Originally Posted by
Bruce Frantzis
When you consider anything that has to do with meditation, or self-cultivation at any level, the idea that you're ever going to get something is blatantly false. And, you cannot reach a high level of excellence unless you are doing what you do because you like the journey. You actually have to like the roads on which you must travel.
Now, some people can just get in - they want to win a marathon so they push themselves to run 26 miles and constantly train. But what is rarely acknowledged is that few can really take running to its heights unless they actually like running - they get some degree of joy from it. This goes much further when you talk about chi work. A lot of what is involved with chi work is going to take you through very long plateaus to where you are never going to have any idea about whether you're progressing and this process could become mundane.
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All of the awe-inspiring moments are going to cease if you do not go through the plateau periods which are not glorious or glamorous. At this stage of the game, it is your infrastructure, the work that seems to be boring that is actually setting you up for future development. If you have the first floor of a building, it's setting the stage for the second floor. Of course, each time a floor is complete it's a great event because you're reaching another level. So you push, become re-enthused, recharged because a whole new vista is in sight and your inner world opens up. Although before the second floor is actually built, you're in the same position as if you had a hole in the ground - you've got to go through the hard work to actually construct the road.
Plateau points make the difference between whether you will break through to a low, middle or high level of accomplishment. During this phase, virtually nobody can just say, "Well, I have to keep practicing if I'm going to end up at the other end." This is especially true in an over-marketed, stressed out, instant-gratification society. So, the question arises: What makes people capable of persevering? And, you're not going through a plateau phase once with chi work - you'll go through them many, many, many times, depending upon the level to which you aspire.
The answer is quite simple and it's not about the hype and need for yet another identity. The fact is that you actually must enjoy the game. In this case, you actually love doing whatever chi practice you're doing. You love getting into your energy - rooting and finding out that which is not working inside you, the places in your mind that are mucked up, the places in your energy that are blocked - an enjoyable or at least worthwhile process in itself.
) where nothing much happens.
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