Non-Striving
Zig Ziglar, a well-known motivational speaker says that the failure to plan is to plan for failure. Goal setting is a routine part of the business world. We try to instill achievement motivation into our children. So what does it mean when mindfulness practitioners talk about non-striving? Like many truths, the value is found in the balance. There are many times when it is good to be goal directed. For example, you might even set a goal to be more mindful in your daily life. And there are other times when it is helpful to let go of goal directed activity and be as fully present to the moment as possible, with no expectations. The practice exercises to increase mindfulness are more fruitful if they are done without striving for a particular goal. During these exercises, we allow for awareness of many experiences, usually including some that are a surprise. The pursuit of a goal involves setting a direction and pursing that path with disciplined attention. As a result, those aspects of experience that would derail us from the path would be perceived to be "obstacles" or "problems", rather than different aspects of experience. Cultivating an attitude of non-striving allows us to be open to all aspects of life. The acceptance of experience even when it does not seem to be related to the path we choose for ourselves is a balance to the many other times it is necessary and important to be single-minded toward an important goal. John Weaver, Psy.D.
