide on the reaction you want to execute in the safety and unemotional state of a non-judgemental frame of mind. (In this state of mind, you make decisions without the mental or emotional clutter.)
When you make a decision to acquire something whose acquisition will require a long term commitment, pick the goal and then be aware that you are entering the process of achieving it.
- acknowledge the goal
- put your energy into the practice & process
- when you let go of the attachment of the object you desire & make your desire the experience of staying focused on working toward that object you’ll fulfill that desire in every minute that you remain patient of your circumstances
You cannot do this if you constantly make the end result your focal point.
Your goals always move away from you; that is how you keep evolving.
Execute the reaction you want, then your internal reaction response feels good because you protected your inner peace and experience the payback for your effort.
- This gives you the emotional stamina to stay with your effort — thus a new habit begins to form.
- Eventually the whole process begins to fade into the background as it becomes a natural part of who you are & how you process a situation.
Emotions are habits.
- Emotions such as frustration take you out of the process, this takes you back into the false sense of thinking the other side of the grass is greener.
Perception change creates patience.
When you stay on purpose, focused on present moment, the goal comes toward you with frictionless ease. However, when you constantly focus on the goal you’re aiming for, you push it away instead of pulling it toward you.
Progress is the natural result of staying focused on the process of doing anything.
Like swimming toward a large tree on the other side of the lake — you keep your head down pulling the water past you with each stroke. You fill your lungs with fresh air and then expel it in a relaxed fashion glancing at the position of the tree on the distant shore every so often to keep a sense of direction. You do this with total detachment as you can muster.
When you are aligned with your true self, you are immune to other people’s behaviors.
What is equanimity?
- even temperedness and calmness
- undisturbed by the moment, by life’s ups and downs of daily life
The 4 S Words:
- Simplify: simplify by breaking things down into components
- Small: be aware of your overall goal and keep it as a rutter that keeps you on course.
- Short: focus on small sections instead of entire tasks
- Slow: incorporate a pace that allows you to focus on the end goal
All words and concepts are deeply interrelated and flow back from one another.
DO | OBSERVE | CORRECT
- not emotion-driven
- simple stress-free
- quiet minds are free from mental turmoil
- seperate yourself from the act of worrying
- great for breaking unwanted habits
> the old habit (put most of your energy into fretting + very little of it into solving the problem.
* in a short time, the act of DOC will be a natural operation - don’t confuse evaluating something with judging it
> evaluating comes before the act of judgement
Introducing Reads as a capsule in the Learn Segment. Each week for the remainder of the year, we’ll be extracting key takeaways and notes from 26 books read in 26 weeks as a practice to nourish learning. Join us in the (re)wiring!
