It’s easier to learn and act based on a method.

We are being told that that is how it works, and that following it will solve the problem we are dealing with. That makes it hard to let go of the method. The preference is to execute what we do in conformity with the method.

It provides the comfort of placing one’s responsibility with the method or the one teaching us the method. It releases us from knowing what is right for us. The correct execution of the method is becoming a guarantee for the result we look for and the conformity with what others expect.

Things are different when we can’t apply a method to learn, when the only way accessible is through trial and error. We learn many of our physical activities like that. It’s true to the way toddlers learn to walk, or later on, how we learn to ride a bicycle. But it’s just as true with artistic endeavors like juggling or walking the tightrope.

Methods are too abstract for our brains to process. We don’t have such exact control over our movements that using a method can lead to a perfect execution of the method. We can learn parts of the movement like this, but we still have to put it all together.

That’s where we can take the step towards awareness of what happens in our body and learn what is actually happening. We can also stick to the instructions we received and focus on what should happen. The gap between both is what makes learning golf, for example, such an interesting challenge.

But the gap between both is always worth considering.

It is the difference between being present and being in the past or the future.