Tag Archives: ltmp

Paying Homage

Think of those things you honor and respect.

These could be people, ideas, principles, relationships, values, hobbies, etc.

When we daily pay homage to these things, we get in return a form of mutual respect.

The instrument(s) we play, or long to play, will respect our respect of the time involved to get to know them and their ways.

However, you can only appropriately pay homage to a few things well.

Example: If you want your life’s music to be about Generosity, then sit with her often. Ask her to show you her ways. Honor her and respect her history of success. Ask her to lead you into your experiences. Learn the threads that weave the warmth in her blanket over mankind. Eventually, Generosity will take notice of your time and studious approach and you will be leading a generous life.

In other words, where does a pianist sit? With his piano.

Whatever you choose to honor daily, choose with the hope and aim of music in the end. This will help you decipher between honoring and respecting something that leads to noise and something that will eventually lead to music.

Mutual respect and honor between musicians and their instruments just may be the holy formula of symphony.

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Rule # 1 Of Your Music: Insist On Yourself

I believe you are a musician.

I believe there is song after song after song waiting to be awakened in you.

I believe there’s far too many people telling you what to believe your music should be.

I believe your music is your call.

I believe finding your music is your true and holy vocation.

I believe the vocation of finding your music will help move others into the same pursuit, resulting in a world of less noise and more music.

I believe your music is why you are here.

I believe we will all be better after having been exposed to your riffs, rhythm, and rhyme.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession.”

A successful life is one that says ‘here’s my music.’

Emphasis on my (which is yours).

You need not borrow that which is already in you.

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Raising Your Hand

Remember elementary school? Remember the golden rule of raising your hand?

Well, good news, you no longer have to raise your hand for permission to do something, ask a question, or make a statement.

In this new (and what appears here to stay) economy you just need to start the doing, the questioning, and the statement making.

We used to fear raising our hand for one of two reasons: we were afraid of what the teacher’s reaction would be or we were afraid of what our classmates would say behind our back.

Now, with hand raising no longer in the rule book, the fear lies in starting something great, asking great questions, and making a great statement.

The resistance will pour you a glass of fear to drink if there’s any chance of you making or doing something great and worthwhile.

Three things:

1) Starting is step one and must happen for step two to occur. Talking about step ten will never make starting step 1 easier. Just do it.

2) Questions > Answers.

3) The statement I’m talking about here is the metaphor you were sent here to show us.

You can put your hands down now. Go.

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When You Know Your ‘Why’

…you’re rarely left wondering or wandering.

When we’re really clear on our ‘why’ the who, what’s, where’s, and how’s tend to line up like dominoes. And as those dominos fall they pave the way for success.

 

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Who Says?

Who says your name is just Teacher?

What if today you changed it to World Changer?

Who says your name is just Mom?

What if today you changed it World Changer?

Who says your name is just what’s on your card, door, desk, badge, or name tag?

What if today you changed it to World Changer?

And what if, not only did you believe this, but you lived this out? Day to day. Hour to hour. Moment to moment.

You are not just the mediums you live, move, participate, and exist in.

Rather, you are the meaning carried and transmitted within in these mediums.

Blame Picasso, not the paint.

Blame Mozart, not the violin.

Blame Jobs, not the computer.

Blame Lincoln, not the White House.

Blame Spielberg, not the camera.

Blame Wynn, not blackjack.

Blame Jordan, not basketball.

Blame Zuckerberg, not the Internet.

What if we all repeated this exercise tomorrow?

I say we do.

Then we’ll get to blame you for a better world.

 

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