The power of Accepting your fate
Have you ever wondered about how our motivation, life decisions and how we react to everyday things can change the result or performance of how well we do at a task? Well it's all derived from the same thing: Accepting your fate. We as people constantly go through the process of accepting “one’s fate” or accepting a concept or problem as is and not minding what happens to it. This is usually affiliated with a negative thought. When thinking of one's fate we as a society tend to think "failure" but it's actually not always the case.
Here’s how this question popped into my head.
I was walking to the gym and had to cross the street. A lady stopped in her car, she looked frustrated, but as soon as we made eye contact she smiled, it felt genuine and i smiled back (genuine as well). I couldn’t help but smile the whole way to the gym.
As simple and basic that that idea and interaction was, it was actually pretty complexe. Think about it:
We were both in a rush
We both didn’t know each other
Yet we both smiled
We both became happy and smiled genuinely without saying a word
We both reflected upon our self after that interaction in some manner influencing how we felt and thought from then on (me smiling the rest of the walk)
We both accepted our state of becoming happy from the interaction and facial features that we both saw in each other-------> which happened because we led each other into a process of reflecting on our self (feeling joy).
This got me thinking. How is it that how i reacted to this random stranger showed who i am and who she was as a person? After some thought i came up with this.
How you react (in the span 0.5-2 seconds of having an interaction with anything) has a direct correlation with how you accept, reflect and think on yourself.
The power of self reflection has a huge impact on your result in:
How you treat others
Treat yourself
Walk, stand, hold yourself, talk, perform
And many more
Here’s a story that hit home for me and my colleagues one day not too long ago in our regular week studio class:
Our professor was talking about the term “The Fearless Viola”.
For those who don’t know, Violists are constantly teased as “the bad Violin converts”, reason being that most violists start out on violin and end up switching to viola (for many different reasons) and pursue a career on the Viola. Now since this switch, people tend to think that Violists are the weaker players of the string pack (which of course isn’t always the case) but that’s besides the point.
Knowing this information, our professor told a story, it went something like this:
“ I was taking part in this summer camp when i was about 20 (Music academy of the west) and the Rebecca Clarke Viola sonata just came out, and I was asked to learn and perform it in a masterclass a week later. It was the last week of the camp so everyone went out to the beach, and i had to stay there and practice my butt off. I did about 8 hours a day trying to perfect this Clarke sonata, figuring out intonation, rhythm, harmony, melody. You name it, i did it. I went into my rehearsal with the pianist and she completely destroyed me since the piece just came out and i had no idea what i was doing, and so did my coach at the time. Then came the day of the masterclass. I was so nervous because i worked all this time and i still felt like it was gonna crumble. Right before i got on stage i honestly got pretty fed up. I figured that i did all the work i needed and honestly couldn’t care less if i played a wrong note or not, because i was so fed up with all of it at that point. I went on stage and it actually sounded pretty amazing”.
Now i know what you’re thinking…”So…..lesson is that i should not care about something and then it’ll just work itself out”
…
No
I’m saying that the power of accepting yourself and you destiny is such a huge asset in doing well at a task. It is normal to always be focused on the little things, thinking about that run, that phrase, that note you rarely hit, but when it’s time to show who you are, all you can do is show it.
You can’t change who you are because you already became that person.
Just like if you were to mold a plate and it dries up and is in its concrete final form, you can’t change it. It’s going to be that shape forever, same with who you are at that present moment. You can constantly improve, yes, but you can’t change in the moment of doing the performance or action that you worked for….Just like the plate cant become a mug out of nowhere.
By all means, working has a HUGE impact on the performance or end result, but fact is that you can’t work while showing that end result.
This goes back to how important technique practice is, or even studying in general. If you have an exam coming up for example, you can stay up studying, learning all the terms and definitions but when the exam comes, all you can do is answer the ones you remember. So just like you have to study for an exam, you have to practice for a performance.
The action of performing goes well with the action of accepting. Accepting where you are technically, emotionally and spiritually at that moment and time right before the performance.
I mentioned at the start that the way you react to something can take up to 0.5-2 seconds and that a lone can determine who you are. This is the same case with performing.
Psychology is a science that can be practiced and found in ANY-thing that involves the mind, so that’s why i tend to use general psychological examples and definitions in explaining all these performance and musical ideas and concepts.
The act of accepting can be mixed with the act of “having faith”.
Having Faith, is believing that all will work out because you believe it will through a certain someone or something (this can be a religious practice or person).
Accepting is letting things be and letting it take its course, not you believing that it will end up a certain way, but that whatever ends up happening is no problem with you.
Both are great concepts and ideas and both can be looked into thoroughly to change your approach in completing and showcasing any task, but that’s a discussion for another day. Point is, technique is important, but when performing or doing the task accepting that you did the work, that you will "get what you put in" or that you did what you had to do and will dont mind for the result all correlate with what we said close to the beginning.
You can’t change who you are because you already became that person.
Let me leave you with this:
How do you accept your fate if you don’t know it yet? How does accepting change your practicing/studying? How can you change both of them simultaneously?
Well look into these in a future blog.
Talk to you soon,
Nawfel