Community Concepts (September 2021)

09/06/2021

Dojo Philosophy for Everyday Life

One of the complications of modern life is that we are bombarded with requests for our attention. How can we hold the focus necessary to accomplish our great work when we can barely get started without a distraction? Phone calls and texts beg to be answered right away. Kids have five activities that meet at every moment and need preparation and motivation. Buy this, try that, like this, and on and on. In Cuong Nhu, we can find some guidance in the sixth code of ethics to help make progress through the mental clutter.

The first word to look at is “dedicated.” We often use this word to mean “hard-working” but it specifically refers to the act of pledging time, resources, or spirit to a person, cause, or goal. To have “dedicated daily practice” means that you separate a particular time and pledge it to your practice. During that time you’ll allow no interruptions and consider no alternatives. The phone is in another room, and everyone knows not to intrude. It’s like cutting that time out of your life of endless requests and options and making it a separate space with different rules and possibilities.

There’s great power in this act of dedication. So much of our trouble with commitment comes from the endless options and constant choices, especially those that seem like less work. When we’re on the long road towards real improvement, there are infinite ways to diverge from the path and only one way to stay on it. If we can dedicate some of our time to improvement, we have a separate space to shelter us from distraction and allow us to continue the slow march towards perfection.

The rewards are explosive! Once we’ve succeeded at dedication, we have avoided letting ourselves down. We are aware of and proud of our progress and our spirit swells! After the easy progress of new and exciting things, we are able to persevere through the difficult progress of mastery which increases our mental and physical stamina! We also learn that we are able to safeguard our values and successfully say no where others flounder amongst a sea of options and decisions. We solidify our moral character.

This practice of dedication is a foundation of how we pursue our training in Cuong Nhu, but it works wonders in every aspect of life. My wife and I have dedicated the same night of the week to our date night for more than ten years and everyone who knows us knows we’re not available on that night. Writers who dedicate time each day to writing see their ability produce take off. Whether you want to develop a relationship, a skill, a project, or a way of life, set aside a space for it and keep that time safe. Start with a moment of ritualized transition that helps your mind make the change to dedicated space. Don’t set limits on what it means to be productive in that space. Simply begin with the practice of dedication, and be prepared to watch yourself grow.