Practice until the Lid Closes
I love motivational speakers because they…well…motivate. They reach inside us and touch our inner self, moving us to some type of positive action. Our tenancy is to berate ourselves saying:
We are not good enough.
We will never overcome our past.
We can never make up for the wrongs done.
We cannot be better than we are.
Those negative thoughts are what motivational speakers are striving to push out of us or at least have us deal with, face and move one.
If we are a piano player, we practice the piano. If we can’t get a piece learned we could close the piano lid and walk away saying, “It is too hard to learn. We can’t get it. We will not get better. There is no use.” Of course, that is not what a piano player does. They practice. Piano practice is practice. That is the way we improve and learn.
Life is practice. Every day we learn, experience, falter, improve, continue, practice and move forward. Only when we close the piano lid for good does the practice stop.
My grandma practiced until age 92. My grandpa practiced until age 90. My aunt is 99. I am still practicing in my sixties. I intend to practice a lot longer. Young children and adult children practice daily.
In an emotional inauguration address, Abraham Lincoln talked about “the better angels of our nature” winning out. Never stop practicing. See yourself as an amazing lifetime student. Your teachers are all around you. You, in fact, are someone else’s teacher. We lift and help each other.
Thankfully we did not give up when we were learning to walk. We were surrounded by adults who encouraged us to take a step and then another and then another. They picked us up when we fell. They reassured us that we could do it. We don’t remember that because we were too young but it did happen in some similar form as described.
Surround yourself now with a group of supporters who encourage you to take one step after another. They will pick you up when you fall and reassure you when things don’t go right. They are your practice team and you are not done practicing until the piano lid closes. |
