Take down a musical instrument

One of my favourite poems and one which I’ve quoted here again and again is by Jalaluddin Rumi:

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we Love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

I’m suddenly struck by how lucky I am to be doing what I love to do – writing nonsense – and making a living out of it. I remember talking about this to Bob Blumer last month when he was here promoting his show, and just last night, mrbrown and myself were trading nonsense tweets about loving what we do for a living.

I can’t remember exactly what Bob said about loving what we do because I was too easily distracted by the food we were tasting on the tour, but mrbrown has often said something to the effect of “we didn’t know better, that’s why we dropped out of school and did our own thing”.

I think we both knew better, and that’s why we’re still pursuing what we love, and we’ve been damned lucky to have been rewarded along the way, making our ongoing journeys worthwhile.

It’s not as easy as saying, “I’d rather be doing something else”, then up and leaving your current career. You have to be sure of that something else. You have to love that something else.

Once you’re sure, it’ll take you on journeys so rewarding, you might end up in Singapore making popiah skin in front of a bunch of bloggers:

Do you love what you would rather be doing? Enough to chase it?

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16 responses to “Take down a musical instrument”

  1. Love what you do – do what you love -gospel truth via Mr. Miyagi. Doing what he loves: Bill Clinton! President Clinton to kick off Netroots Nation with opening keynote People sometimes laugh when I tell them I sometimes use dial-up to connect to the Net and update my blog. But I do for a reason: Not everyone has access to br

  2. Benjamin Lee Avatar

    #joy Take down a musical instrument http://bit.ly/gkMG4

  3. Benjamin Lee Avatar

    Good morning! Are you doing what you love? If not, would you choose to do what you love? http://bit.ly/gkMG4

  4. RT @miyagi: Good morning! Are you doing what you love? If not, would you choose to do what you love? http://bit.ly/gkMG4

  5. Good morning! Are you doing what you love? If not, would you choose to do what you love? http://bit.ly/gkMG4 (via @miyagi)

  6. i think i might cry RT @miyagi Good morning! Are you doing what you love? If not, would you choose to do what you love? http://bit.ly/gkMG4

  7. Benjamin Lee Avatar

    From miyagi.sg: Take down a musical instrument http://bit.ly/K2N9k

  8. billang Avatar
    billang

    nice post. i wrote a speech on this for the nus grads recently. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=959180

  9. Winston Tay Avatar

    I'm chasing! I'm chasing! But my legs not moving fast enough…

  10. Mr Miyagi Avatar

    That's an awesome speech, Bill. Thank you for sharing.

  11. Miss Loi Avatar

    Thankfully, I'm happily doing what I love. But the curious thing is I only realize this after I've gone a full circle.

  12. Mr Miyagi Avatar

    What is it that you do?

  13. Mr Miyagi Avatar

    What is it that you do?

  14. […] days ago in Take down a musical instrument on miyagi.sg | My Very Own Glob {Curiosa Felicitas} Thankfully, I'm happily doing what I love. But […]

  15. […] Take down a musical instrument : miyagi.sg | My Very Own Glob {Curiosa Felicitas} miyagi.sg/2009/08/take-down-a-musical-instrument – view page – cached One of my favourite poems and one which I've quoted here again and again is by Jalaluddin Rumi: Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and — From the page […]

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