Practise with the unexpected
When things go wrong unexpectedly, use that moment as the actual practice rather than a break from it.
Key takeaways
- What it is: When things go wrong unexpectedly, use that moment as the actual practice rather than a break from it.
- Why it works: Contemplative traditions observe that the value of training lies in its application when it’s hardest — not just in formal meditation. Unexpected disruptions produce a spike in reactivity that temporarily overrides deliberate thought; training in response to that spike means interrupting the automatic reactivity loop and choosing a more considered response. Over repetitions, the window of reactivity narrows.
- Evidence: Plausible mechanism, limited direct outcome data.
- Avoid: Treating disruptions as failures of your practice rather than the raw material of it — everything inconvenient is a training opportunity.
Why it works
Contemplative traditions observe that the value of training lies in its application when it’s hardest — not just in formal meditation. Unexpected disruptions produce a spike in reactivity that temporarily overrides deliberate thought; training in response to that spike means interrupting the automatic reactivity loop and choosing a more considered response. Over repetitions, the window of reactivity narrows.
How to do it
- 1When something unexpected disrupts your day (a cancelled meeting, a critical comment, a technical failure), notice your first reactive impulse.
- 2Pause for one breath before acting on it.
- 3Ask: "Is this the moment I can practise with?"
- 4Respond from the pause rather than from the spike.
What the evidence says
MechanisticResearch on mindful awareness of reactive states supports the principle that a pause between stimulus and response is trainable and reduces automatic reactivity.
Honest caveat: The MBCT evidence is for clinical populations; the principle of training the pause between reactivity and response is mechanistically consistent but not directly studied in the Lojong context.
- — Teasdale et al. (2000), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and relapse prevention, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Common mistake
Treating disruptions as failures of your practice rather than the raw material of it — everything inconvenient is a training opportunity.
IX Coach checks in when you log a difficult event and walks you through the Lojong practice of using it as a training moment rather than something to survive.
Practice this with IX Coach →