I borrowed my Father in-laws banjo when he flew south for the Winter. The instrument looks simple, but it is so hard to play. Getting a decent or somewhat listenable sound out of a banjo is a modern-day miracle.
It took me back to when I started playing the guitar years ago when small improvements are so satisfying.
As I plucked away, I started thinking about how the sound is different from a banjo compared to other instruments. When you play a single note, this is how they compare.
Banjo
- It gets loud quickly – a lot of attack
- It gets soft quickly – fast decay
- The note is thin – has a narrow focus
Acoustic Guitar
- Not as loud – moderate attack
- Note rings longer – moderate sustain
- The tone is rounder
Electric Guitar
- As loud as your neighbors can handle
- Sustain for days! Or reverb
- Tone can be as fat or compressed as you want
As I continued to pluck away, a profound thought fell into my lap, as heavy as a banjo.
Our emotions can have the same qualities. At times they come at us hard and fast, peppering us like a machine gun. Or they can be slightly noticeable, but their presence is there, hanging in the background, like a cloud.
Once we attended to them, bring them into our awareness, they soften and fade, either fast or slow.
The book Indestractable by Nir Eyal found me at just the right time. His assertion that distractions come from internal discomfort we are experiencing is profound.
We live in the Age of Distractions with more freedoms and choices than any other time in history. Yet we cannot take the action we need to make and do the things we know we need to do to move projects forward.
At least I speak for myself. I have a Productivity System that works well, yet I still tend to bail out of projects when things get difficult, even after I brought in the big guns and got someone to lock me out of all social media sites.
I am coming to realize that bailing out of things, or giving in to distractions when they get hard only leads to boredom and dissatisfaction. By choosing to complete something leads to the satisfaction of victory. And it reinforces a valuable muscle of perseverance and doing what needs to be done.
When emotions arise, bring some awareness to them and try to understand the signal they are sending. Feel what the discomfort feels like. Then get back to what you intend to do.
Give it a try. It is how I got this piece posted!
—
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
Psalm 37:5-6