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Do Less

I have written before about listening to intuitive wisdom – that inner, personal guidance that each one of us has access to, but which we so often miss.

Intuitive Wisdom

It takes practice to learn to hear our intuition and courage to follow it. Today, consider making a commitment to practice listening. To make it possible, try these practical and simple ideas for making space in your days by doing less:

  • Cook extra so tomorrow’s meal is easier with planned leftovers
  • Reuse bath towels so laundry is less
  • Don’t pick that fight with your spouse or children, let it go and go listen within instead
  • Stop rehashing yesterday in your mind
  • Stop planning for tomorrow and listen to what is present today

Know that when we begin a practice of listening, we might only hear what we’ve always heard! Be gentle with yourself. This is a practice! Let go again and listen:

What do you hear in the silence?
What message is in your breath?
What does your body say?
What is your heart’s truth?

 

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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part VII

In case you missed part VI, you’ll find it here:

Bowling Alley Wisdom Part VI: Let It Go!

Lesson #7: The Strike

The strike: knocking down all 10 pins with one ball. The strike is so exciting! Sometimes, we get lucky and score a sloppy strike. But other times, the strike happens because everything comes together and flows with ease. We have the right ball. We’ve used the arrows as our guide. Our approach to the foul line and ball release are smooth. The ball hits the head pin just right and this impact sets in motion pins hitting other pins until they all fall down. Years of practice followed by clear focus now, with this ball, pays off.

Here’s the interesting piece: Not only do we score more from a strike than from other balls, we get to throw less. When we bowl strikes, we don’t work as hard! A game of strikes requires 13 throws; a game of spares and misses? At least 20. It pays to practice and to be focused.

The same is true in life, isn’t it? Practicing our skills makes them easier to perform. Practicing results in better performance. Focus often means we “get it right the first time” and don’t need the “do over”.

In what ways are you throwing strikes?
Where is your focus scattered?
What practice would ease the journey?

How would a trip to the bowling alley serve you now?

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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part VI

In case you missed part V, you’ll find it here:

Bowling Alley Wisdom Part V: The Foul Line

Lesson #6: Let It Go!

Here’s the thing: sometimes our attempt at knocking down ten pins results in a foul or a gutter ball (no pins knocked down!) or perhaps a ball so poorly thrown that we score but a few pins.

What do we do when that happens?

We might get angry, be embarrassed, give up and quit trying. And that would be a waste of the rest of the game, yes? How about this option instead:

Let it go and move on!
Look forward, not back.
Regroup and begin again.

Life asks the same of us. When we make a mistake, or take two steps backwards, or find ourselves wishing we hadn’t done “it”, we can give up or we can learn a lesson from the experience and move ahead stronger and more resilient.

What miss-steps or “failures” have you quitting?
What is the lesson?

What is possible if you “let it go and begin again”?

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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part V

In case you missed part IV, you’ll find it here:

Bowling Alley Wisdom Part IV: The Ball

Lesson #5: The Foul Line

There is line at the end between the approach part of the lane and the alley itself. This is the foul line and may not be crossed. The penalty for breaching the foul line is a loss of all pins knocked down with that ball. Additionally, a very obnoxious alarm sounds and a red light glows to let everyone around you know that you have crossed the foul line.

Why does a bowler cross the line?

  • he lined up too close to the line and didn’t leave sufficient distance for his preparation, his approach
  • she got overzealous and lost control during her approach and simply went too far
  • he is a beginner and still developing the skill and coordination needed to deliver the ball smoothly from behind the line
  • she suffered an equipment malfunction in her body and simply wasn’t herself at delivery

How does the foul line and its alarm show up and guide us in life? I suspect the responses are many! Here are a few:

  • speed limits … and red lights in the mirror
  • assignments from teachers or coaches designed to help us succeed at the “next step” on the path
  • social graces which help us navigate relationships and which, when ignored, sometimes set off big, painful “alarms”

What are the foul lines in your life?
Which have you crossed?
What caused you to cross the line?
What was the impact?

Which foul lines have become too restrictive?
What will you do about that?

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Bowling Alley Wisdom Part II

In case you missed part I, you’ll find it here:

Bowling Alley Wisdom Part I: The Second Chance

Lesson #2: The Spare

What’s really amazing about the second chance in bowling is this: you get rewarded for succeeding the second time! Yes, even after a total miss with ball #1 (a gutter ball), if your second chance results in all ten pins going down, not only do you score ten points, but you get bonus points from the next frame. I’m not kidding!

If you trusted that giving yourself a second chance or offering that gift to another would result in bonus points, or healing, or forgiveness, or possibility, I ask again:

Where will you give yourself or another a second chance?

Add to that:

What will be possible then?
What vision makes the second chance SO worth it?