Teachable

What would you do if you could? she asked. No limits, no obstacles, no barriers. Well, I said, something creative -- like music, or writing, or art, and certainly some exercise. And why would you do that? she asked. Because I want to keep learning, I said. And creativity, by definition, is new, out-of-the-box, giving birth to something you didn't know before, that maybe didn't even exist before. Now that, she said, sounds terrifying. You'd have to leave the well-trodden, sleepy, checked-out way of being and actually be present with the effort to learn a new lick on the guitar, a new technique with a brush, or a twist of phrase on the page. That's real work, she said. I had no idea what she was talking about until I actually tried to leave the auto-pilot way of being and throw myself to the wolves of learning something new. This old dog has found himself at square one: a rank beginner, know-nothing novice, a clumsy, awful-sounding, mess-maker. Of course, practice plays a role in polishing new skills too, but that being teachable is a tough one; real work it is to clear away the habits of knowing and try something fresh. But that attention thing -- that looking hard, staring at my fingers as they stumble all the frets of the guitar and persevering... that takes effort, and guts. It aint easy being teachable, says the die-hard, humbled, suddenly young-at-heart teacher.