Be impeccable with your word
As part of trying to live a life focused on maintaining health and well being rather than preventing illness I decided it was time to reintroduce regular exercise into my weekly routine. I am not into gyms. I like the idea of running but have never been one for endurance. I did used to do yoga regularly and really enjoy it, but yoga can be expensive and time consuming. Thankfully I found a great you tube channel - fightmaster yoga. The name makes it sound a bit hard core rah rah intense, and many of the practices are extremely challenging, but she (Lesley Fightmaster) has the most perfectly soothing without being annoying voice to talk you through each practice that it's come to be something I look forward to each day. I'm now eight weeks in to doing yoga every day (three exceptions) and feeling much better for it physically and mentally. At the end of each practice there's the resting pose where she reads a quote or excerpt from a book, and for the past few days it's been from a book The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, talking about how you need to "be impeccable with your word". Now I haven't read the book and don't know about its origins, so this is not an endorsement, but it has got me reflecting on a number of different areas of my life, but two in particular.
Words need to have meaning. When I set out to write a paper I need to be clear on the purpose and what it is I'm trying to add to the conversation. If not I'm just regurgitating and rearranging other peoples words. That may demonstrate effort but not thought. I need to ensure that the papers I write leave the readers with the impression that I have given the topic considered thought, whether or not they agree with me. This can be difficult, as sometimes its only through the process of writing that the story emerges. However, I need to make a greater effort with this, especially the papers written for the 'scientific' type readers.
Authenticity is something that I value greatly in others and also myself. If that is true then I think I need to stop censoring myself when it comes to using this blog. What I mean is that I don't need to be too concerned if some of the things that I write later demonstrate that I don't know everything. If the purpose is to grow and learn then this should be expected.