When my voice falters or breaks (at the passagio), I hear the wisdom of my voice teacher spinning in my head. “You’ve got to tolerate being bad to become good.” As a student of opera I am learning non-judgemental awareness of all that is happening in the here and now (my weekly voice lesson). This is also a wonderful life skill to develop the ability to be open to whatever arises without judgement or judging the experience.
I am applying this same principle/wisdom to golf or any fitness/athletic endeavor for that matter. Being a good athlete, I am not used to being “bad,” in this case – golf. On the contrary – I am used to being capable that I can easily learn most sports – golf is the exception. Here is where I have the opportunity to give myself permission to be bad in order to improve. This approach frees me of the pressure of needing to be instantly great – perfect. It is a lesson in humility – being with what is in the moment of the song, the tee shot or challenges of living.
I see people in my group exercise class struggling and putting so much pressure on themselves to be perfect. Here is another pearl of wisdom from my voice teacher that is derived from Buddhism, “Perfection is death.”
Would it be possible to for all of us to tolerate being bad in order to learn, to be curious and open to becoming better at whatever it is that we desire to do?
