One of the common complaints about improving yourself is the application of the books you read. Most of us don’t do it. We don’t take the time to follow through with the exercises and complete the tasks of the first book before we are already reading another book that will be the one to provide the self improvement your looking for. The truth is that you have to do more than read. You need to take action and apply what you have learned. But if you don’t all may not be lost.
Praveen Puri wrote about something that happened to him that has also happened to me. One day you just ‘got it’. Specifically he stated:
“At the time, I thought I had wasted a lot of time and money on the books. Then, one day, boom! I started to get it. Nothing from any particular book. I just started to think differently – less ego-driven, more process-oriented. I was more optimistic, more centered, more focused in the present moment.
I attributed my breakthrough not to books, but to an technique. A walking meditation technique I called present moment awareness, where I walk around, concentrating on the present moment.”
This is actually pretty common. When you are learning something new you often feel like you don’t get it. You struggle through the best you can and then it usually becomes something you understand. The exciting part of this is the possibility of doing it on command. If you can focus on the present and increase your awareness so you understand sooner, that would be very cool. I’m going to work on this and see what happens. If anyone has a similar technique, list it in the comments.