Last night I was thinking of yet another dear friend who today, is catching a plane and moving away. She is not only my friend but also DD’s most talented and inspiring piano teacher (and friend…. and …. big sister!). She will be missed.
I was reminded of a TED Talk (yes another) I shared with her a few months back. She was not aware of TED Talks so I sent her a couple links to some of my favorites. I had just come upon this particular one and as it was about a composer, music and passion, I thought she would appreciate it.
The piano piece Benjamin Zander plays to make his point …. well, to me it was so moving that I decided to watch it again last night.
He not only made his point about classical music, but he did so with the most fantastic sense of humor! But he had another another message for the audience as well. He said his job as a leader (composer) was to
…. awaken the possibility in other people.
And how do you know you’ve succeeded?
Their eyes are shining.
He then went on to say
Who am I being when my players (or children, or employees, or friends, or family….) eyes are not shining?
He measures his success by how many shining eyes are around him.
As I look at accepting a new job where I will be the manager, the leader, I feel much the same about the task at hand.
My job is to awaken possibility in other people.
A good reminder not only for the workplace, but my hope is that I can do that for others and particularly for children.
The world is full of possibility. We are each, full of possibility.
How do you measure your success?
He also has one further, most important, message at the end but I will leave that for you to discover on your own.
barelynoticeable 
My measures of success in this waning part of my life are much different than they were in earlier times when success in education, business, personal life were the important things. Now I feel most successful. and this is pretty prosaic, but truthful, in that my children are all “good people”, “good citizens” and, all are very, very different from one another! It sort of proves my theory that children should be encouraged to find their own way – the way that interests them, not their parents. Mine, unfortunately, had a bit of a rocky start, but have still succeeded pretty well I think, and I am at peace with my own life as well.
And even at this age we still have “shiny eyes” on occasion!
Having our children turn out to be good people is a great thing to aspire to. It is far more important to me, than most anything else. And, yes, you were successful I’d say!
Thank you for the BIG hug Jody! You are such an inspiration, even from here, across the pond – Missing you both so much – good to be able to catch up with you through BN…..xoxoxoxo