| I don't know about you, but one of the things the | | | | & it seems that the better they get - the |
| Midlife transition has taught me is the importance | | | | more they love performing - the basics - over |
| of practice. Let me tell you a story. | | | | and over. |
| To this day, I can still hear my mother calling me | | | | I remember telling dear Mr. Lerner, my piano |
| in from playing with my friends to practice the | | | | teacher, when he asked me to practice scales, |
| piano. Like me, you may have many things in life | | | | "but we've done that already." I never did master |
| to which you are still answering, | | | | the piano - because I didn't then understand how |
| "But mom, do I have to?" | | | | to have the mind and heart of a beginner. |
| The problem that many of us have is that we | | | | George Leonard, a renowned Aikido Master and |
| view practice as a VERB. we're doing it as a | | | | author of a wonderful book entitled MASTERY |
| means to an end - to learn a skill, to get ahead, | | | | has said, The essence of BOREDOM is to be |
| to achieve a goal or to make money. | | | | found in the obsessive search for novelty. |
| We are seeing it as something that is separate | | | | (repeat) True satisfaction lies in repetition. " - |
| from the rest of our lives. | | | | Staying on the Mat |
| We need to "get" that PRACTICE is a NOUN.. | | | | I stopped at the scales. I finally learned that a |
| From my practice of Yoga, I have come to | | | | symphony gets its richness from the subtle |
| understand the importance of what the Masters | | | | variations on familiar themes. True satisfaction |
| call Staying on the Mat. The path of MASTERY | | | | does lie in repetition. As a reminder, I used to |
| honors the journey and focuses on the practice | | | | practice Yoga in front of the untuned piano in my |
| itself - not to gain something, but for its own | | | | living room. |
| sake. Practice, in this sense becomes an integral | | | | How many of us are dabblers who begin a new |
| part of our lives, not a means to an end, but as | | | | job, or a sport, or diet or relationship - and when |
| an end in and of itself. | | | | we are no longer seeing quick successes, get |
| Winners don't devote themselves to a skill to get | | | | bored and quit? |
| better -Unlike my "do I HAVE to", they LOVE to | | | | Those on the mat - the path of mastery actually |
| practice - and because of this - they do get | | | | take delight in the plateaus. (I'm still working on |
| better.. | | | | this one! |