There was a birthday party last night. There was a traditional New England pancake breakfast to celebrate the start of maple sugaring season this morning. And so, what with one thing and another, I didn’t get started on the tai chi thing until about 3:15 pm. I wasn’t able to go as slowly as I’d like. But neither was I a galloping horse as I worked my way through the two qi gong forms and the tai chi form. And frankly, given how I felt coming home (loogey and sugared up from all that maple syrup — on my pancakes, my bacon, my eggs, and even in my coffee), it’s a wonder I got to it at all.
But I got to it. Hallelujah!
And it felt good. It always feels good. I was saying to several people last night (who know I’m coming up on the end of this inaugural year) that it’s still hard to get started. It’s still difficult to begin. But I always feel better by the end of the work. And that’s critical: it’s the memory of the feel-goodness of it all that keeps me returning and returning to the practice. Even on days like today when it becomes complicated to continue. Even on days when starting is challenging. Even on days when the day sort of slips away from me, and I wonder why didn’t I do this earlier?
I suffered from many of those aspects today, and yet I still got through the work. And I think that’s the most critical part of it. Getting through it, day after day, without break. Today is the last day of my school vacation, and completing the work every day during that vacation is important to me… another twelve days of this puts me on track for a year.
