“Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda.
A great quote. A fun compact one. Its showed up in books, seminars, motivational speeches. “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Completely wrong, but it shows the dangers of repeating a fun, quippy quote that rolls off the tongue. You still see it in Instagram feeds, Twitter, etc.
A better version may be, “You will never know until you try”. “Try you must, before you learn if you can or can not do”. Or, maybe, “Try you must.”
That seems better. This topic kept coming into my head while meditating this morning as my coffee steeped. Twenty years ago was the first time I tried to mediate. It had come up in books, audiobooks, etc.
Back then, my mind wandered. Thoughts jumped all over. Concentration was lacking. It was pushed aside. Do to thinking “that didn’t work” or “guess I can’t do that”. Another thing given up due to lack of understanding.
There was no do or do not. There was only trying. And trying. And trying. And keep trying. Time hadn’t been taken to understand more about meditating. To understood that was the point. The mind will wander. That is okay. Bring it back. The point is not to have a clear and blank mind to reach a “Zen state”. It is to sit and do the work. To try and try again.
To conclude. To understand… Trying is doing.
Posted. Not Perfect. A Vegan Father, navigating a non-vegan world
A Better Father 