Deanna Swoboda

I’m reading sections of a book called The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. It’s thought provoking. The short chapter I read today is called “Surrounding the Lightening Bolt.” This makes me think about practicing or doing the thing I know I need to do but don’t really want to right now. Sometimes finding the inspiration to practice can be challenging. Have you ever encountered this? It’s kind of like waiting for the lightening bolt to strike. I’ve often thought that if I wait long enough and do other things (like clean the house, organize my stuff, watch a good show on Netflix) the lightening bolt of inspiration will strike. It’s quite the opposite, however. A more productive strategy is to focus less on the bolt of inspiration and focus more on the space that surrounds it. I love this – the space before and after the lightening bolt. You can’t control when or where the lightening bolt will strike but you can control what’s before and after. For example, if I start buzzing my mouthpiece, that most often generates the inspiration to practice the tuba. Or maybe buzzing the mouthpiece inspires me to go down a rabbit hole, searching for new music, which then inspires me to pick up the instrument and play a few notes. Playing a few notes feels good and inspires me to do more. I think the moral of this is – if the lightening doesn’t strike and you’re waiting for the inspiration, you have to show up anyway. Just show up and do one small thing that contributes to the thing you want to accomplish. The little things add up to a lot.