Tag: Progress

Still practising at 90

Posted on by philipdodson

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.

Keep it small

Posted on by philipdodson

In life, you just have to start and anything can happen, we don’t know what and that’s the magic, enjoy that fact and do not think, the joy is always in the doing.

I you want to do something, don’t wait for the perfect conditions, they’ll never come. Don’t wait until you have more time, money, knowledge, training, experience, customers…and so on. These are all things that can be used by the mind as excuses to sabotage.

Just take the first step now.

If you want to sing then just sing, now.

If you want to paint pick up a brush, now.

If you want to tell someone that they matter, do it, now.

If you want to run, just run, now.

If your life isn’t what you want, just make a small change now, followed by another small change.

One small step now is all you have to commit to and then when that’s done commit to another small step and just keep repeating. Small steps are easy as they are not a threat or challenge, the mind doesn’t need to sabotage and small steps taken regularly over any time period amount to giant leaps.

Keep it small and just start without thinking…now. It’s all about small and now mixed with repetition.