Practices and Progress
Now that I’ve committed to posting every day, I realize it opens up some interesting possibilities. The first possibility is the enforcement of daily practices. Currently, I don’t have any daily thought practices. I’m kinda just wingin’ it each day, seeing where my mind takes me. And although this freedom lets my imagination go to some interesting and unexpected thoughts (in the shower this morning, I thought about the link between God and hair…seriously), the truth is I’m hoping a pseudorandom process will eventually produce a specific result (e.g., love, joy, a sustainable will to live, etc.). It seems reasonable to assume that I can achieve these results quicker and more-reliably if I were to force my thoughts through strategically-placed checkpoints.
Yes, I realize the idea of daily practice is both ancient and well-documented from countless perspectives. But arriving at that conclusion myself is much more powerful than hearing someone else say it. I think I get it now: daily practice produces positive results.
But the decision to incorporate daily practices is just the beginning. It opens up several new questions:
- What are some good daily practices to try out?
- What is the purpose of each practice?
- How can I measure my progress?
- How can I do this in a way that doesn’t jeopardize my commitment to posting daily? (I.e., how do I make sure it doesn’t turn posting into a chore?)
- How can I track changes to the routine itself?
Even as I’m writing these questions, I’m already getting some interesting ideas about how to implement this with Jekyll. Which of course led to thoughts about creating an easy-to-use system for non-technical people to track their lives as they pursue their dreams…blah blah blah…create a utopian society of spiritually-awake digital nomads.
Focus!
Right. Sorry. Anyway, I totally know the answer to #5. I’ll add a Practices page!