The Difference Between Training and Doing

I love being physically active, and I’m fortunate to be able to work out almost every day. Even though I’m not athletic in a competitive sense, I do occasionally register for an event for fun or fund-raising.

Overall though, I work out for fitness, in contrast to people who train for a competition or a team sport. Considering the difference between our reasons for being there, I’ve been thinking lately about the distinction between preparing and performing, between training and doing.

Athletes train. Musicians practice. Artists sketch. Actors rehearse. Inventors test. Students study. Writers draft. But sooner or later, it’s time to DO whatever all this preparation has been about.

RELATED: Prayer, Contemplation and Study: Armor for the Soul

Regardless of the time and effort put into training, doing is a different experience, frequently harder — as it’s supposed to be. For example, I can manage the routines and drills in a group cycling class. Yet, on a rough outdoor trail, I might walk my bike uphill and use my brakes downhill for fear of missing a curve. I can swim laps for a mile without stopping. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure that in open water I couldn’t complete a mile, at least not without a great deal of struggle – and even though I lift weights, I still need my husband John’s help opening jars.

This is how life works – we have experiences that prepare us for greater challenges in the future. How we do in those preparations is reflected in how we handle the challenges and actual tests later. Since the tests will require us to go further than we did while training, we feel satisfied when we get a chance to perform at our best, at whatever we have been practicing.

Martha Graham, the renowned dancer and choreographer, elevated practicing to a spiritual realm when she said: “We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.”

This quotation links to a larger question: What are we preparing for by living this life? Since we are spiritual beings, one of the purposes of this life is to prepare us for the next. A human embryo cannot envision what the world outside the womb is like, but still it grows physically in its journey toward birth. Similarly, I cannot know what the next world will be like, but I am moving toward it just the same.

Recognizing that this life is a journey to the next enriches my experiences with meaning and purpose. Life in this sense is training, or practice, for what comes next. Through the exercise of my free will I can improve and grow; I can advance my spiritual development.

We humans live both privately and publicly, and through our deeds we show who we are. As Abdu’l-Baha said: “You are the reality and expression of your deeds and actions.”

RELATED: Smile or Frown — and Then Pass It On

As a writer, I believe that words can be inspiring and motivating. But the end results — attitude and actions — will reveal our integrity. It is easy to be cynical in these times. We are tested by political divisiveness, crime, economic hardship, and environmental degradation. On the other hand, if we view these tests as practice, if we consider them as training for both this world and the next, then we will see them in a different way.

On any given day I can go the gym, work hard, and enjoy being there — or not. In other words, I can choose how I want to train my body. Similarly, I can willfully expand my mind through study, informed conversation, and other kinds of intellectual training.

What ultimately endures, though, is how I develop my character. I may not be able to choose how I am tested, but I do have control over how I face my tests. Perhaps it sounds too simple to say it all happens through practice – yet that is how it works.