I recently attended a song-writing workshop in Nashville with some music greats. As the workshop progressed, I realized how big the gap is between where my songwriting is now and where I’d like it to be. I began to think negatively about my age and skill level, and how on earth was I ever going to get to where I wanted to be in the time I have left?
I was feeling distressed about it so I talked to one of the teachers, Mike Reid (who wrote, I Can’t Make You Love Me). The wisdom he shared was to fall in love with songwriting, stay engaged in the process, enjoy getting just a bit better each day, and seek to connect with people rather than impress them. That gem of wisdom alone was worth the money I spent, (and there were many more to be had during the four days I was there) for it was not only about songwriting, it was about life.
After speaking to him, I pondered his words on the stone steps of a nearby chapel that had been hand-hewn and built in 1800. I saw that my whole life has been filled with gaps – in my childhood, my marriage, my own responses to life’s challenges, and my career. And sitting on the steps of the chapel reminded me of the huge gap in Christian teaching between the promise of ‘heaven on earth’ and the reality of the suffering that’s lived around the world every day.
I realized that in life we’re always living in the tension of the gap between the real and ideal. It’s in that tension, in our reaching and growing toward the ideal, that we live and grow. We can allow the gaps to drive us to despair or choose to have them lift and inspire us to our next level in life.
Choose to fall in love with life in the gap, stay engaged and live into it, seek to improve a bit each day, and connect with people rather than trying to impress them. If you do this, you will be living a fulfilling Life that’s Reinspired.
Be challenged and supported in growing into and closing a gap in your life. Reach out for a free Life Reinspired Strategy Session. Contact me at info@lifereinspired.com.
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