For the love of mystery and storytelling

Yesterday it felt so good. Everything was great and it was really flowing. I was on top of the world! But today … everything is broken. It is a mess!!

This can happen in just about any field – whether it be music or sports, web design or animal husbandry. Entire football teams. Even, a famous symphony orchestra.

Of course to fix what is broken we have to dig deep, down to the root of the problem. Time to get busy.

• Make a plan.
• Stay focused.
• Concentrate and be mindful.

This all sounds easy in print of course, but an even easier path to get swallowed up in is to throw your hands in the air and exclaim GOOD GRIEF but it was so much better yesterday!!

Critical mass

This point in time is critical to moving forward. Sometimes things falter from expectation and this is where the geniuses excel and the less determined get stuck wallowing in the mud.

A good first step might be to put down the horn. Really … in your state of mind you might hurt somebody with that darn thing. Put it down. Please.

Next, pause and reflect:

• What was I doing yesterday and the day before?
• Did I go too far yesterday and hurt myself?
• How much sleep did I get?
• Even with this temporary handicap, what else can I work on to improve?
• Is this an ongoing problem that today is worse?
• Is something changing? Am I in a transitional period?
• Are there any clues in my own journal, personal recordings or blog?

Elementary

Last weekend my wife and I watched a number of Sherlock Holmes movies. (Remember Basil Rathbone?)

One thing I really enjoy about the Holmes character is that in spite of his flaws, he has an insatiable appetite for knowledge in order to solve mysteries and flesh out the entire story.

In music this really gets to core of why we love to play and teach.

We love to share stories and solve mysteries. Like Sherlock Holmes too, this is something that perhaps redeems us — especially when times gets tough.