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In December 2020, after a few months of quarantine, I felt lonely and disconnected living in New York where stores and public outings had been canceled.
I needed some way to bring joy and connection into my life. This led me to begin taking online guitar classes a few times a week. Beyond my expectations, playing guitar taught me many lessons about life, particularly mindfulness.
Be Present with the Current Note Being Played
When you play guitar and miss a note, the temptation is to go backwards. We want to hit the note that we missed. But then you’ll be out of harmony with everyone else and the stream of music. Guitar taught me that we need to stay present in our life like a river of flowing water. We move forward regardless of missteps. You can’t go backward in time. You can only hit that next note.
Time takes Time
Playing guitar is like other long-term goals; it requires consistency, repetition, and discipline. There’s no shortcut to learning how to play guitar. It’s about showing up again and again and letting time do its thing. We can’t rush the process. Time takes time. Learning to go from open chords to the more difficult barre chords takes time for the fingers to gain strength and flexibility. When certain finger placements feel impossible, you learn that you can get through those roadblocks as long as you stay on the path.
Make Good Habits Accessible
Right next to my couch you will see two guitars placed on their stand. This placement makes it easy for me to reach over and start practicing within seconds. If you want to do something, make sure there are visual cues in your environment. Place fruit on the counter top. Have your sneakers by the door. Make good habits accessible.
Find Community & Gain Accountability
When the isolation of quarantine had hit, I found a community in my guitar classes. Seeing the same faces each week was a bonding experience. There’s a harmony created when playing music together. Music is this universal language that creates a bridge from one person to another where you feed off one another.
In my individual lessons, I was held accountable for showing up and practicing from week to week. Like many people, there’s a better chance of sticking with a new habit when someone else is relying on you to show up. Don’t go it alone. Find a buddy.
Keep it Joyful
When I started guitar I promised myself that I would keep it joyful and let it turn into another item on my to-do list. How many activities would we benefit from by keeping it joyful? Couldn’t cooking dinner go from something I have to do to something I get to do? Where can we add more pockets of joy to our lives? The best thing I ever did for my guitar practice was to remove all the “shoulds” (shoulds about how much I should practice or how far along I should be) and instead just enjoy the process and take joy in the journey.
What has music meant to you in your own life? Let me know in the comments section below.
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