To Face A Dragon

I do not think there could have been a more timely set of reading assignments for this week. The general theme for this week was working through difficult circumstances and not getting discouraged.

I have had cause to wonder for a long while--but particularity this week--how in the world I am going to make it in life. The immediate future seems to only spell a long time of adjusting to and figuring out life after college.

But the words of Elder Jeffery R. Holland (an Apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), as well as a quote from our current assigned reading book, help me to feel a little less apprehensive about the future.

Elder Holland, in recounting a personal experience that illustrated how difficult (sometimes absurdly so) life can be, imagines what he would say to the younger version of himself: "'Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.'" ("Good Things to Come")

Another quote with a similar message is found in the reading assignment we had this week. A couple of times, the victims of the Holocaust of World War II are mentioned. One victim was said to have scribbled on his wall these words: "'I believe in the sun even when it is not shining, I believe in love even when I do not feel it, I believe in God even when He is silent."  To me, this is a perfect example of faith at it's best. We can be assured that as long as we are doing our best to follow God and the example of His Son, we may be guided and strengthened, even in the "tunnels of misfortune" in our life that seem to go on forever. The bad times will end. We will be able to handle whatever comes our way, if we only put our trust in the Lord.

Refining Habits and Self-Control

I think many of us--if not all of us--could say that we have some habits that we would like to break. I certainly know that I do! I have a tendency to procrastinate and manage my time badly. There are times when I have been motivated enough to manage my time well, and I am really much happier when I do.

But part of what it means to be human, I believe, is that we are in a constant struggle with the natural urge to take "the path of least resistance". We are always making decisions about whether to indulge out appetites and passions, or to do what we know must be done.

I think one of the most interesting things that I learned this week (though there is so much that was interesting to me), was that there is much in those natural desires that can be used to help us achieve our goals.

George Leonard, whose book on mastery our class has been studying for the last couple of weeks, teaches that it is important to acknowledge one's "dark side", or that natural side of our natures, but not to let it be master over our lives. We can access the energy that being frustrated or angry (for example) calls up in us, and direct it toward productive pursuits, rather than simply getting angry or being frustrated. In this way, we do not "suppress" or "hide away" those "forbidden parts of our personality", which he describes as unhealthy, but we do not let them take over, either.

But if we are to achieve this, we must first have our priorities straight. As part of out lesson this week, we reviewed briefly the "7 Habits of Highly Effective Men" established by Steven R. Covey. The third habit is that of putting "First Things First". When I am doing well in managing my time, I know what needs to be done first, and can use my desire to do something else (be it a more pleasing assignment, reading a book, or watching TV) to motivate me to get things done. These principles are things I've already seen at work in my life, but they are things that I have yet to master.

Yet as I've learned from George Leonard, the path to mastery is not one that is a constant slope upward, but one that comes in increments. You just have to keep trying.

A Vision of Self-Mastery

Last week one of the things I took away from my studies was the necessity of being able to be patient while one is "on the plateau" of development. This week, I was impressed by the call to master oneself and proceed with a vision.

An excellent talk given by Elder E. Eldon Tanner, an LDS Apostle from years ago, titled "Success is Gauged by Self-Mastery" contains some wonderful advice on the importance of self-mastery, but the quotes from long-ago philosophers and leaders were especially poignant. He quotes them thus:

"Plato said: 'The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.'

And da Vinci once said: 'You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself.' Then he goes on to say that 'the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. … And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.' In other words, he cannot be a worthy father or leader.

Solomon in all his wisdom made this meaningful statement: 'He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.' (Prov. 16:32.)"

Self-mastery, as I see it, is a life-long goal. One that certainly becomes easier in some ways over time, but which also requires the utmost diligence. I know for certain that I am happier when I do what I know I should be doing with my time, but I often fall to the temptations that so many of us are subject to in this distraction-rich world.

I believe that self-mastery, too, is easier when one has a vision or a goal in mind. Again reading from George Leonard's "Mastery: The Keys to Sucess and Long-Term Fulfillment", we learn in chapter eight about "Intentionality"---that is, the ability to visualize an action or goal, and doing so until doing that action, or achieving that goal comes naturally to us. This is essentially the practice of lining up the goals and wishes of the mind and spirit with the actions of the body. It is this same sort of idea that drives the practice of teaching children to "say no to drugs", long before they are ever offered any.

When body and mind are united in a common cause, the results of the actions taken in pursuit of that cause are more likely to yield better results. Distraction is the enemy of excellence.

Patience on the Path

This week we covered lots of new material! I thought the messages from George Leonard’s book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment were particularly interesting. Leonard talks about how the pattern of progress leading toward mastery is not a straight line inclining upward.

Rather, it’s more like a series of plateaus connected by spurts of progress. And so, when we are learning a new skill, or starting a new venture, we must understand the necesity of long periods of hard practice without seeming to get anywhere. We must learn to “love the plateau”, so to speak.

I also had an interesting experience in one of my other illustration classes this week. We were discussing the necesity of becoming good artists, and striving for utmost perfection. Our teacher is a professional illustrator, and so he makes good points. But one thing that I thought about, and felt that I had to share with the class was that even if our work “isn’t good”, that doesn’t give us an excuse to not put ourselves out there. “We have to start somewhere,” I said.

The teacher acknowledged that, and explained that as an artist, you will always be looking back at your best work from years back (that people liked, in fact) and deciding that it was no good. So we are always climbing the path toward mastery of our disciplines, but one of the main differences between those who are successful and those who are not is not talent. It is that those who are successful have known failure, and yet diligently continue to practice and put their work and talents (however meager) out there for people to see.