There’s something I’m totally proficient at that I don’t need to practice anymore. I suspect you are too, yet we keep practicing.

If there was ever a more true assertion than “practice makes perfect,” I am not aware of it.

It’s hard for me to say I’m perfect at something without losing my false sense of humbleness, but here I am saying it and meaning it.

“Nobody’s perfect,” you say, but I say, “I am and so are you.”

“OK, Mr. Braggypants, what is it that you’re so perfect at and claim that I am too?”

Before I reveal the secret of perfection, let me remind you that you may keep practicing even after you discover that you don’t have to. We’re so conditioned to the practice that it’s hard to let it go.

One more thing: pretend you are a musical virtuoso. You are the world’s best at playing your instrument. You have practiced more diligently than most and the thought of giving up practicing is foreign to you, even though you now know it’s not in your best interest to do it any more. That’s how you may feel when I show you the ripe banana under the peel.

(Please cue the drumroll) The thing that I’m perfect at and so are you, the thing that we’re so practiced at that we no longer need to do, and the thing we’ll have a hard time saying, “fond adieu” to is this:

Railing Against Reality

Congratulations! You have perfected this skill and you’re world-class at it. Now the challenge for all of us is to stop practicing, so our skills will erode.

I never thought I would drink a toast to the erosion of skills but, hey, even old dogs learn new tricks.

Here’s the promise: If you give up practicing this practice, you’ll stop giving up your peace.

You give away a piece of your serenity every time you fuss and fume about what is.

Start small and, as an example, stop railing against the reality that dishes in the sink need to be washed. Do you really want to give away your peace because you have to use a tiny bit of elbow grease?

It gets easier from there and, as a result, you become less perfect.

So the remedy to railing against reality is to practice being less perfect at it. It not only calms the mind, it relieves the pressure from the the daily grind.

All the best,

John