I was inspired to write today's post because of a Korean drama I was watching on TV. Just some ramblings and babblings that come to mind on a Monday. :)
The drama serial is about two boys who love playing the piano. One of them started learning the piano from the age of three, while the other boy started learning much later, but is a prodigy who is gifted with perfect pitch.
I've always loved the sound of piano. Even though I only learnt piano for one short month when I was in Primary Three and gave up learning because I was too bored by the theory part, my love for the piano didn't end there. I didn't have a piano at home, so every time I had a chance to visit the Music room in school, I would fiddle on the piano even though I didn't know how to play. That was the only piano in school, and to me, it was the most beautiful thing in school.
Then one day, my friend who knew how to play the piano taught me a tune, and I started practising the same tune everyday. It was the only tune I knew. But every time I played the tune, I was filled with happiness in my heart.
By the time I got to Secondary School, I would reach school one hour early purposefully everyday, just so that I can play the piano in the School Hall. I had a praise & worship songbook at home, and I started playing the songs on the piano based on that. It was a miracle no less because the songbook was a guitar chord book! Bit by bit, I managed to figure out where was the C key on the piano, then I was able to play all the family chords for C key. It was the key that didn't involve any minor notes, so that begun my transposing days. I would transpose every song in my songbook into C key, so that I could play them on the piano. I didn't realise that at the beginning, but because of all the daily transposing practices, I became so proficient at it that I could transpose any song without much problems.
As the years went by, it seemed that my practicing efforts did pay off. By and by, I was able to play other keys as well by trial and error. Though I wasn't very proficient at my playing and I couldn't read any musical scores, I was able to help out by playing at weddings and certain events when a trained pianist was not available. I was filled with gratitude in my heart that I was able to do the thing I enjoyed most. God gave me many opportunities to play and I was thankful beyond measure.
As I looked back on this part of my growing up life, I was reminded again of how passion can drive a person forward. I am not a prodigy or am exceptionally talented, but I was able to pick up a skill simply because I had the passion for it. Passion pushed me to spend time and commit to practising it everyday without fail. Passion gave me the strength to try, try and try some more. I didn't receive formal coaching, so I had to spend double and triple the amount of effort to learn the skill, but passion gave me the motivation to keep going on. Passion is indeed such an important thing in anything we do. Without passion, everything becomes half-hearted and loses its soul.
And this made me think about how I can help my kids harness their passion in life. One thing is for sure - Passion cannot be taught. It has to come naturally. My passion for piano came just like that - my mom or dad didn't tell me to try liking the piano, but I just do. As a mom myself now, how can I help my kids to discover what their passion in life is?
Some parents send their kids to all kinds of enrichment and interest classes, regardless of whether the kids enjoy them or not. I am not such a parent, and I do not have the means to send them for everything. But I guess it's no harm letting them go and try different stuffs and discover for themselves what they really enjoy doing. Having a passion in life can bring so much joy into a person's life. Piano is one of my many passions, and everything I'm passionate in gives me strength and motivation at different points of my life. That's really important, I feel. A person who is unmotivated cannot move forward. Here and there, I discover what my kids enjoy doing, but whether it is a passion or not, it may still be too early to tell. This is definitely something I need to ponder and consider for my kids.
What are you passionate about in your life? If you have not been tapping on that passion enough recently, perhaps it's time to do something to bring back that passion again. Drive away the lethargy & bring on the passion!
