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Part 246 - Consistency

Showing up regularly makes the practice easier.

· consistency,food,Openfire Cooking,meditation,yoga

"Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come."

D. Johnson

I confess. I struggle with consistency. I change my mind. I get excited about new ideas and new ways. I am easily distracted.

That said: I've been trying to improve.

I've been consistent in my yoga practice. I've made it a daily ritual and I've benefited from that.

I've been consistent in my creative endeavors. Well, mostly. I maintained this blog as a daily blog for just shy of a year. I've been trying to come back to it on a regular (consistent) basis, but have been distracted for quite some time with other obligations.

One thing I've discovered this year is that when you make an action or an idea a priority and you maintain a consistent and diligent effort to complete that action or explore that idea, the process becomes easier. Maintaining a habit is so much easier than the initial steps of creating that habit.

Buffalo River for example: Kim and I have had our little rustic retreat for quite some time, over ten years now. We've hit a lick or two out there. Spent epic weekends in the woods. This year, however, has been a new way of enjoying the river. We made the conscious decision to put time and effort into the Buffalo River this year. From March until now, we've worked.

We spent a few weekends and several week days on a cleaning mission. It took several truck loads of hauling to clear out the dross that had piled up out there. We spent several days on improving the place. There's now a working toilet, hot water, and a fantastic little spot to wash dished and rack them up for drying and storage. We built a patio, actually two patios, for dinners and cooking. We repaired electrical issues and installed new power. We've been focusing on making the place easier to enjoy.

It's worked. This past weekend Kim and I drove out to the river on Friday afternoon. It took us two trips to load in our gear (a job that used to take two cars and about ten slogs from car to deck). We were settled in and ready to relax within thirty minutes. When we were ready to head home to Nashville, we hauled a couple of bags of laundry and clothes and one bag of trash and then hauled ourselves home. It was easy.

It took a metric-ton of effort to make this past weekend easy. Now it's a maintenance game. It's also a planning game. This next spring we plan to build our dream cabin.

It's not a huge log cabin with luxury baths and expansive, view-filled, verandas. It's a simple cabin. It's gonna take a lot of work and a good deal of effort, but I've been feeling good about our time down by the river. Consistency of effort and focus seems to be paying off.

So, maybe we'll see you out on the river this fall. I hope so. We'll be there every possible weekend. I'm learning consistency can be a good thing.