Let’s Get Something Straight
I don’t think you should do The Work every day.
I trust you will find you own way, whether it is with The Work or not–no matter what frequency you choose. I just happen to come from a background of daily meditation practice. That’s why I make The Work a daily practice for myself. It’s just my way.
The other day a reader asked me, “Why is it good to do The Work every day?” Here are the reasons I gave her. I thought you might enjoy reading them too.
Why Do The Work Every Day?
- When you do it every day, you don’t have to think about it. It becomes a habit, and there’s no resistance to doing it. It’s just like brushing your teeth.
- The tool of inquiry is sharpened with use. The more you use The Work, the more you are able to find examples even to challenging turnarounds. It’s very helpful to have this skill honed before the unexpected, big stresses arrive. I was able to start doing The Work within hours after my mom died in a plane crash a few years ago. It helped a lot to have the skill ready at my disposal, and the time already carved out for it.
- You keep up with daily stresses. When you save The Work for the big stuff, you miss out on the daily (trivial) stresses which come with some of the most amazing insights.
- Small, daily, work takes the pressure off. You don’t have to “break through” when you do it every day. Progress naturally happens over time. This helps keep the mind relaxed as it grows.
- Stress is a like peeling the onion. If you just do The Work now and then, you never get past the gross layers of stress. You miss out on the subtle stresses that you become aware of when you do it more frequently.
- It takes 28 days to form a habit. The habit of believing my thoughts is well established. As of today, I am 15,730 days old, and I’ve never missed a day of believing my thoughts. It feels like balance to spend a little time every day creating a new habit. A habit of questioning what I believe.
- When you do it every day, you start looking for stress that you wouldn’t look for otherwise. So you clean up the hidden areas too.
- When you don’t do it every day, sometimes months or years go by with no work done.
Do You Have Other Reasons?
Leave me a comment if you have some reasons I haven’t considered. Why it’s good to do The Work every day for you?
Join Us For Regular Practice of The Work
Steady Pace Inquiry and The Daily Worksheet will be accepting new participants in October.
Have a great week,
Todd
P.S. The Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet checklist should be ready next week. It’s going to be free for subscribers, so get ready to download it. 🙂
