Let’s talk about persistency and consistency…
Friends have often told me how consistent I am, and I’d have this feeling of “well yes, and no”.
Take my writing – I don’t publish on the same day each week or even every other week on a consistent basis.
But I’m persistent writing regularly because I feel called to write. It makes my day when someone finds an article I’ve written valuable for their lives.
I started Pilates nearly 20 years ago, and still at it, but heck was it consistent? It was once a week, skipping entire summers. Many times I didn’t make it to class.
But my ongoing persistence with Pilates has paid off. I can do planks, push ups and a good number of crunches : ) Core strength is vital to me.
Persistency is the act of continued effort.
Consistency is the act of the same way over time.
Someone who is consistent always behaves in the same way, has the same attitudes towards people or things, or achieves the same level of success in something.
We have an inherent need to grow that has us yearning for new levels of success.
Notice it’s not ideal to always be consistent given our outer world keeps changing so being flexible to keep adapting to change is necessary.
There’s a danger to thinking we can control everything and everyone to keep everything consistent.
You can get controlling, which is the force that blocks our greatest dreams. Getting ourselves out of the way is about recognizing our need to control and tossing it aside.
When you’re consistent, you can get results faster, but persistence can get you there in a much more profound way – with flexibility and a healthy balance.
It’s the difference between results at any cost with plenty of stress, drama along a painful journey, and reaching the outcome you want while enjoying an adventurous ride.
The Hidden Piece of Persistence
Persistence requires faith and hope to keep going towards consistency in the face of obstacles. These 2 virtues brings in a higher spiritual power.
You’ll not only be willing to fail, but you can navigate the messy road because you have hope and faith in something bigger than yourself.
Self-made billionaire founder of Spanx, Sara Blakely said it was her father asking her every week “What did you fail at?” that paved her way to success.
It meant stepping into faith and hope of what she could do despite knowing she would fail. “I’ve run my life, very, very connected to intuition, which we all have. It’s an inner knowing.” (Forbes, Dec 2021)
Persistence leads you to your inner higher voice.
The Real World is NOT Controllable
I grew up in a rare world that was extremely consistent, and predictable. Consistency was like an old friend.
Piano practice 30 minutes. Play after chores. Shower 5:00 pm. No tv during the week. Schoolwork #1 priority.
It was a very controlled protected environment with lots of rules.
You do X, and you’ll get Y. I thought I wanted Y.
Virtues of respect, and kindness with the value of hard work led me to a level of success where I had everything I wanted – marriage, family, career, but something felt missing.
I’d learned to live with a strong sense of control, and hard work not realizing that trusting my higher self with Spirit could allow me to create what I truly wanted on a much deeper level.
The Sacred Space of Persistence
There’s a sacred space that lives in books, music, film, dance, cooking … even finance and science – wherever there is room for you to express your creative self.
Creativity is a place that’s unknown where control moves over to trust and surrender.
We need our left brain to follow the consistent detailed pieces of these endeavours, while our right brain brings in the expansive creative side.
When Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard neuroscientist lost access to her left brain during a stroke, she described experiencing her right brain in her famous Ted Talk “My Stroke of Insight”.
Her visceral sense of “Nirvana” or what it feels like to be ONE with the Divine part of you came pouring in.
We get glimpses of these surreal moments when we can bring the hope of persistence with the faith in our higher self towards our efforts to be consistent.
Jill described how our primary way of being compassionate, loving and open is the essence of our right brain, and with our left brain details, we can play together.
Spirituality is really learning how to harness your right brain more where your creative side lives.
These days we are oversaturated with details, endless choices, and more information than we could ever meaningfully process.
I grew up essentially in a left-brain home. What about you?
I was missing a big part of what my right brain could offer.
I learned how to be consistent early on, and persistence came from working hard, but the sacred space of leaning into Spirit with both left and right is a balance that’s the greatest secret to life.
The spiritual path teaches that you don’t have to do things perfectly to succeed beyond your wildest dreams, but you need hope and faith in order to be persistent and trust.
Ultimately it means believing in yourself where you won’t betray your own still small voice.
You’ll know when to say “Hell, Yes”, and “Heck, No!”
You’ll experience signs and synchronicities along the way.
You will continue to pursue your dreams no matter what.
You’ll persist until you succeed.
