Thursday, February 26, 2015

Passion Party #542 - Would You Let Your Music Go Unheard?


Many years ago, violinist Itzhak Perlman gave a performance in New York. During the concert one of the strings on his violin suddenly broke. The crowd gasped at the sound, which could be heard throughout the entire auditorium, and the music abruptly came to a stop. 
 
The crowd waited patiently for Mr. Perlman to replace the string. However, much to everyone’s surprise, Perlman didn’t rush to find a new string. He took a moment to gather himself before he motioned for the conductor to begin playing again where the orchestra had left off! For the remainder of the concert, Perlman played the music that should have been played on four strings on only three.

As Itzhak finished playing, for a moment, time slowed and silence filled the air then the audience rose to its feet to offer a standing ovation for this incredible feat. Perlman smiled and humbly raised his bow. “You know,” he told them, “sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.”

In life, when something breaks, does the loss stop us or do we continue making music with what we have?
With creativity and persistence!
 
-George Kahn

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Passion Party #541 - Patience

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry.  We shall get there some day." - A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
 
Patience is a lost art.
To stop and wait while life swirls around you
trusting that  something hidden here will be revealed,
this is the gift that patience brings.
 
Patience is like water:
It takes the shape that you give it
and in the end, if set free, it will always go where it wants to go
and nothing can stop it.
In time, it can find a way around most any obstacle.
In time, it can create something as incredible as the Grand Canyon.
 
I think back to the summer of 1972, when my friend Rick and I rented a cabin on the
Wyalusing River, where for four weeks we did nothing much
but watch the river flow by.
Always there, but in every moment
always different.
 
Like putting a bird feeder in your back yard - 
you put it up, and put the food in,
and then you can do nothing but wait.
Patience brings the gift of the birds
Patience is the gift.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Passion Party #540 - Persistence


Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more com- mon than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.- Calvin Coolidge 

It seems like such a simple idea:
Pick one thing, and keep doing it
whether it is exercise, or practice, or study.
It is the obstinate and continuous course of action that in the end creates results.

There should be an easier way
but in the end the task does not get easier,
what gets easier is our ability to perform it.

Pick one thing, and keep doing it.
There are days that I just don't feel like it
I am not motivated, or inspired.
But motivation does not produce results.
It is the action, the persistence,
the morning ritual that you do because,
well, because you do it every day.

Persistence has made it a habit.
And now it is easy to see that
the answer is not out there,
but in here.