PRACTICE TIME FOR UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCY

Practice time doesn’t have to bore you half to death, but it should.

If you have the notion to do something hard, and do it consistently, it takes practice.

Do it with no practice and what do you get?

Surprised if it works out, but not surprised if it doesn’t.

I’m probably the only person in the history of cutting corners to make something out of wood that could have used a more attention to details?

I bought a table saw from a man with nine and a half fingers. The saw took half of one, so in my mind it was a safe buy.

The saw had already been fed.

In spite of all the bad reviews for first time table saw guys, the kick-back the rockets a 2X4 through house walls, the dangers of too much saw for the depth of the wood getting cut, the dust, I brought one home.

The first thing I did was take the safety gear off the last guy installed after he sawed himself.

What did I build? Mostly I practiced making cuts. Angle cuts, dado cuts, planing cuts.

Did I regret not taking shop classes in high school? I sure did. Do kids today take shop? They should.

Every time I turned it on and heard the whirring of the carbide tipped blade it had my complete and full attention. I interpreted the saw sound as a promise to, ‘cut you and everything you shove across my blade.’

Every time I shut it down I heard a voice in my head answer, ‘Not today, fucker.’

It’s a relationship voice I use every day.

Come at me. Lol.

Practice? More Practice?

In this world there are two kinds or people: Those who think there are only two kinds or people, and those who don’t?

I laughed the first time I heard this, and still like it. If you’ve never heard it, feel free to take it as your own.

To me there’s only one kind of person on earth, the kind that needs more practice.

Practice decency, practice honesty, practice finding who you ‘really are.’

If you’re a good hunter/gatherer, others in the band try to copy you. But, if you’re a bad hunter/gatherer you might not make the road team.

Cave wife: What have you brought to the cave today?

Caveman: Nothing. 

Cave wife: Then take your spear and get back out there. 

Caveman: I’m tired. My arm hurts. It’s too dark. 

Cave wife: We need food. Everyone else has food. Don’t come back until you have groceries.

Early man looked for food where he was, looked for food around the corner, and over the hill.

He competed with his fellow man for the same food sources. If he wasn’t very good at it, he learned to be good. 

In other words, practice. We’re talking about practice.

Practice Time For Emotions

If people practiced their emotions, however you interpret it, until they are unconsciously competent in kindness and decency, it would be a better world.

But that’s not the picture we see.

Instead, we get something like Fox News practicing mass hypnotism on willing volunteers who tune in for the latest outrage.

Red faced screamers, sincere liars, and an audience mesmerized by flailing losers in blue suits and red ties bubble up from the cultural stew called the American melting pot.

And they never turn the heat down. But you should. Here’s why:

There’s nothing sadder in the pantheon of whining than a self-promoting ‘strong man’ complaining about how they are mistreated in the media.

What if they spent practice time on their emotions? Their self-control? Their mental health?

Too often we’re bombarded with the burden of other people’s problems.

And we ask for more, please. Which brings us to twitter.

Practicing Twitter

Where else can isolated people connect to a world beyond their corner?

Twitter.

Where else can someone report their dead dog, their dead dad, their dead dreams, when they don’t have anyone, or anywhere else?

Twitter. Again.

Where else do people pretend their sales pitch is social discourse?

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Some ranty, cussing, funny man suddenly goes OPB pledge week and asks for donations to his site.

Who knew he even had a site? I didn’t.

A hardcore tweeter who sounds like a sniper in a tower reveals their tender and caring side.

Who knew that even existed?

There is name for an online condition that portrays a personality different than real life.

Some call them ‘Keyboard Warriors.’ But what is the name of just the opposite?

One of my favorites is Rachel Vindman, wife of Lt.Col. Vindman, and a powerhouse all on her own.

Do her half a million followers feel the same? They should.

Her unconscious competency may not be unconscious but she puts in the practice time for kindness and decency with a great twist.

Just to make sure I was on the right track today, I checked with my wife.

She broke through the locks and boobytraps of my boomerpdx blogger room to ask me to help restore her laptop screen after a google chrome update.

Right in the middle of this hot take.

So I helped, which means pushing enough keys and refreshing and seeing new things I didn’t want to see until the screen showed up with the navigation she wanted.

Was I kind and decent instead of ranting and complaining? I asked. She said yes.

That’s my Friday win. So far.

(If you write without purpose and get interrupted, you go off the handle. If you start with a purpose and enough research and experience to get it down, rewrite, rewrite again, then one more time before posting, you too can be kind and decent unconsciously.)