The Conductor as Yogi: Nuggets of Gratitude

“The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.“

Jon Kabat-Zinn

It’s easy to think about gratitude when the calendar tells us to.  Thanksgiving Day is a traditional time to celebrate gratitude as we gather with others and eat a large meal (and fall asleep afterwards to the lulling sounds of the big football game).

But for many—for all of us, to some degree—gratitude may be hard to come by.  Personal challenges and the world around us can make it difficult to feel or express gratitude.  All we can see is what we focus on.  Or is it the other way around?

What we focus on is all we can see.

It’s in our human hard-wiring to pay more attention to the negative, to engage our fight-or-flight response as a way of protecting ourselves from harm.  Without realizing it, we spend much of our day in this mode, fortifying ourselves for a challenge, an onerous task list, more bad news, or a tough rehearsal.  We are on the defense (to stay with our football theme) and that makes it difficult to feel grateful for much of anything.

So like an athlete, we need practice, and practice starts with small steps.

In the middle of this busy and demanding life, can you find “nuggets” of gratitude?  As with nuggets of wisdom—those priceless morsels you’ve gathered along life’s journey—can you find small, definable realities that make you pause and realize your good fortune?  Can you shift your focus from the negatives to something for which you can be genuinely grateful? And can you express that gratitude authentically in your various spheres of influence . . . your families, communities, or ensembles?

Instead of focusing on a list of “deficiencies” you perceive in your ensemble or in your preparation for the next concert (or in yourself, your toughest critic), see what you’ve already accomplished and acknowledge that when you begin your next rehearsal.  Start with a nugget of something to be grateful for— seemingly small, but in reality, precious.  Be grateful for the singers being in the room and encourage them to move forward with a shared awareness that the whole reason you exist in that space is to make music with others.  To experience something different from the other 23 hours of the day—to stop time, breathe deeply, move freely, resonate sound through the body, and re-set the nervous system towards a balance that eludes us much of the time.  To smile, laugh, or just “be” in a different way.

Be grateful for yourself, for the body that houses your spirit and carries you through life to create something beautiful, engaging, and purposeful.  Be grateful for the opportunities you have to interact with others for whom you might be the sole positive influence right now.

Small steps.  Practice.  Run those gratitude-finding plays over and over.  Refine them to become part of your game plan, in your muscle memory, and they can lead you to an expanded expression of gratitude which can resonate outward.  Art-makers are in the business of “good.”  When we focus on that precious nugget, gratitude flows.

Check out something to be grateful for:

An amendment to the Illinois school code that paves the way for a more mindful approach to teaching in the schools and can be a positive opportunity for the arts:

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/103/PDF/103-0764.pdf

Dr. Ramona Wis is the Mimi Rolland Endowed Professor in the Fine Arts, Professor of Music, and Director of Choral Activities at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and the author of The Conductor as Leader:  Principles of Leadership Applied to Life on the Podium.  Dr. Wis is a 500-hour CYT (Certified Yoga Teacher) and a certified Brain Longevity® Specialist, a research-based certification on yoga and integrative medicine for brain health and healthy aging. Reach her at: or ramonawis.com.