Avoiding Pitfalls 2
Another way the ego can take over is by telling us all the things we need to do before we even begin to make a sound. These are often things we’ve discovered in previous successful lessons or practice sessions.
Now we are endgaining doing the “right” things. But, how do we know we need to do those things before we’ve even made a sound? “Because it worked last time.” says the ego. This kind of “coaching” can be subtle or seductive and we’ll get caught up in trying to recreate a past result without even realizing it.
Some of the results of this pitfall are:
Feeling anxious and pushing your energy
Focusing inward and losing energy
Feeling defeated before you’ve begun
Trying hard and getting worse
The way to take back your experience is to realize you really don’t know what will happen until you do your task. Then you can see what, if anything. you want to do differently.
Wesley Balk’s 4-step spiral proces
Wesley Balk’s 4-step spiral process is an excellent tool to remedy this problem. Here’s how it goes:
Just do the task in performance mode
Notice if there is anything you want to change
Do the task focussing on the desired change
Notice if your performance energy decreased
Repeat from the beginning until the desired change is accomplished in performance mode.
Next we’ll talk about how to get started in your practice.