“‘To improve is to change. To perfect is to change often.’”
— Winston Churchill
When you are a beginner it seems so much easier to allow yourself to fail. You practice and then get decent.
Then you get good.
When you become good, you no longer allow yourself to fail. You assume it should be easier. You feel as though you are not allowed to fail. You think one lesson is enough for you to stay good.
When we disallow ourselves the beginner mind, we keep ourselves from moving on. One is never only a master, but also a perpetual student.
There are mountains and there are molehills. There are peaks and valleys. The road is never flat or straight. If it is, you are not moving (or, you’re in Ohio).
It gets easier, then harder, then easier, and again more difficult. That cycle is forever. We cannot expect to get it right away every time. There’s always a new technique to polish, another punch to perfect. There is always another lesson to be learned
…and sometimes, it takes more than one lesson. Always allow yourself that.
In Between Degrees 