***Practice Makes Perfect!

Written by Christine Priorie

These three simple words “practice makes perfect” is a mini gold mine that we’ve all known about although we may not have seen how profound this statement actually is. By applying this principle we can move beyond where we currently are and get to a place of total FREEDOM.

As kids, there was a little girl in our neighborhood that lived 4-houses away and she was a cheerleader. Fortunately for me and my sister, our friend recruited us to be her cheerleader sidekicks. She taught all of the cheers. Honestly, cheerleading was way more fun than watching our friend practice scales on the piano, although she did teach us how to play “Chop Sticks”. Going back to her being a cheerleader was great, because cheerleading is all about being positive in a profound way. Honestly, at 10 or 11 years old, positive isn’t something kids know about. Kids know what feels good. Gotta tell ya, cheerleading was so much FUN! Even if it was only for the practice of it…

In volunteering to be virtual cheerleaders, my sister and I learned how to pull ourselves into courageousness. We had a chance to do something other than the couch-potato thing. Hey we got some well needed exercise and had fun pretending to be cheer- leaders for the Dallas Cowboys (sorry to the Chicago Bears’ fans). In practicing to be a cheerleader meant we could scream to our heart’s content. “WE CAN DO IT! WE CAN WIN! GO TEAM! HURRAY!” An hour or two practicing with our friend seemed like only 20-minutes had passed. What a tremendous gift our friend shared with us! She shared with us how to be positive and have fun! Even thinking back to being a virtual cheerleader is exhilarating.

Occasionally we would go to watch our friend practice with the “real” cheerleaders. Although it was nice to see the whole group practicing, it was certainly more fun to do the cheers than to witness others cheering. Witnessing changed immensely when our friend announced that her cheerleading squad was practicing to enter a competition and invited me to come watch them rehearse. I pretty much expected the same old thing. Except at this practice session, all of the girls were dressed in their cheerleading uniforms. Wow! Something changed in an unexpected and unimaginable way being there with the girls in uniform. They were all beautiful! Even the not so attractive girls looked absolutely amazing.

The practice session started with the usual cheers in the same sequence, except the girls’ commitment was greater. There was certainly more enthusiasm and definitely less distractions. Perhaps it was seeing the girls in their red and white uniforms, with pom-poms in hand, was part of an enormous transformational experience that was about to unfold. The coach had the girls split into two teams. The girls on the A-team went to the left side of the parking lot and the girls on the B-team went to the far right side of the lot. What transpired was truly beingness coming onto the playing field! The girls on the A-team began a new cheer. And what began to unfold began with hearing the girls on the A-Team saying V-I-C-T… and the girls on the B-team responding O-R-Y! And again we heard V-I-C-T on the left side and O-R-Y from the right side! And again they repeated the same chant V-I-C-T and O-R-Y! And with each progression of the cheer, the girls’ voices got louder and louder. Also with each progression of the cheer, the girls walked towards the middle of the lot where they formed a single line. Now with the captain standing in the middle of the lot with all of the girls behind her, all of the girls in unison sang V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! VICTORY! VICTORY! Then, from out of nowhere, music began and all of the girls bean dancing and doing gymnastics. Wow! From my point of view, I saw Oneness in action. The girls formed what looked like a human snowflake in a cascade of red and white. There was an energy that was illuminating and surrounded the group. Each girl became part of the whole with all of this is occurring right in front of me. Something happened and that wonderful illumination energy traveled from where the girls were practicing to the coaches. And then the illumination energy traveled from the girls and from the coaches, to me and the other spectators. Just by being there, Beingness allowed me and others who were standing watching the girls practice, to be part of the whole. That moment of being included in the energy of illumination was my first declaration of wanting to be one with everyone. Words truly cannot express this experience.

At some point, the girls started to dismount from their snowflake dimension and began slowly returning to the middle of the parking lot standing behind the captain. As the girls continued with their cheer they began walking back to their original positions on the left and right sides of the parking lot. As they walked away, you heard in a much softer voice v-i-c-t from Team A and o-r-y from Team B. And as the cheer continued, the girls on Team A again repeated their chant of v-i-c-t and o-r-y was heard from the girls on Team B. As all the girls returned to their respective sides of the parking lot, it occurred to me that as long as we are choosing freedom, no one was excluded. Beingness truly was present as the girls were practicing for their upcoming competition. As the girls returned to the left and right sides of the parking lot the energy that they generated from being in oneness continued. Even though each girl was now independent of their teammates, they were in some way united.

Looking back at this event, it appears that we are screaming to get to FREEDOM, and in oneness there is only quiet. So by practicing releasing, we get to practice being cheerleaders for our self. We learn to look at things in a lighter and more positive way. Hey! It just occurred to me that there is a CD of Lester Levenson, on cheerleading and it’s included in the Special Clean-up CD series. On this audio, Lester is speaking to us via techno-pop! What a tremendous treat!

Anytime we are in CAP, whether as children or adults, we are positive. So the phrase “Practice Makes Perfect” is what happens anytime we apply ourselves in a positive way. Clearly the girls practicing for their competition involved their being in CAP. We might not think of ourselves as being on a team by releasing, and yet we are supporting each other and are part of the whole. Larry Crane and the staff truly do a great job in sharing the Release Technique® with us as we play the game of life. They teach us to release, to let go, to be in CAP, and to be a part of the whole. We learn to be virtually imperturbable and know that as long as we are moving forward there is no separation.

We all have a choice. We can do the couch-potato thing or we can choose to be the world’s best cheerleader. So let’s all decide to move forward, towards the winner’s circle and claim VICTORY over our egos. Practice makes perfect… no effort required. R-E-L-E-A-S-E = a VICTORY for FREEDOM!