My daughter’s cello’s name is Musica.
A couple weeks ago, her teacher asked her to play a piece with the biggest, loudest sound that Musica could make.
So, she got into position, perfectly placed her bow and then with determination, focus, and all of her strength, she played.
Her efforts did result in a bigger sound.
Her teacher then asked her to completely relax her arm, to let go, drop the weight of her arm, and without any effort move her bow..
“Let’s hear Musica’s whole voice now!” she said.
Oh my goodness, the sound that came out of that cello just about knocked me off my chair.
It was huge and deep and strong and resonant and soooooo beautiful. I can still feel it now. The whole room was vibrating.
It brought tears to my eyes.
That sound did not come from force,
- Or effort,
- Or strength,
- Or pushing,
- Or pressure,
- Or struggle,
It came from relaxing and letting go.
My daughter’s teacher is always saying that playing the cello brings you face to face with the greatest mysteries of life.
Like why it is that pushing, struggle and effort are no match for intention, ease, and letting go.
We have this tendency to fear that if we let go of struggle and effort our lives will fall apart.
But, that never happens.
What does happen is, that when we turn our attention to where we want to go, drop the struggle and effort, and relax into being who and where we are, our full power comes through. Just like Musica’s.
We have more energy, we feel happier, everything gets easier and mysteriously, more gets done.
We are suddenly playing with our full voice.
And the sound is deep and resonant and beautiful, and just about knocks us off our chairs.
You just can’t force that level of power and beauty. You have to allow it.
This is a mystery I continue to explore every day, in my work, as a mom, in every aspect of my life.
I invite you to explore it with me.
There is no right or wrong way to do it.
Just allow yourself to explore and observe.
Learning how to be who you are, how to create your best life and your most beautiful sound is an art….just like playing an instrument.
I invite you to approach it the same way. With interest, curiosity, and experimentation.
What happens when you push?
What happens to your heart and your body when you’re plowing through your To Do list, forcing yourself to do something you think is good for you, or telling yourself that you can’t do it?
What happens when you allow yourself to follow your inner flow?
Is there a way you can relax more into yourself and your life today?
How can you take the pressure off of your strings?
It’s really worth investigating because the beautiful resonance of being fully who you are not only benefits you, it is a blessing to everyone around you, and the single most powerful thing you can do to heal the world.
Assuming it actually needs healing. But that’s a mystery to explore another time.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you discover about you!
Lorraine, what an AWESOME post! You are such a great writer (I’m seeing a book in your future).
I just re-wrote my goals this morning, in alignment with what I’m learning from The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone. Up until I read chapter 9 of Cardone’s book, I thought 10X needed to be about striving, pushing, working REALLY hard.
But I put several goals into my new 2012 list that I’m not yet doing anything at all about. I’m just planting their tiny seeds in my unconscious and letting them germinate (or not) mysteriously.
I’m open to be knocked off my chair when I see their little shoots poking up from the soil of my life!
Thanks for sharing your beauty, inspiration and unique music with the world.
Thanks so much for the encouragement Natalie! I would love to write a book!
Sounds like a good book. I love your image of planting tiny seeds and letting them germinate. I am seeing them grow and seeing you being knocked off your chair sometime in the not too distant future!
Thank you for sharing your unique beauty, inspiration and music with us!
Sending lots of love and some sunshine for those seeds.
Beautiful post, Lorraine. I can *totally* be guilty of getting into that “gogogo!!!!pushpushpush!!!” mentality at times, but my best writing always seems to go when I take a deep breath, set a clear intention and then just allow myself to relax into it.
Thank you so much for that valuable reminder as I approach D-day for releasing my Write teh Damn Blog Post ebook, and the temptation to pushpushpush gets even stronger!
Blessings – TANJA
You are very welcome Tanja! Thank you for sharing your comments and experience.
Love that title “Write the Damn blog post” Fantastic! I can’t wait to read it. Writing is definitely one of those things that doesn’t like to be forced out and yes, breathing is a great strategy!
Let us know when you’ve finished your book!
Warmly,
Lorraine
Hi Lorraine – thanks for the reply!
I’m happy to say that Write the Damn Blog Post! is all done and finished – it went live on Friday evening my time, and is now available to buy on my webpage (http://www.crystalclaritycopywriting.com/ebook.html)… WHEWWWWW!
I’ve made the first four chapters of it available for download free of charge so that people can get a feel for whether the book will genuinely be able to help them with their own writing (and whether my somewhat-quirky writing style is right for them too!), before they commit to actually buying it. And yes, absolutely – if you feel so called, I’d love for you to check it out!
Grateful blessings
TANJA
Wonderful! Going to check it out now. 🙂
“We have this tendency to fear that if we let go of struggle and effort our lives will fall apart.” Love this. Sleeping and resting at my house these days. Waiting and wondering what chapter is opening next. Letting go is sometimes fearful.
Until it isn’t.
Thanks for your comment Rebecca. I’m so glad to hear that you are following your bodies cues and getting lots of rest. Yup. Fearful. Until it isn’t. Love that. Until the next chapter opens or the next surge of inspiration comes. It sure does take courage to follow your own flow! Thanks for sharing yours.
YES! Love this blog …. I am starting to run…YES run….it is fun for me right now…and I notice that when I run light and don’t push myself and stay relaxed…it is easy..if I have self doubt or resist it goes poorly. reading this made it come into focus. I love being outdoors, I love the feeling of doing something that is good for my body and the endorphins help so much with stress. And I find going easy and not pushing myself nor doubting myself really works.
WooHoo Rita! It’s so awesome that you are running!
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s such great confirmation that going easy and not pushing really does work! I need constant reminders myself, no matter how many times I experience it 🙂
If you pushed yourself you’d probably quit because it felt to hard. When you go at your pace it feels fun, energizing, nurturing and easy. So glad to hear you’re following your bodies wisdom!
Lorraine, this is beautiful. I did drama in high school. Until then, I thought I had a normal voice. But it turned out I didn’t know how to project my voice, and the drama kids made fun of me (in a nice way, they were nice people). I said to one with a booming voice, “How do you project?” He said, “Say something.” I said, “Something.” He replied, “You’re speaking from your throat. Speak from down here,” he said, pointing to my belly. “Like this?” I said. “Deeper!” he said. “Now?” “No! Deeper!” “Oh, for God’s sake — NOW?” “YES!” he replied — but he didn’t have to tell me. I felt the difference immediately. I heard it. I spoke with my full voice, and I blew my own self away. It happens now, too, sometimes when I’m coaching or teaching or writing. Not always, but more and more, I hope. It feels amazing!
Allison. I love this! It’s funny that I’ve been noticing my voice being a little higher pitched sometimes lately. Today I was listening to a recording of a session with my coach and when I started talking about something I was really passionate about the tone of my voice completely changed. It was much deeper – a more relaxed vibration maybe. It felt similar to what you describe. That’s so fascinating – the connection between vibration and sound in a musical instrument or a human instrument. Thanks for your comment!