Correct Effort In Our Practice

When we don’t have a clear direction why we practice it is more difficult to gather the energy to do it. Instead, our energy gets dispersed into other activities that eventually take away our motivation for practice. Having correct effort in our practice means waking up moment to moment, reminding ourselves of our direction by the act of doing the practice itself. As we return to our before-thinking mind in each moment, we repeat the habit of functioning from don’t-know. The more we repeatedly return to the moment when body, breath and mind become one, the more quickly we become one with the universe. Sincerely doing it is already correct effort, correct direction and enlightenment. Then we get universal energy. That’s what we call “Just do it.” That means when we walk, we just walk 100 percent. When we eat, just eat 100 percent. When we sit, we just sit 100 percent. It is a complete, fulfilled action, and because it has a clear direction it benefits all beings.

Making correct effort in our practice means making the habit of practice stronger by doing it, but also seeing when it becomes routine, whether that’s on or off the cushion. A clear habit is not necessarily a dead, routine activity. Making a strong effort does not mean practice hard to break yourself, but to put a sincere effort of attention into each moment to wake up. When you lose it, return immediately. Leave no gap. Consider each moment as the last because in our life there is only this moment. Put effort into just this moment—that’s all. Then try again. Then practice is not routine no matter what is our activity. We don’t fall asleep, and being clear and awake, already our true self is functioning with innate wisdom and compassion in whatever we do. Not only that, but we also become one with the universe, so even as we are on the wave of the ebbs and flows of the changing world, we can be in harmony with it.