What to practice
Sep 20, 2023
Today, I was thinking about what people choose to practice. Often, we practice things that leave easily externally visible marks: our strength to build muscles, or our professional skills to build careers and promotions. Most self improvement starts at the gym or studying.
I wouldn't even say most of us practice almost exclusively these things simply because we're shallow. They are the things that we see everyone suggest and practice themselves.
But I wonder about practicing traits that are generally discussed as though they are innate. I want to practice, and get better, at kindness. Empathy. Respectfulness, humility. Just as we can build our muscles so that a move that used to require concentration and force can grow to become second nature, I want to intentionally practice conscientiousness.
I'm going to think about exercises for my nature.
(I don't mean for this blog post to come off preachy or self-righteous! It was just a idea I had. I, of course, also have the tendency to practice the default things: muscles, body, and skills. I only had the thought today to question this approach. But now that I have, I want to be a bit intentional about exercising these equally important, if not more important, dimensions of myself.)