The other day I borrowed a set of three juggling clubs so I could ramp up my practice schedule. I’ve been doing two outdoor sessions a day now in the park, for anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. The thing I’ve discovered about learning new physical skills is that it requires multiple daily sessions - as this is critical to building muscle memory and turning the desired skill into a routine and manipulable habit.
With my intentions focused squarely on getting good at that right now, it’s happening quickly. My drops are down significantly, upping the lengths of my runs. And when I make an error in rotations, I’m usually able to catch and correct back into the pattern, and am beginning to work in double spins into my ordinary pattern.
I also today made a young toddler - maybe a year and a half - exclaim to his mom, “Oh shit!” for which he was immediately scolded. Then a fat middle school kid came out and said he “couldn’t do that” because he would hit himself in the head.
I’ve noticed myself over the last week getting more and more “nimble” - increased physical coordination, muscular control (both fine and broad), flexibility, balance. It’s awesome! Been eating mostly fruits and vegetables all week with some bread, hummus and nuts - a diet which served me well during a similar period of self-transformation last summer. With the weather heating up here significantly, I’m finding myself with less of an appetite in general, nevermind that improved levels of physical awareness and control allows you to control or channel appetites and urges more effectively and smoothly.
I’m continuing to read the Tao Te Ching over and over again, treating each entry like a song in a much-beloved LP recording. When trying to rein in the wandering mind, it becomes critical that you prioritize inputs. By that I mean, make sure that you’re not taking trash into your perceptual field. Surround yourself with the kinds of information, people, environments, stimuli and other inputs which you’d like to become more like. You need concrete goals in life to work towards. You need positive examples of how to do it and do it right.
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ASSOCIATED CONTENT @TMBCHR (Auto-Generated)
- Partner Juggling, Notes
- Hand-Stands In The Park
- An Internet for Smart Objects
- “I learned to play with my balls”
- Music in Wyman Park (Baltimore)
