I can honestly say that everyday... I got the blues. Just kidding. Everyday, I try to turn water into wine. Ordinary things are really extraordinary, if we learn to look at them the right way. Just like Alice in Wonderland. Oh, I love that girl, because she finds the extraordinary in the most ordinary things. Some might think that she’s on crack. I just love her.
How about a cup of tea while listening to Jamie Cullum after a barefoot run and a homemade lunch? And all of this, by myself. It’s good to be your own friend. And it’s good to also spend time with friends other than oneself. But one must first know him- or herself before being able to offer the very best to others. Only then can one be authentically oneself. “Know thyself” as The Matrix reminds us. And then comes what my friend Nitin calls “Hump Day”... meaning, the toughest day of the week when one must hang out with friends. Perhaps that will be tomorrow or the day after. And Hump Day is also a happy day.
Baaaaam!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Seeing my students succeed makes me happy.
We're five days away from the year's most intense event for my piano students --at least for those who are not doing the NMCP exam for over-achieving students. I only have 3 students doing the National Music Certificate Program, which is like the honor society for piano students... pretty much. But most of the other more ordinary kids are about to do their Achievement Audition, and for most of them learning 3 pieces from memory and polishing and memorizing them to the degree that they feel confident enough to play in front of a judge is a huge task. I am so proud of those students who have prepared so well all year for this event. This signifies so much, especially as one sees the fruit of their labor. Of course, getting here has required lots of patience on my part, and on their behalf they had to learn to be students and to listen to and apply what we covered at each lesson. And it also took support from the parents... enough support to back up what I was saying, but at the same time giving their children independence so that they can take ownership of their learning experience.
I am also very happy about the fact that other students who are on the more laid-back track are still being challenged, though not in such a structured way. Several students are on a more recreational kind of track --meaning that they don't all participate in all events, just the major ones-- but I still insist on doing simple tasks well with all of them. I usually try to cover lots of ground at each lesson, but lately I've focused on doing 2 or 3 things at each lesson and doing them extremely well. I am very pleased to see students who were having lots of difficulty last year with finding enough motivation to practice, and now they are enjoying everything they are playing, and it is evident that they're spending a lot more time at the piano. Like I tell students and parents, by practicing and preparing for lessons, they give me tools to work with during the lesson. By taking care of basic things at home, they allow me to help them to "turn notes into music". Days like today --in which a student left her lesson with a huge smile because I assigned her an exercise that she really enjoyed and another student felt great about understanding how to balance melody and accompaniment-- it is days like these that make me a very fulfilled teacher. To top all of it off, the parent of one of my students overheard an entire lesson, and he told me I was an amazing teacher with a God-given talent. My response: "Thank you, I'll continue using it."
In the words of Norah Jones, "You humble me, Lord." What a joy to work in something that I love and that brings such satisfaction!
I am also very happy about the fact that other students who are on the more laid-back track are still being challenged, though not in such a structured way. Several students are on a more recreational kind of track --meaning that they don't all participate in all events, just the major ones-- but I still insist on doing simple tasks well with all of them. I usually try to cover lots of ground at each lesson, but lately I've focused on doing 2 or 3 things at each lesson and doing them extremely well. I am very pleased to see students who were having lots of difficulty last year with finding enough motivation to practice, and now they are enjoying everything they are playing, and it is evident that they're spending a lot more time at the piano. Like I tell students and parents, by practicing and preparing for lessons, they give me tools to work with during the lesson. By taking care of basic things at home, they allow me to help them to "turn notes into music". Days like today --in which a student left her lesson with a huge smile because I assigned her an exercise that she really enjoyed and another student felt great about understanding how to balance melody and accompaniment-- it is days like these that make me a very fulfilled teacher. To top all of it off, the parent of one of my students overheard an entire lesson, and he told me I was an amazing teacher with a God-given talent. My response: "Thank you, I'll continue using it."
In the words of Norah Jones, "You humble me, Lord." What a joy to work in something that I love and that brings such satisfaction!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Almost 10 months of injury-free barefoot running.
My favorite philosopher, Facundo Cabral often says that happiness is a right and also a responsibility. I agree. So, I'll try this way of expressing my thoughts about how I'm trying to live a 3-D life and which things make me happy and a 3-D artist... since living life well is an art!
And here is my first post:
I started running barefoot and semi-barefoot on June 31st, 2009. We're almost at 10 months from that glorious day when I decided to go try what I instinctively knew was right. After battling with many frequent and recurring injuries (knees, shins, ankles), I knew that there was a better way to run. And so I tried barefoot running and fell in love with it. Almost as though magically, the pain left and it has never come back.
There are, however, other issues one must deal with, such as conditioning one's feet to be strong enough to handle barefoot running, especially the first few months. Another issue was getting my skin to be tough enough to handle a wide variety of surfaces besides grass. Though many of my barefoot runs are on grass or on the track (rubber), very often I'll just go on to the streets and sidewalks, paved trails, etc. The most I've done is 6-7 miles entirely barefoot. Of course, that took a lot of conditioning and building up. Right now, I can only handle 4-5 miles before my feet start complaining...
A big mistake I made today was to go to White Rock Lake at about noon. By that time, the concrete had already absorbed enough heat to give one's feet a hard time. The tricky thing was that the weather was very pleasant, so during the first 25 minutes, I did not notice the hot concrete. The way back was painful, as I only saw a couple of puddles where I could refresh my feet. So, right now my feet are inside a bucket of ice-cold water. And after being in the sun all afternoon, I am rehydrating with some cold limeade with salt and sugar.
This makes me happy. Baaaaam!
And here is my first post:
I started running barefoot and semi-barefoot on June 31st, 2009. We're almost at 10 months from that glorious day when I decided to go try what I instinctively knew was right. After battling with many frequent and recurring injuries (knees, shins, ankles), I knew that there was a better way to run. And so I tried barefoot running and fell in love with it. Almost as though magically, the pain left and it has never come back.
There are, however, other issues one must deal with, such as conditioning one's feet to be strong enough to handle barefoot running, especially the first few months. Another issue was getting my skin to be tough enough to handle a wide variety of surfaces besides grass. Though many of my barefoot runs are on grass or on the track (rubber), very often I'll just go on to the streets and sidewalks, paved trails, etc. The most I've done is 6-7 miles entirely barefoot. Of course, that took a lot of conditioning and building up. Right now, I can only handle 4-5 miles before my feet start complaining...
A big mistake I made today was to go to White Rock Lake at about noon. By that time, the concrete had already absorbed enough heat to give one's feet a hard time. The tricky thing was that the weather was very pleasant, so during the first 25 minutes, I did not notice the hot concrete. The way back was painful, as I only saw a couple of puddles where I could refresh my feet. So, right now my feet are inside a bucket of ice-cold water. And after being in the sun all afternoon, I am rehydrating with some cold limeade with salt and sugar.
This makes me happy. Baaaaam!
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