Strength from Weakness
Identify Your Weaknesses
It is very true that sometimes our greatest strengths rise out of our biggest weaknesses. When we can identify anything that is holding us back in any way from achieving success, be it a small thing or our life’s purpose, we have already begun the process of becoming stronger. As musicians it is quite often that we are faced with the challenge of overcoming a weakness and persistence is the key to making it happen.
Don't Give Up When Things Get Tough
How many times have you been given the task of learning a particularly difficult piece of music or wanted to learn a particular song and upon seeing the challenge in front of you decided to pass on it? Or how often have you seen a friend or neighbor who is ecstatic about taking up guitar or piano lessons, only to see them a month later and find out that they quit their lessons?! This is a common occurrence in the world of fine arts as people are often not willing to overcome the challenges to fulfill their hearts desires. If everyone who has come before us were to have bowed down before a challenge, our world would have not developed and we would all still be living out our short existence in caves and hunting for food with our bare hands. But there have been those who have stared into the face of adversity and viewed each challenge as a stepping-stone leading to a future of greatness.
Put Your Energy Into Improving Your Weak Areas
And so it is with music. The way to excel is to pinpoint the areas of our talents that are the weakest and with a strong will and perseverance, work to overcome them and transform them into strengths. A singer expands their range by building strength in the lungs and by slowly but surely breaking through the boundaries that limit their expansion. No one is just born with the power of Pavarotti or the beauty of Beethoven. But with a meticulous attention to the weak spots in our abilities, we can consciously overcome the fear of being trapped behind their limitations. Likewise, as we overcome even the smallest limitation, we add an extreme sense of empowerment to our whole being. This empowerment ignites the strengths we do possess and makes them explosive! A great fighter works on the weakest side of his or her body twice as much as their strong side. In this, they create a balance of total strength. This harmonious balance is the very thing every musician seeks to achieve and by seeing through a weakness to recognize the strength within it is the first step!
