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My meeting today went well. The people were supportive as lapses were recognized. I, the moderator, prepared my speech beforehand, but it wasn’t all that necessary. However, just writing it made clear what I wanted out of this meeting.

As if to endorse this benefit of writing, Isa P had gifted me earlier that day with a fountain pen (she’s on her way out to pursue advanced studies). If she had gifted me with a Les Paul guitar she would never have gone wrong either. There’s a link: I often write never to read again what I wrote, like musical notes that once played dissolve into the air and are not repeated.

Writing and music are two of many ways I arrange things in my mind especially in an anxious situation. Prayer, written out, is the best. Breathing works, the kind called zazen which, if practiced regularly, could change one’s character. Zen Buddhism hinges on that process. Art, requiring concentration and skill, calms if at the moment of creation one has no emotions, though one may have strong ones before, after, and during breaks. That’s what they do, painting, zazen, and writing. Smoking does it also (I gave up smoking CIGARETTES).

Some things that look soothing are not. After the first few images, browsing Instagram is no longer calming for me. That’s because I select samples for study, and decision making is taxing. Now tired I fall into an easy “maybe” habit — maybe the next, maybe the next. In time I will turn into a couch potato. Or a ranter, more hotwired but no less miserable.

Small efforts lead to big effects over time — kaizen. (Interestingly, the practice was employed in American industries during WWII, then popularized by Japanese enterprises who gave it the Japanese name by which it is known everywhere.) Small things done everyday like IG don’t look catastrophic because they are small, but writing two paragraphs or playing one song daily don’t look awesome either. Kaizen needs faith seen from the point of launch, but it is as inevitable when seen from the point of arrival.

So, here’s the plan to achieve immense growth with very little effort done daily: do what you love.