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.

Reading this I thought to myself: How often did I think about something in the past over and over again? How often in one day do I in my head live in memories?
It happens quite often. And when we get real attentive, we notice a considerable time in the day, where we are absent. Lost in Yesterday.

It is truly a waste of time and mental bandwidth for Yesterday is over.
Reflecting consciously on what happened and learning from it is healthy.
But then it’s time to move on. Going to the past over and over is unnecessary – and sometimes it truly steals our lifeforce.

 

The second day in the week Burdette talks about, you guessed it, is Tomorrow.
We all tend to have large expectations and at the same time fears of what might happen or that we fail. We could end up performing poorly and not hitting the mark of what is expected from us. So we fear tomorrow for so much could go wrong once it arrives.

Artists and musicians are in that group that can relate the most I think.
We all want to really take people on a journey with our art, enchant and inspire them.
We want to fulfill expectations and even surpass them.
And sometimes we do just that. Other times we struggle with personal things, with health or with other people or negative circumstances.

 

Thinking of Tomorrow makes very vulnerable.
A person who does that excessively could muster up so much fear that they don’t even want to leave the house.
So worrying about tomorrow truly is not an option.
It steals focus and energy that can be used for good.

This leaves only one day of the week to keep our focus on. It is Today.
Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities – Yesterday and Tomorrow – that we break down.
Burdette sais:“It is not the experience of Today that drives men mad. It is remorse or bitterness for something that happened Yesterday and the dread of what will happen Tomorrow.”

What a wise advice! Let’s take it to heart!
All the best and so much love to you,
Anselma

 

p.s. Did you know? To ensure a comfortable use of our music, we allow free and unrestricted performing rights, no fees to pay, no nothing and we do not belong to any artists’ association on purpose.

The Anselma Music composers are happy to serve you with their music (compositions and arrangements) in your teaching and performing.
We kindly ask you to buy our original music books and to not make xerox copies of our music. This helps us tremendously to keep doing this work. Many thanks!

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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One of the most interesting stories that I have ever read is the original Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi from 1881 based on a folk tale from Tuscany, Italy. It’s deepness and meaning can easily be overlooked and is not part of the Disney version, so it keeps to be mostly unknown.
While the most famous part of the Pinocchio story is the one with his truth telling nose, the most intriguing part in my view is the brilliance in the narrative itself.

Pinocchio is a wooden puppet made by a cabinetmaker named Gepetto. This old master of his craft formed with love and care this little doll and is part of the old Italian tradition of making burattinos (puppet in Italian). Wooden marionettes are made in Northern Italy for centuries and it is a special craft of its own, involving carving, chiselling, sawing and tying.

 

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Michael Endes “Neverending Story” is one of the five books I would take to the island. I already shared this passion with you right here in this column.
It is a prism of colorful narrative levels, a woven story in a story in a story. It starts at an antiquarian bookstore and it ends there. In between the covers the author so brilliantly takes us to deep truths about being human and life itself.

I have read this book several times and the core concept presented there so masterfully keeps circling back.
At the core of the saga stands the fundamental danger, presented as the Nothing that keeps eating up Fantastica and the Childlike Empress.

 

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