Still practising at 90

There was a quote I read today where the legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practice at age 90. He replied, “because I think I’m making progress”.

Our lives are not a series of one-off things that we do for a little bit and then stop. It is a journey and an adventure, where we continue in the moment to take steps and there does not have to be a final destination. We are obsessed with a start and an end. An art is, whatever your thing is, is for life.

We can always learn and get even better, of course, it is not about perfection, it is about continuing the exploration of our ‘art’, whatever that is. It could be making cakes, writing a book, painting, building a house, teaching, training or playing the cello. It is all an art and each one of us has a unique gift…a gift that we can give away to the world if we choose to.

We are all artists and the joy is in the continual practice and exploration of our unique gift…sharing our light for others takes practice, even at 90.

Imagine this

Imagine if you worked an extra 20 minutes on that proposal.

Imagine if you exercised just another 10 minutes.

Imagine if you ate one less biscuit.

Imagine if you watched 10 minutes less Netflix.

Imagine if you practised one more shot.

Imagine if you told someone you loved them one more time.

Imagine if you helped the other person do one small thing.

Imagine taking one more step, doing a little more, saying something a touch better, making a small improvement.

Imagine settling for just a bit more than good enough each time.

Then imagine repeating that every day.

Imagine getting even better.

We don’t have to think or do big, we just need to take a small step forward and repeat.