Jet-lag is a bitch!! I’m drinking cold Yerba mate tea, and one of the chocolates our Airbnb host left for us, trying to stay awake so I can sleep at the right time. I’m starting a new 100-days-of-practice challenge. Not feeling like I have any New Year’s resolutions per se, but the words of Shinichi Suzuki are really sticking with me: when you think of something, do it. Easier said than done, of course, but he writes about it so inspiringly, telling the story of how one day his sister, with whom he was living, came home and said: “There was a homeless man outside the market. I thought of inviting him to dinner sometime.” “You thought about it?” Suzuki asks her. Immediately, she realizes what he means, and they go back out together and invite the man in. I think the important thing with this is not just that intentions mean nothing without actions, but that also the more actions you put out into the world, the less personally you take it if they don’t all work out: the less invested you are in each individual effort, and the more perspective you have that more opportunity will arise. I hope this is true, anyway. To the viola!!!
January 2
