A Metronome For Living

I have been blessed to have neighbors above me with young children who play the piano. Daily. Regularly. Without fail.

When I was hurting and in fear for my dearest friend and her cancer diagnosis – the piano played. When there were struggles inside my own family – the piano played. When I was challenged with my own health issues – the piano played. When my dear friend passed away – the piano played. When my niece lost her husband to cancer at the very young age of 30 – the piano played.

Thank GOD and the children above, for their piano playing- everyday.
Their music has seen me through some very sad and painful moments.
Their music has brightened my day – lifted my spirits and blessed me in ways too numerous to count.

My 4 year old granddaughter dances ballerina style while the beautiful piano plays above. My 16 year old grandson smiles and says “you can’t even be mad because they are so good”. He is right. They are so good.

The piano became much more than music to me a long time ago. It became a beautiful metaphor about Life’s Priorities. A great reminder how we must put time and effort into our dreams – our priorities. If it’s important to us – then we need to spend focused, dedicated time, daily.

Years ago, when I fantasized about playing piano – I was gifted a piano and then I took lessons…a few lessons. I hardly practiced. I hated the metronome. I didn’t want anything monitoring my timing. I didn’t want to learn the notes. I just wanted to sit in front of the piano and play – beautifully – without the daily grind. I wanted instant success, without any effort.

Same thing happens to so many with weight loss and healthy living. People fantasize about being healthy and being a good weight – instantly. I did this too. I would DREAM about being thin and fitting into anything I desired…and then I would get depressed with the reality of “now” and I would eat my feelings into deeper despair. A vicious cycle. Dream. Get depressed. Eat. Gain more weight. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

So how do we embrace “now” with enough courage to get through TODAY? Just like the piano – we start right here, right now. The first steps are not going to be great. We will hit some horrible notes and our timing will be off and it will not be so pretty – to start. BUT, if we don’t stop, and if we apply ourselves everyday to walking forward, we will get better and better and better. Everyday will be better. And soon our walk will be blessed with beautiful sounds and sites. Trust me.

Don’t focus on the scales – just focus on what you do TODAY to make progress. Just one day at a time. Tomorrow will take care of itself, if you focus on today – right now.

I am so grateful and blessed by those beautiful children and their daily piano playing…their music lifted me through some sad times. Their daily piano playing was like a living metronome for me.

As much as I hated a metronome years ago – I am now so grateful and appreciate the value of a metronome for living, to keep my feet moving in the direction of my dreams.

As I write this, the clock above my computer ticks, ticks, ticks…taking care of today, one tick at a time.

A metronome for living is always there for us…some sounds more beautiful than others.

We just have to trust we can move forward – one beat at a time.