Do you focus on what you actually want or do you find yourself spending more time enamoured by problems?
It’s an interesting question, isn’t it.
We can get so caught up in the energy of a problem to the detriment of actually spending time on figuring out a creative solution.
I have news for you!
You.Get.What.You.Focus.On
Sometimes, all we need is a little bit of CLARITY.
Here is an exercise I like to do from time to time that helps me walk in the opposite direction of the problem into a world of guidance and reframing.
Sit down in a quiet place with a pen and blank sheet of paper. Write the heading ‘My Ideal Perfect Day’ and then start describing in detail what your ideal perfect day actually looks like. What do you want it to be filled with? Include things like how you would be spending your time, how you would be feeling, what activities are you engaged in (be sure to include your piano playing on your beautiful grand piano in the bay window overlooking the ocean – yes, your allowed to dream to that extent – and the type of people you want to be engaging with.
I have been doing this exercise for many years now and certainly find I always have some golden nugget realisations of where I need to make changes to ensure I am travelling along my desired path.
We have been taught for so long that we must focus on others’ needs before our own. We need to make sure everyone else is happy before attending to our own needs. That’s all fine and wonderful and definitely necessary, but if you are giving from an empty cup then I doubt you would be doing all this with, let’s say, a sense of grace.
You need to be full to overflowing yourself before you have anything to give to others, so it’s OK to focus on your needs first.
I recall attending a mother’s group when I had my first child. The facilitator said something that has always stayed with me – “you need to put your own oxygen mask on first”. It’s so easy to forget this when others are dependent on you.
The other activity I love to do regularly that helps me feel like I can continue to give is journaling. I enjoy seeing whatever flows out the end of my pen – like this blog for instance!
This is a brilliant way to gain clarity around what your next step might be. Keep in mind you only ever have to see the next step, not the entire staircase. Trust is so important.
Speaking of trust, very occasionally I have a student who finds it difficult to trust the process I am laying out for them at the keyboard. This doesn’t happen very often at all anymore as I ensure I am a good fit for prospective students before I enrol them, much more than when I first started. This is why attendance at an introductory session is a pre-requisite to enrolment now. The philosophy of this methodology needs to resonate with you. Anyway, in the past, this has caused a breakdown in the process as these people simply cannot see what’s ahead the way I can. After all, I’ve been teaching this program for 17+ years now, but they are at the beginning of this well-trodden path. We can easily end up down a rabbit hole of them trying to understand the entire curriculum in their head before they have experienced it. For some reason, they find it difficult to trust the process which is, frankly, what they really need to do to get amazing results.
These people are probably not the right people for this program.
They tend to be people who are still holding onto the belief that there is only one ‘proper’ way to learn piano. They tend to try and convince me that their way of processing the content is better than what I am outlining. They insist that they must write notes for everything even though I explain that they didn’t need to take notes when they learnt how to drive and we are using the exact same procedural memory here to navigate our way around the keyboard. It’s exciting to be able to remember things! It means your brain is working and neurons are firing!! But, they want the crutch of having everything written down. Well, that’s not going to achieve the outcome of being able to memorise pages and pages of music, which is what students are able to do if they follow the directions.
I have so much compassion for these people as, in my opinion, they are robbing themselves of such a magnificent feeling of FREEDOM and SELF-EXPRESSION at the keyboard.
This program is for people who BELIEVE that they CAN wire their brain to memorise. I think it was Jim Kwik in his book ‘Limitless’ who said “We don’t have ‘bad’ memories, we just have untrained memories.”
This program is for people who will jump in feet first and IMMERSE themselves in the process.
This program is for people who want to PLAY the piano and aren’t fussed when we start looking at the actual sheet music (we do, just not straight away until we have a large repertoire of music we can just play anywhere, anytime).
This program is for people who want to LIGHT up the music inside them again.
This program is for people who are happy to try new “out of the box” things.
This program is for people who are open-minded.
This program is for people who LOVE to connect with others with similar interests.
This program is for people who understand the importance of consistency and are willing to commit to a daily practice.
This program is for people who like setting EXCITING goals and targets that are achievable within allocated timeframes.
This program is for people who TRUST the process and just know that I have their backs.
This program is for people who push themselves a bit more than most.
This program is for people who LOVE all styles of music.
This program is for people who are happy to engage in CREATIVITY at the keyboard.
This program is for people who like to jam with others.
This program is for people who just know that this is the EXACT right solution to their burning desire to reignite their love affair with the piano.
Come on over and have a look. Email your best contact number to joanne@rhythmandtunes.com.au I will be in touch.
In the meantime, have a GREAT day!!