I love this old post from 2019.
It is about the time my son perfected his pancake-making.
He has since succeeded and failed at many types of inventions in the kitchen. Last night, he made me a lovely french toast breakfast and simple prosciutto toast and honey dinner. I don’t think he remembers his dogged practice of trying to perfect his pancake because once he did it, he moved on to the next challenge but he is always practicing.
I also wrote:
In Japan, there is the concept of “Ensō.” It is a sacred symbol in the Zen school of Buddhism and is one of the most common subjects of Japanese calligraphy, even though it is a symbol and not a character.
Creation of an ensō symbolizes a moment in time in the life of the artist when the mind is free to simply let the spirit create through the physical body. Ensō is a fascinating expression of individuality as expressed by variations in ink tones, brushstroke thickness, shape of the circle and even the positioning of the single point where the circle begins and ends.
Enso is a practice and not just a single moment. The form and void are interdependent of each other – the success and the failure are interdependent. Without one, we can’t know the other. And we know them through practice.When we show up and practice whatever it is, we make a commitment to this process of success and failure.
Even if it’s just pancakes.
I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.
– Martha Graham
TODAY’S PROMPT:
- Draw Enso. Only one try. No erasing. Don’t overthink.
- Copy the Martha Graham quote on practice.
- What would you practice every day to get better at if you had the insert constraint here (E.g. time, money, empty house, etc.)?
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