L: Lighten it up!

I sing in a regional chorale and our director told us a few weeks ago that, in listening to old recordings, we are hugely oversinging and need to lighten it up.  But when you are trying.so.hard. to get it right, it seems only natural to sing forcefully and purposefully and hit those notes as squarely as you can.  Then she says, sing the same line but make it quieter, more bouncy, and just "lighter".  Guess what?  Same notes, but the sound comes out much easier and it bounces right along.  People are musical directors for a reason, that's for darn sure.

It applies to life in general too, doesn't it?  Yes, we all try hard to do whatever it is we're doing and to do it right.  But if we just lighten up the stranglehold we have on the reins, maybe some things can just come easier and life (in some ways anyway) can bounce right along.  This is never more evident than when our family has something coming up - company coming over, or a trip, or some other event.  I have the ad naseum "to do" list in my head and I pound along, trying to get things done, and I write lists for my husband and kids, and then am never satisfied with what they've done, and then I pound some more (often with huffs of annoyance and stomping feet - it's true isn't it honey?), and eventually I work my way into acceptance.  If the company is coming tonight and "x" hasn't been done - well oh well.  We're still going to enjoy our company and hopefully they'll forgive us for whatever "x" hasn't been done and have fun with us too.  And when I reach that place, I realize I should have gotten there sooner - lighten up, move through the days a bit easier, and move along in a happier place. 

Lesson to myself:  lighten it up.