Just Keep Practicing
- smcculley
- Mar 24, 2024
- 2 min read
Just Keep Practicing
I would like to share with you an important verification that I have made from my experience in studying music. Namely, that the impossible is possible. For me, this process of verification began – as most do – with an open, flexible mind and heart that observes and collects information impartially about a particular aim over a period of time. In this example, the aim was learning to play musical passages extremely fast.
During the process of practicing, judgments – doubt as well as rejection and acceptance – are suspended which releases my mind and heart to be free to gather evidence which support the possibility that I too could play on the piano at speeds that were at the outset inconceivable. Afterall, I had already proven to myself that I could get beyond playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” which at one time seemed impossible. One thought kept haunting me: if other pianists can play remarkably fast, then why not me?
One of the suggestions my piano teacher told me was, “just keep practicing.” This advice reminded me that learned skills, like verifications, are not something I can borrow from another person, and if I could, they would not belong to me. I had to verify and demonstrate these skills to myself. In addition, patience and the passage of time was a requirement in building a solid foundation from which to launch into unfamiliar territory. I also understood that to own my verifications, they had to be quilted together in a pattern that was unique to my way of learning.
I have been working for many years on verifying whether this proficiency was possible for me and recently realized I was standing in my own way through unnecessary tension. When I relaxed, stepped out of the way, and trusted in the slow process, I could even see imperceptible improvements. Valuing small steps, holding firmly to the process, proceeding with patience, and dismissing my usual doubts and identification with time, I knew that someday I would be growing into the impossible.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit. ─ Aristotle
Pursuing awakening and sustaining consciousness is analogous to making the impossible possible. It is akin to a caterpillar contemplating how to become a butterfly. This transformation looks inconceivable from the caterpillar’s viewpoint. Nonetheless, the caterpillar continues its journey, not skipping any steps of the process and moves patiently through each step until it miraculously grows into a butterfly.
My Fourth Way Teacher knows without a doubt that becoming a butterfly – reaching the impossible and living from Higher Centers – is possible. Now I need to own and verify that possibility for myself.
Please enjoy and contemplate how to reach beyond the stars as you listen to Mozart’s Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman," also known as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” performed by Magdalena Baczewska.
Hipparchus (146-127 B.C.), Greek Astronomer by Grange
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