Your hidden discipline
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“Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.”
—David Whyte
With every turn of event in life, your ego works hard to convince you one way or another about whether it’s good or bad news. That is a mistake.
Similarly, we rationalize all our small, daily choices as merely being responses to our judgment of those events around us. That too is a mistake.
The tragedy of misfortune in life isn’t that it occurs at all—all things are finite in this world. Rather it’s that we don’t make full use of the experience.
As I have explained before in this newsletter, suffering is a teacher (https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=155285fb90) . It shows us how things are versus how we wish them to be.
So how then can we apply this hidden discipline to our work as a creative pro? Here are three thoughts.
Be unstuck
Unchecked, it is part of the human condition to cling to our sense of judgement. I like the way Pema Chödrön describes this, pointing out that the Tibetan word for that troublesome habit (shenpa) is more akin to being sticky than to be afflicted by attachment.
Thus, we are caught in a “sticky feeling.” It binds to us in everyday experiences.
Rather than fighting every slight or misdeed, be untouched by as much of it as you can. That is how you avoid the cycle of harmful, repeated behaviour that hinders your growth.
Feed needs, not desires
Know the difference between what you need versus what you desire out of life.
Desires are endless. They shift with our ego, much like appetite for a favourite food or experience. When sated, a desire only moves on to seed new ones.
But needs are finite and binary. They are also few when you distinguish them from desires.
As a friend of this newsletter (hello, Megan) shared with me recently, “know what your non-negotiables are in the life that you need for yourself.”
Design all things with purpose
Your gifts as a creative pro come with responsibility. You are responsible for what you create. That is why you must build all things in your life with purpose.
Not long ago, I stumbled on an unusual book on architecture by Christopher Alexander, called The Timeless Way of Building. In it, he argues that all design is about having a better understanding of patterns.
To build better, he says, “we must first learn a discipline which teaches us the true relationship between ourselves and our surroundings.”
This applies not just to the design of things, but the design of self, too.
Make use of what happens in your life. Welcome your teachers. Hone your hidden discipline. Be on the lookout for what is familiar: patterns to our thinking and choices.
Very best, Patrick
P.S. You help me a lot when you forward this email to a friend. Do that now.
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