
The Gift of Self-Care – THE CRITICAL DIALOGUE – LIFE AT WORK
How would you react if you just lost a ‘practice’ match? If I guessed right, you would just let it go and get on with your life. You would just look at reviewing the mistakes you committed and learn from it so that you do not commit the same mistake again. I am sure you wouldn’t end your life for losing a practice match, will you?
I have come across so many people who freeze with fear of committing a mistake. They choose to avoid than confront. They believe that anything which is done by them has to be right the very first time and so they keep visualizing the horror of possible mistakes they would end up committing.

You would have seen that successful people and teams are those who brush a setback or failure aside and look to seize the next opportunity which they believe will come their way. They define their identity based on future possibilities and not the past.
If you have ever learnt to play a musical instrument you would understand what I am trying to get at. You would play a note a zillion times before you get the right tone. You would practice till you get it right. You wouldn’t give up the effort on your very first attempt, or will you? That applies to any new skill you seek to learn. When you are in the process of ‘practicing’ you never worry about the mistakes you would end up committing and keep at it.
What if you start leading your life as if it is a ‘practice’?
In life its not that we are only granted a single moment with which we must awe the crowd or win the game and then retire. Life is practice. A disagreement with someone can be followed by greater effort at gaining understanding. A missed game can be followed by an impromptu visit to the Cinema. Misfortune can be an occasion to strengthen one’s resolve to try harder just as success can be an opportunity to practice humility.
But what exactly do we mean by practice? In this context, practice is effort expended at improving one’s effectiveness. Through disciplined mental and behavioral repetition, one seeks to grow more skillful at achieving desired ends.
If music, medicine and law can be a called a practice, then why not life itself? It will help you to take the ups and downs in your stride and not get bogged down and freeze all action.
In ‘practice’ you do provide allowances for mistakes and failures and are okay with it. Taking life as a practice will provide you with the much needed freedom to take risks, experiment, be creative, and succeed and enjoy life as you desire.
There is a mindset during ‘practice’ which is not only positive but also acts as a great confidence booster. Tapping into that mindset can help you accomplish much more in life than what you do now.
So why not start your ‘Life Practice’ today?