Meditation in Action: The Wax on Wax off Principle

Today i wanted to focus on a principle that explains a key mechanism in meditation practice & in practicing spirituality in our daily modern life.

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Once this principle is understood, it's bound to stay with you for good, even if meditation practice doesn't. The principle im talking about is..
 

                                               The Wax on Wax off principle.

If you have watched the 80's version of the "Karate Kid" martial arts films series, you'll probably remember the film focused on the main character Daniel's Karate training with Mister Miyagi, the martial arts Master.

Daniel was keen to start learning all these kick ass karate movements, but instead Mr Miyagi would puzzle the young novice, asking him to tackle various tasks as disguised karate lessons. It was on lesson no. 1 he asked him to wax the car on and off, leaving Daniel confused on his Master's seemingly eccentric request. Here is the reminder of this clip.

But even if a little bit eccentric, Mr Miyagi knew what he was doing. There are teachings within teachings hidden in this simple act of "wax on wax off" and we're going to take a look at 4 of them here...

1. The wax on and wax off principle is basically in essence a reminder of the fundamental universal truth that:

          "The deepest most profound truths of the universe
      are to be found in the most common of everyday acts."
                                                                       
These truths are to be had in experiences that are so common, we tend to take them for granted and miss out on opportunities to learn and expand ourselves and our awareness. Often what we are looking for is right in front of us, if only we are willing to see it.

We don't need to go digging any deeper. Even though our human nature has us always reaching out for more, we tend to not see that we already have got all we need. We just seem to fail to register it.

What teaching does our day to day routine hold for us that once discovered could change the course our life? Are we ready to see and acknowledge it?

2. The wax on wax off principle reminds us that if we wish to become more focused and disciplined, we can do so simply by choosing to learn a skill / tool that we like and then strive to become really good at. 

However, we don't necessarily only have to get there by taking on a particular training modality such as martial arts or meditation, or disciplines of that nature if we don't want to and are not inspired to do so. The good thing about principles is that they can be applied in many different situations.

                  When our heart is given fully in what we do,
                                that activity turns into play,
                       so discipline and focus is something
                      that grows naturally and effortlessly.


By applying ourselves in learning a dance for example, taking up a sport, painting, learning an instrument and so on, we give ourselves a platform through which to apply ourselves, and therefore we end up developing the discipline and focus required.

This is something im exploring a bit more at session 6 of my "Learn to Meditate in 6 Weeks" E-Course for those that might be interested, and particularly im exploring how that focus links with aligning to higher states of consciousness, so i won't be going anymore into it here.

3. Next step is to bring that same discipline, focus, passion and desire in learning and honing that skill to the level of expertise that we wish to achieve.

Do we wish to be masters of expertise of our particular passion? Are we willing to do the work? Can we sweat it? These are the questions worth reflecting on and most importantly, the extend to which we are willing to walk the walk, will demonstrate how far we're willing to take ourselves.

I feel that to be TRULY masters at something, we need to choose something we feel passionate about, because that is the only way we're going to stay motivated and excited to keep on learning and eventually mastering the skill/ task/ sport/ art form that we're so passionate about. But here lies the truth of the matter...

                                       ANYTHING we practice with
                           true awareness & persistence,
                                   TURNS INTO expertise.

It's a fact that true dedication pays off! If we put our heart and soul into learning something we truly desire and let that be our meditation, it will take us a long way. Guaranteed!

4. Now, the reason why practices such as meditation are so helpful, it's because they can teach us those principles of focus, discipline, dedication, persistence, as fundamentals that we can then use in ANY other aspect of our life.

Through meditation we experience little deaths and rebirths of our belief patterns, understandings, views and limitations and we can come out of them with a refreshed view of our very life.

In that respect, meditation and disciplines of that sort, can end up serving as a Master Key that can unlock most doors in many other aspects and platforms in our life.

We can apply them to ANY aspect of our life, both the ones we love and enjoy as well as those we don't care so much about but nevertheless have to get done, i.e our weekly grocery shopping, and the grind of our daily routine.

Additionally to gaining a disciplined approach to life, through practices such as meditation, we can also learn to find contentment and joy amidst the repetition, that we can then carry forward to all other areas of our life, even seemingly mundane experiences that we tend to find unexciting.

So before i leave you with those 4 principles mentioned above, id like to end with a  good note. :)

The good news is, each and every one of us has a natural affinity with at least 1 thing/ activity/passion that can be a true master at once we choose to find it & apply ourselves to it.

Not only it is there for us to discover, it is inevitably going to reveal itself to us if we wish to if and keep digging to get to it. For some it's all about being able to remove any resistance that keeps us from finding out where our passion lies. The irony is that we only need to do the digging because it's a bit too obvious that we 're taking it for granted and not realising this is what we are meant to be doing. It's too much in our face! Though perhaps for some it might not feel quite like that.

It's up to US to find it and once we do, it's up to us to let it guide our life all the way.

      What would YOU need to do to take a step closer to your very passion today?

Stay tuned as i will be releasing my next E-Course " Find you Passion & Turn it into a Grounded Business" by the end of 2014, taking you through a journey of the key spiritual principles, tools and practical exercises that will help you access your truest potential and desire.

This new E-course is to be offered entirely for FREE to those that have purchased my 'Learn to Meditate in 6 Weeks' E-Course, currently available at a crackingly good price!

So stay tuned and i hope this blog gets you thinking about your passion a bit more.

Love x
Samaya