Once upon a time a little reed was growing at a riverside.
It looked into the world around and thought to itself: How do I want to live?

It saw some beautiful blue butterflies and it thought, I want to nourish these beautiful butterflies! I will go and make very lush blossoms in the spring!

It saw the stunning oaks and high poplar trees and admired their vitality and longevity and it thought, I want to strengthen myself inside, to be like them! When something good happens to me, I appreciate myself and all the helpers who made it happen.

And it did just that.
It tried to be strong and make lush blooms to nourish others.
It praised itself and all the wonderous helpers when something beautiful occured. When a butterfly came along it tried to look gorgeous in order to be seen and to be able to provide good food for it.

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The idea of a soccer game for all beings with legs came up in the jungle. So orchids were not allowed! But animals of all sizes and insects were invited to form two large teams and bring their best players. They would be sorted by size.
The first team was the big animals team: tigers, gorillas and elephants.
The second team was formed by the small brigade: chinchillas, frogs and insects.

The game began and everybody gave their best. After the first half the score was 10:0 for the big animals. When suddenly a strange phenomenon occurred.
The lion started laughing and jumped down on the grass. Followed by a chuckling gorilla and then a snickering elephant.
They all laughed so hard that they could not get a hold on the ball any more.

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Robert J. Burdette stated, that in every week there are two days we should not worry about. Two days off our plate, two days less burden.
It’s not weekend.

The first day is Yesterday.
This is a day where stuff happened, where we used wrong words, where we did something less than perfect. Yesterday is the day, where we can think over and over what we should have done so much better! But still, it stays the same.
Yesterday is over.
Gone for ever, never to return. No amount of money will ever bring it back.

 

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Happiness seems to be like a wild animal. We look for it in the jungle of life, the journey is quite an adventure, we come to see strange and unexpected places.
But as soon as we try to catch it, it likely escapes.

Happiness is a common denominator in our lives. We all like it’s presence, it gives us meaning and strength. Still, happiness looks different to everyone, it is subjective.

 

 

 

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Thomas Alva Edison was working on the invention of the light bulb for quite some time. One day, after creating a new prototype he called his young assistant to carry the light bulb to the lab for further testing.

The assistant was very nervous about this task. He took the bulb – and dropped it. It smashed into pieces. Prototype lost.
Edison started working on another one of these prototypes and when it was ready for testing, he called the same young boy to bring it into the testing lab.

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Somewhere in the Orient a king had a special military department. This brigade contained an army of elephants. When the leading elephant grew too old to go into combat, they let him free to live on his own in the jungle.

One day the elephant went to the river to drink and got trapped in the muddy shore. He tried to lift his foot but could not move and got stuck. He used his trumpet to call for help and the servants of the king came to see what’s going on. No one could move this huge animal.

The king asked a wise man what could be done for the former leading elephant. The old man pondered for a moment, then said: “Beat the war drums!”
The army was called forth and they did as told, they played the war drums.

The elephant heard the call. He mustered all his strength and finally liberated his leg. All by himself. The war drum reminded him on who he was – the strongest animal in the forest!

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The other day I noticed, there are two ways of saying thank you.
The first is by doing and the second is by speaking. Let me explain.

When I found myself in the fortunate position to experience great mentorship, I felt immensely blessed. A mentor is someone who is on a higher level of mastery than you and who is so generous to share their wisdom in some form.
This person takes the time and effort to show you a better way of doing certain things.

We all experienced mentors in some way or form along our way. The mentor can be a very kind person that we see as a role model. This person helps us to choose the right traits and values to build our character.
A mentor can also be someone who does have a certain skillset and who is willing to putting in the effort to initiate us into their craft.

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A professor walked into the class and gave his students a test. The test was a blank page with one little black spot in the middle.
He advised his students to write about what they were seeing on this sheet.

All of the students wrote about one thing. They wrote about the black spot.

No one wrote about all the white on the page and what can be done with all of this beautiful not defined space.
No one talked about the possibilities, the freedom, the creativity that could be realized on the blank part of the paper.
No one talked about how the black spot could be developed into something bigger, meaningful and harmonious.
No one talked about the perfection of the white color and the smooth texture of the paper.

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Dale Carnegie told the story that dogs have mastered one great skill: The art of making friends.
You can be many meters away and they start waging their tales. A sign without words, that they like you are there. When you approach them and take the time to pet them, they show happiness, jump up and down. They are excited about your presence.

What does the dog do?
The dog is interested in people in a genuine way.
Not slimy, not sleezy – just open and natural.

 

 

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If you are anything like me, you are interested in a substantial amount of things.
And this causes severe troubles. SEVERE. TROUBLES! But let me explain.

You have your professional life going on, whatever that brings for you.
For a bassoonist it’s usually: concerts, lessons, practicing, reed making, searching for sheet music (hopefully on AnselmaMusic.com!), caring about students and fellow musicians.

You have parallel to professional stuff going on like improving your knowledge and capabilities, learning about better posture and poise, better mental skills, performing better on stage, being a better teacher and such.

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