As a more experienced adult, are you still following your heart, living your passion? Even more importantly, are you enjoying the “pursuit of happiness” along the way, or are you stuck, postponing your joy as you work hard now? ✨

Do you have a sense of having “arrived,” basking in the self-satisfaction of having “fulfilled” your dreams? Or does the goal post keep moving, rarely allowing you to rest and enjoy a sense of achievement with how far you’ve already come?

The musicians I know are usually pretty good at congratulating colleagues, celebrating together with drinks or a meal afterward. 🥂 But sidestepping self-criticism and allowing yourself to feel deep gratitude and appreciation for your own accomplishments is much less common. We are typically the first to criticize our own performance, the last to congratulate ourselves on a job well done.

This is because, as a natural survival mechanism to keep us on the lookout for potential predators, the human brain is actually designed to pay more attention to the negative than the positive. Given our habit of minimizing or neglecting the good things in favor of identifying problems and potential dangers, our tendency to move on quickly to tackle our next challenges or dive into the next new project should come as no surprise.

The problem with not letting ourselves feel good along the way—but pushing ahead—is that we don’t take the time to fully live and ENJOY the present moment. 🌱 Plus, when we actually do take the time, our joy is likely to be superficial and short-lived since our brain is already scanning underneath to plot our next moves in regard to the next problem, in the future.

This way of living feels “right” to us because of our unconscious beliefs. After all, if on some level you believe you’re supposed to be a suffering musician, then giving yourself time to rest and feel good will be at odds with that self-concept and you’ll be at cross-purposes with yourself.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Care to share?

With Love & Light,
Jennifer ❤️

The above is an excerpt from ‘Make Great Music with Ease! The Secret to Smarter Practice, Confident Performance, and Living a Happier Life'

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