Practice – Overcoming a Hurtful Behavior Or Lifestyle
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Practice makes perfect. We have all heard that expression before. However, while practice does not make an individual perfect, it will make him / her better and maybe even the best in the world at whatever they have practiced for.
I remember in my childhood days when my brother and I got new bikes for Christmas. We were so excited to finally have bikes to ride around in the neighborhood. The only problem was that we had never rode bikes before. Not to mention we were already 12 and 13 years old at that time, so training wheels for our new bikes were out of the question. To start off, my dad would hold our bikes while we hopped on and got set to ride. Once we started to peddle he would give us a little nudge and we were off. However, I was not off to the races, because at about 10 – 15 feet of riding I lost my balance and fell off. My dad would do the same routine over and over and I kept falling off and over. I was so upset and I'm sure I even fought, because I wanted to ride my bike so bad, but could not keep my balance. Finally, I just got up and went inside the house pouting and thinking I would never be able to ride a bike. The next morning I thought I would try it again and so I went outside, jumped on my bike without my dad, and began to ride and I rode and I rode. My dad came outside and was so excited for us. Riding a bike is not hard, but it does take a level of practice. Since my brother and I practiced we could only get better. At first, we could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. We constantly saw falls, bruises, and our feelings hurt.
We are all gifted and talented and some things just seem to come natural to us. Although, if we are not careful we may think the natural talent for something will be enough not realizing others are working hard to be better and more than likely will be better than us. Having natural talent and gifting for certain things should not excuse us from working hard to be better and even great. It takes practice.
Going back to High School years if we wanted to play on the High School football team, we had to show the coaches we could play and that we could play better than the others trying out for the same position. Practices would take place every day after school and we would work hard for the position we desired. It took practice on and off the field.
How about when we had a big test or final exam coming up? We would take the proper time to practice by studying the material we learned through the year over and over again. Yes, practice can be tiresome and redundant, but it is that consistency that causes us to remember and makes us better.
Another thing I think of relating to practice is that there is a right and wrong way of doing things. If we are practicing the wrong way of doing things, the end result will not be good. It may look good for a while, but will turn out not so good. In other words, if we learned a certain behavior, attitude, or lifestyle that was not good, the end result will be bad for us. Let's put this concept into perspective. You learned that being your wife was perfectly ok, because you saw your father beat your mother through your childhood. You learned that behavior and practiced it and it will not turn out good for you. Cheating on tests, acting out your rage, using illegal drugs, drinking to get drunk, cussing others out, talking behind people's backs, lying, and anything like and associated with these will mess our lives up. There are good behaviors and wrong behaviors. There is a good and wrong lifestyle. It is up to us to make sure we are not practicing the wrong behavior and lifestyle.
What behavior, attitude, or lifestyle do you recognize that is not healthy for you that you desire to get rid of? It all starts with you acknowledging that your behavior or lifestyle is not benefiting your life; Rather it is robbing you of life. Remember, you act the way you do, because that is how you learned it and so you practiced it that way. Now, if it is a behavior or lifestyle that is not benefiting you, then find out, learn, and start practicing the behavior or lifestyle that will benefit you. It takes practice.
It just takes practice. Anything we long to change in our lives just takes practice performing it a different way from what we originally learned. How willing are you to work hard to achieve the proper behaviors or lifestyle you desire? Think about your life right now and ask yourself what behavior that I possess constantly causes friction between me and others? You have the power to change it. Again, going back to me riding my bike or trying out for the High school team it took practice to achieve the end result desired. Practice will not make you perfect, but it will help you to become great.
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