Consistency is Key

(melodic chimes ring) Headspace Studios. Greetings, greetings, and welcome to Radio Headspace. My name is Kessonga and it is Friday. As I look back on this week's episodes and the feedback that I gave to the questions that were sent my way, I realized that the overall solution to many of these dilemmas is our old friend, consistency. I really can't say it enough. When it comes to a new practice like mindfulness and meditation, consistency in my humble opinion is of most importance because when we're consistent with our practice, the mindfulness tools and benefits like patience, introspection, and gratitude, they become like second nature. So, I will continue to be consistent in my reminding you of the importance of consistency. But seriously, let's drift away from mindfulness and meditation for a quick second. Let's bring our attention to any activity, whether it be a sport or otherwise. An activity that you're learning for the very first time. I'm gonna keep it personal as usual and talk about when I was learning the martial art of jujitsu. I was around 10 years old when I first started with martial arts, nothing too serious, just Saturday classes for young kids and I really enjoyed it. My father knew that I really needed to know how to defend myself in the streets, especially because of the neighborhood that we lived in. And so, every Saturday it was off to karate class. Then around 12 or 13 years old, my father decided to take it up a notch and got us into Komite Ryu Jujitsu under a world renowned teacher named Soke Little John Davis. Please Google this man. Soke was a short, round, unassuming looking man, very friendly to my parents and myself during the opening intros. Most of the students were already suited up and getting ready for class. So, I hurried and went back to the locker rooms to get changed. When I came out of the locker room, it was a completely different vibe. Every child was lined up, standing super straight like soldiers and Soke's vibe was also super different. In a matter of minutes, he had transformed into this warrior dude with the coldest stare I have ever seen to this day. And then we got busy. Soke was so freaking strong. While doing our punching drills standing up, he would come around and literally punch us in the stomach like five times. Well, he would do me like 10 times because I was one of the oldest and the biggest and he would demonstrate techniques on us and just throw us all over the place. I was hooked. I wanted to learn more. Soke was very clear about what it took to get better. And can you guess what he said? That's right. Consistent practice. And so that's what I did. I actually climbed up a couple of belts but then my family moved out of town and I also had gotten into tennis so...