Trying and trying and... (My Sacred Life, Sunday)

If you examine the life cycle of an excuse, the period before you start owning the excuse you have planned in the back of your mind is known as "trying".

Before the event which you fear you may not be able to step up to, to perform as needed, to execute on the agreed-upon plan, to simply do what you have assured others you will do, you determine that you will try. You have just germinated an excuse seed. The result is predictable, and the illustration above portrays it. Need to get to the other side of the fence? Trying won't get you there.

The event comes to pass, and you don't get your part done. Now, the 'trying' goes past tense in the form of a fully mature excuse: "I tried. I really did!"

Excuses are the fear inside us attempting to survive by making it alright to fall short of getting our part done. It's not failure if you tried, right? Right?? (is the fear palpable here?)

'Trying' is our attempt to set up a situation where we have a valid excuse. Talk about an oxymoronic phrase...

I remember years ago being part of a demonstration of the invalid nature of the entire concept of trying. In the front row of the audience, I was an easy target of the motivational speaker. She asked me to come up and try to move her microphone stand. I confidently hopped onto the stage and picked up the stand, only to have her say, "No, I did not ask you to move it. I asked you to try to move it."

My confidence vanished as I knew I was caught in a trap. I put the stand down, then reached for it again, only holding it but not moving it. She said, "I did not ask you to fail to move the stand. I asked you to try to move it!"

Thankfully, she only left me twisting slowly in the soft breeze for a few seconds before she decided the point was made. I was allowed to return to the anonymity of the audience.

When you make it real like this, take 'trying' out for a walk, it is so easy to see the fallacy. 'Trying' is nothing more than a construct inside our heads which our ego or our little selves use as a way to escape responsibility.

In the world of microphone stands and lawns needing mowing and computers needing fixing, there is no such thing as trying. You either mow the lawn or you don't. You fix the computer, or you don't.

A point of clarification: it is perfectly fine to practice what you wish to become better at doing. It is a good idea to repeat a process as you are learning. This is not trying, though, because the learning process involves movement and intent to improve.

Trying, on the other hand, involves being stuck in one spot and fearing what it will take to move from there.

It is time to stop trying to capture my thoughts on this concept and publish what I have to offer. My Sacred Life, Sunday, completed the day prior.

A side note to those who stop by and see this: I'm grateful for your time, and it is my great pleasure to read and respond to your comments. Thanks for sticking with me, you who have, for many posts...some noteworthy, some not so much. Over the months of the existence of this blog, I have come to know that I write it for my own joy, *and* to offer a respite from the daily grind of anyone who is willing to invest a moment to read an entry or two. Thank you a thousand times for making my intention a reality!