My house is quiet as I sip my coffee...
I was wondering what I could write about today - the first day of a new year/new decade and after a blue moon...
Perhaps what I wish for all of us as artists as we enter a fresh start - is to LEAD.
Take ownership of your voice, your craft, your journey this year. What does that mean to you?
Don't wait for others to say what to do - but YOU discover what you need and DO IT.
I don't want you to misunderstand...leading and not following does not mean you don't pay attention! Too many singers believe they are somewhere they are not - development, talent, entitlement. If they don't like what they are hearing, they make a blanket statement of "they don't know what they are talking about" and learn nothing and continue to self-delude.
What I wish for you is for you to discover YOURSELF by leading YOURSELF in finding what you need to grow as an artist and as a singer and as a human being.
Leading means you take ownership. Taking ownership means you take responsibility. Taking responsibility means you are an active participant in your own development!!! This means seeking out the knowledge, via self-discovery, via teachers, via coaches...this means recognizing what craft is, what artistry is, what kind of journey you are on... This means REALITY and not not delusion! This means doing it FOR SELF FIRST.
Leading with yourself, and not following yourself, puts you out in front. You answer to yourself. You answer for yourself. The knowledge you gain, the questions you have, the confusions you feel must be looked at, considered, asked, assimilated, re-discovered and never assumed!
Lead with your DESIRE. Feed that desire with knowledge - knowledge of self, of where you are, of where you want to be, of how to get there.
The journey is not easy and it is not quick, but it should be fulfilling and exciting! Some days, it will feel like work - but guess what? it is!!! If you lead with your DESIRE and your PASSION you will be open to the possibilities of you.
Do not assume. Ask. Know what you ask for. Know who you ask of. Become aware. Become keen. Learn to intuit, learn to see. Learn to ask questions and to not always "know".
Knowledge is not in stasis. Knowledge has to be in motion to continue to grow and to continually give itself, and allowed to be discovered.
Leading with self may take you down many different roads - don't disappoint yourself!!! Go where that road leads you even if the journey changes course!
Here's to being MORE than your previous self! Here's to finding MORE with your leading self!
What an inspiring start to the New Year and this post could have been written for me personally! What I have planned for 2010 is almost certainly going to be "out of the box of convention" but it's time quit moaning and take action. Excellent post. Thank you.
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