Embrace the Task at Hand
Our focus this week — Oct 22-28: “Paying Dues”
Today’s MotD: Embrace the Task at Hand. We’re encouraged to embrace the task at hand…whatever that may be. We can take a half-hearted approach, slacking off here and there, and doing just enough to get by. Or we can decide to fully commit to the “task at hand”, to give it our all. Of these two approaches, which one do you think gives us the greater return on the investment of our time ?
I admit that some of my tasks get the “just enough” approach (usually household chores) while others get my full, dedicated attention (mostly with my art). I’m realizing now that the difference is in how much I care about the “task at hand”, or how much of a priority it is to me.
For instance, I own a lovely studio-sized upright piano. I bought it in 1984 after I graduated with my BS degree in Computer Science. A part of me wants to learn how to play it better. I own a “ton” of music books (classical, pop, jazz, practice). And two years ago I moved it from an area of the house where it was basically hiding to a place of prominence, making it much easier to access. A couple of times I’ve made valiant efforts to practice every day, even if it was only for 10 minutes, along with learning to play a couple of pieces by heart.
As I write this I’m questioning myself: why do I keep stopping when some part of me really wants to play ? And I realize that it comes down to this underlying, heartbreaking limiting belief: why bother, you’re not going to make a living doing it; it offers no practical value. Ouch. That’s my father’s voice.
Decades ago I attended Berklee College of Music in Boston as a keyboard major. My parents paid for my tuition and boarding. About halfway through, though, my father questioned what I was going to do with this degree. I told him I was going to play. He questioned where. I told him: wherever I get an opportunity to play.
It was then that he told me that I won’t be able to make a living playing piano and that only really talented people get to do that. Ouch, again. He further stated that unless I went for something practical, he was going to stop funding my education. I caved and changed my major to music education…which is ironic because: how can I teach something that I was still trying to learn myself ? In the end, I graduated with my BA degree in Music Education that I half-heartedly achieved.
Until writing this post today, I didn’t realize how much this is still plaguing my psyche. It begs the question: why can’t I just play the piano for the shear fun and joy of it ? Why does it have to be only for practical reasons ?
Ok, so this post went way off topic. Initially I had thought this was going to be about how I didn’t make piano playing a priority which means I’m not going to fully “embrace the task at hand”. And then I was going to share how going for my computer science degree was a high priority for me, that if I wanted to be able to make a living, I needed something that was going to pay a much bigger salary than being a secretary, which I was at the time. Because it was a priority for me, and because I had an aptitude for it, going for my CS degree made it much easier to “embrace that task at hand” and go all it in on achieving it, which I did in three years by going to night school and working a full-time day job.
What I’m now realizing is that while it’s important to know what’s a priority and what’s not, it’s equally (maybe more) important to establish WHY something is or isn’t a priority. What’s really at stake here ? What I learned today is that I don’t play my piano because it’s not practical, so it’s a low priority, and I “shouldn’t” (or don’t need to) play it.
The reality is, though, that of late I keep getting the message from a variety of places to “play” more, to have more “fun”…for fun’s sake. The message here is that incorporating some play/fun in my day IS a priority for me.
The time has come for me to commit to embracing the “task” of playing my lovely piano…just for the absolute joy of it.
How about you ? What “tasks” do you take a half-hearted approach to doing ? What “tasks” do you go all in on ? What’s your why in both cases ? Knowing your why, does that affect your approach to the “tasks” ?
BTW…Here’s the before…the front and back view of today’s puzzle piece and the pretty ceramic box that holds all my numbers from which I randomly choose each day’s puzzle piece number:
Peace & Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
Creating Mandalas 🔆 Awakening Inner Harmony
ABOUT THE 2025 Mandalas of the Day
Throughout the year, I’ll be building one large (48”x48”) Tibetan-styled Mandala one piece at a time…one puzzle piece at a time, that is. The mandala design and the reversed puzzle side were printed on artist-quality watercolor paper. The forward facing puzzle side was printed on a 48”x48” wood panel.
Each day, at random, I’ll be painting in watercolors one of the 365 watercolor puzzle pieces, that by the end of the year will become Archangel Mandala #4. Read more about the Archangel Series. The word/message for each piece will be inspired by Melody Beattie’s book “52 Weeks of Conscious Contact”.
Ultimately, the message of this mandala is about how we are all uniquely part of the one.
Mandala of the Day 