Rock Lessons
a warm fall day,
learning from this rock
to do nothing
—Paul O. Williams
I started taking piano lessons when I was in second or third grade. I took first year piano lessons for the next 10 years. There are many reasons why I never progressed beyond middle C, but a major one was that I loved the idea of knowing how to play the piano but not enough to actually go through the hard process of being able to do it.
And learning is a hard and often slow process. Learning includes failing and admitting I don’t know enough; it means continually practicing to get better. The rock makes it look easy. It already does “nothing” naturally. Anyone who does something that looks natural has practiced it often enough that they no longer have to think about doing it.
What can I learn from this rock? Sitting still is a difficult practice that I work on every day in my meditation practice. And it symbolizes characteristics I want to embody: acceptance, non-attachment, patience, focus. All things I need to work on so that they become natural and easy— or at least easier. But I think my lesson today is that it’s okay to take a break, to slow down and be grateful for another day of warm sunshine. This is a lesson I would enjoy practicing enough to be good at.