"Let me tell you now why you don't improve, and your progress seems long and tedious to you. You overthink it; you overthink everything. You overthink your methods, you overthink your pain & your success, you overthink the future of your progress. And I will tell you why.
"They all keep telling you to work smarter and not harder. Because of this, you believe that it is through your own fault that you are not improving, because you don't work correctly. This thought has led you to believe that there is a way you can learn which will save you all the suffering, all the sweat, all the tears, and above all, all the time. This is what you, all of you, want most to save: time! And so you think & think and reflect & brood over it, which is the method, that will make you save all the time you need for other things.
"This in fact has made you forget that time is the one condition to everything durable. No lasting achievement can be built without the time & effort to put into it. Do you think you could have something which you're truly happy about, and that it could be granted to you without a sacrifice on your part? Foolish words & counsels have made you forget what you were told from the start: that time is the only master, the only worker of miracles, and you cannot do without time. Patience is that one thing which is asked of all, which makes everything possible, which works unbelievable wonders. That which through reason, passion, arduous work, logic, can seemingly not be accomplished, is accomplished by time. And you cannot escape the grasp of time, whatever it takes from you, however strong your desire to evade it: it takes everything from you and gives you everything. It makes you into a better man day by day. It makes you stronger, faster, more intelligent than you could ever have thought possible before its passage. What seems now impossible to you will happen in the passage of time.
"And besides, why would you want to save time on that which it is most important to you to acquire? And what can the other more important things be, which you need time for? A sick person nursing themselves back to health, an artist striving to achieve their goal, the chief of a family attempting to bring money for his loved ones under his charge; what else would they need time for, when these are their most important concerns? Where you keep your heart and your soul, there, put also your time; and you won't find a worthier use for it. The dearer to you is the achievement, the worthier that achievement is of claiming your time. And you are in this world expressly to achieve that which is most important to you, thus your time is well-spent achieving it. Is it not simple?
"Therefore do not overthink your efforts, your way of working, the evolution of your progress, as though your strength were poor and your capacities limited. Instead, work with patience, persistence, and simplicity towards the achievement of your aims, doing the same exercises over & over, working through your difficulties, ignoring them when you can. For the fate of your difficulties is to be annihilated by your hard work, your dedication, and your unwavering confidence that the time you invest will be all accounted for in your progress. And within a week, a month, a year, several years, you will witness the power of time, of unfailing hard work, and you will realize that time is the only magician, the only miracle, the only true teacher, towards whom you can reach your hand through patience, persistence and unwavering trust."
-The Living Dancer
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