You will do as you practice

There is a quote by author Jeremy Schwartz which goes "Live every day as if it were your last, because one of these days, it will be" which I like for a number of reasons. The main one being that if you had a good ethical and spiritual foundation, you would be the best that you could every day, in every way.

Most of us don't bother to do that, because we foolishly believe that we will really behave differently when it counts. Even though we don't bother during our normal day-to-day activity, we will rise to the occasion when it is important. The reality is that what we practice every day is what you will do even when it really counts.

The most graphic example of this is a Canadian policeman who was an avid martial artist. He learned to disarm a firearm from an attacker and practiced long and hard, becoming very skilled in disarm techniques. However, in practice, they would disarm the firearm and then hand it back to the attacker so they could practice it again. They thought that in a real situation, they would behave differently.

The unfortunate policeman was confronted by a firearm wielding attacker in real life and his training paid off - he disarmed his attacker, taking the gun cleanly from the man. But then just as he had practiced in training, he handed the gun back. He was shot on the second disarm attempt.

Practice being the best you can be every day, in every way - because every day is your training for the real situation, when being your best will be essential. Imagine the difference that would make!

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems”

Mahatma Gandhi