def: Attempting to outperform reality.
“Trying” (as opposed to simply “doing”) involves the stress-filled desire to do more than I am doing, which is, of course, impossible. It is never possible for me to do more than I am doing in the exact moment I’m doing what I’m doing.
When I attach meaning and self-worth to doing more than I am doing, I suffer. And I find that I am never enough. Even when I appear to achieve things.
“Do or do not. There is no try. ”
I don’t try. I do what I can.
I don’t TRY to hit the target, I aim for the target and I notice that I either hit the target or I don’t, with either thing being acceptable. Whatever happens is the way of it and the way of it is always what should have happened. What’s my alternative other than a painful argument with reality (an argument I lose 100% of the time)?
So I can be grateful for the gift.
“Doing,” then, becomes an adventure, an exploration of my existence steeped in curiosity, a fascinating conversation with the universe with surprising twists and turns, always miraculously delivering me to exactly where I need to be.
I never fall short. I only ever do what I can. And whatever I do, “improvement” happens on its own, without my effort, and only where it will benefit me (and never where it won’t). I will always succeed where my actions serve me and fail where they do not. No matter how hard I try.
And I can’t know ahead of time. It all happens beyond me.
Because the universe is kind.