A Student Again: It's All in the Process

Sometimes it's good to learn or relearn something not in order to get a specific benefit, but only for the process itself. Even if you have definite goals and a burning desire to meet them, if you don't occasionally put the outcome aside and fully experience the process of learning and practicing, the outcome won't be as good as it might have been. There's something about the act of careful focusing that makes any subject come alive.

I started lessons again because I want to explore musical styles that are significantly different from what I've done during the past 25 years, with an eye to forming a group later. However, I realized I didn't have the necessary skills to do this. In less than a month I've rediscovered how important it is to be in the moment when practicing, to focus on doing just one thing.

Someone once said something to the effect of "How you do one thing is how you do everything." Whether you play, sing, paint, write or whatever, doing it mindfully helps you towards approaching every other activity with similar care.