The picture of myself

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A thought, which is that as a musician, I am like that really flexible woman in my yoga class. She doesn't have to work hard at the flexibility part, because she is naturally flexible and therefore most of her poses "look good." But when it comes to the strength part, she at a loss, because she has never had to work at looking like those pictures of yoga poses, and so she doesn't know how to approach the part that requires effort and attention. However, for the yoga to be really beneficial for her, she needs to address this aspect of the practice.

As a musician, I have a good "ear." Sometimes when I am improvising, just like the flexible lady, certain things come easily to me. But when it comes to the hard work (keeping a rock solid rhythm, practicing the chord changes so I can do them without flubs) I have a hard time, because I have never had to work hard in order to sound what I think is "decent." When I record myself and play it back, my self image (sounding "decent") is shattered.  I realize that if I really want to sound decent, I have to address these issues and do some work that may feel uncomfortable.

Do we miss out on something when we have a picture of ourselves, or an impression, or self image, and we are not willing to examine that self image, maybe even dismantle it a little? If you have a goal, are you limiting your ability to reach that goal because you're not willing to let go of that self image?

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