It's in the Process

There is an English Proverb that says “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Too often we want to achieve a goal but reject the steps needed in the process. My daughter is a beginning reader. When she was younger, I used to read to her and she would follow with the pictures, which would entice her to ask tireless questions. Since she started kindergarten this year, I figure I should let her read to me and help her with the words she has not yet mastered. Although she is very excited to learn how to read on her own, she is impatient to complete a book without frequently needing my help. When I am not sitting with her, she would guess a word by using the letter sound, but when her impatience kicks in she goes on to make up her own words to replace the ones she cannot understand.

 My advice to her is that it is okay to ask when she does not know a word, that is how one learns; as she learns new words every day, she will be able to read them correctly and completely on her own before she knows it. Understanding her frustration, we created a plan to work on a paragraph each day. Each night, we read a new paragraph, but we conclude by starting back from the previous paragraphs, and replicate the same process every night. At the end of the week, she is able to read the whole book all by herself. As I look at my daughter going through this exciting process, I begin to think about all that I want to achieve and become reticent to the process of getting there.

Sometimes, we just want to get there. No sweat, no endurance, no perseverance. Just think and boom we have arrived. Well, in a sense, when we think about something, it is the beginning process of what ever we hope/wish for to become reality. However, the next step is usually that we have to ‘work’ toward making it come to life, which is where it gets a little complicated for some of us. 

A process should bring comfort  when we already know the end result. Therefore, having a system in place, and creating a picture of our needed accomplishment not only in our mind but also visible should enforce and empower our ability to touch the gold. As a result of the reading process, my daughter look forward to the end of the week to read a book completely on her own, but she understands (at least she’s starting to) that she needs to take it one step at a time. Likewise, we can attain anything we set our mind to, but as the English Proverb clearly states, the journey of a thousand miles would not be completed until we beginplacing the left or the right foot forward.

©January 2013 Natacha Michel