Striving and Acceptance

It is a difficult balance to find.

I want to be happy about myself, and I want to get better in some areas. Can those two wishes coexist?

We are dynamic beings, not static beings. We are involved in constant processes all the time, and we are at different levels of progress or lack thereof in each one of those processes.

Let's assume two men have the same weight goal: to reach 70 Kilos, which science says it is their ideal weight according to their height. They both weight 80 Kilos now. Should they strive for better, or be happy that they are almost there? It depends on where they are in the process.

The first man, John, was at 89 kilos 2 months ago. He has been making changes and has reached the tipping point, and now he is losing weight.

The second man, Eddy, was at 68 kilos two weeks ago (sorry, I have never been known for the moderation of my examples). His process is not working, and he is getting heavier quite quickly. His system is not working.

And yet, they both weight 80 kilos.

John can be happy about having found a system that seems to work, and at the same time needs to continue watching the system and improve it until he reaches his goal. There is always new garbage coming in, and we need to get rid of it.

Eddy weights the same as John, but he has no reason to be happy about the functioning of his system. Sure, he is in the middle of other processes, and some of them are certainly working. Even the fact that he wants to get to his ideal weight, which we established at the beginning, is a good sign. His awareness is working. But being happy about a system that is not working is a recipe for disaster. Getting some advice from people who have found a system could be a beginning, reading about it, and trying different things until something works.

Where is acceptance? In the fact that he is striving to find a better system. That makes him a hero. He is capable of imagining a better future and working for it, and he loves himself for that.


Momentum

Momentum

Last night I went to the Bierhaus Urban session with one thing in mind: try to participate in more of the tunes, as long as the number of musicians present at the moment allowed it and nothing extremely difficult was being played. As it turned out, it was a good night for that since I was one of just two horn players who showed up at the beginning, the other one being Werner, who plays alto sax and sings, both beautifully, and whom I had already met and played with at the club.

New Challenges

New Challenges

Last night at the Bierhaus Urban another jazz session took place, and with it, many new challenges arose. When I arrived, there were already several saxophone players waiting to play, and some more arrived afterwards. Since they were all more experienced than me, the question was how to manage to play a bit without putting pressure on the host or making anybody uncomfortable.

Listen, man.

Listen, man.

Last night at "Bierhaus Urban" the fun continued. This time, a large group of musicians welcomed me into their group for another evening packed with creativity and contrasts. On stage: a drummer, two bassists, a pianist, a trumpet player, a violin player, a tenor sax player, an alto sax player, two different guitar players, two singers and me, playing the tenor as well. Known nationalities: German, Russian, Spanish and Chilean for sure, others yet to be discovered.