Rewire your brain with the power of practice
In lockdown I have reversed the habits of a lifetime. Having always abhorred routine and repetition, I’m confounded by my new-found pleasure in the daily rhythm of life. It started with Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade – a daily practice of T’ai Chi - outside in my garden. It expanded into regular, sweaty, blood-pumping workouts (but ah! The Golden Glow). And finally, some space - every day - just to write. Two months into my new practices, I’m stunned by how my brain is rewiring.
Professionally and intellectually, I had already bought into the power of practice. Trying out mental and physical exercises is a key technique for building familiarity with new ways of behaving. Recently, I learned to facilitate the concepts in Erica Fox’s wonderful book, Winning from Within. Erica describes four archetypes that we all have but might not use in equal measure– the lover, warrior, thinker and dreamer. Movements, exercises and reflections help leaders explore their less familiar sides, reintegrating them into their lives and relationships. I took away some profound self-insights from the programme and it has been incredibly rewarding to facilitate that same experience in others.
But, if like me, you are resistant to developing ‘daily practice’ to continue that work, I now know that you are missing out on the real magic. T’ai Chi is a warrior meditation – it leaves you grounded, ready to protect and defend, both yourself and others. It has never been easy for me to draw on that part of myself. I am a people-pleaser; a conflict-avoider. But I feel the strength and availability of my warrior growing with every practice. And with the addition of physical workouts, building my capacity for physical action, my warrior becomes even more sure-footed. I witness the changes in my decisions, negotiations, boundaries and actions and it staggers me that all of this has been achieved through simple, repeated practice.
I want this in my life. I found my way to it through this awful lockdown but I want to keep it post-Covid. What about you? Have you been surprised by the practices or rituals that have come to sustain you at this time? Will you take them with you?
