For a long time I've wondered why some people seem so certain of what they believe, while I find myself so often vacillating and asking questions. While I was out riding my bike this morning it occurred to me that it's because they practice. It's very much like playing guitar (something else I'm not very good at). A brilliant guitarist like Bruce Cockburn or Jeff Lang makes it look and sound easy, but they can only do that because they have spent hours behind closed doors playing scales and arpeggios over and over again until they can do it without thinking. They have usually started young, when their hands and brains are still supple. They also look after their hands like precious treasures. I've never forgotten the bushwalk I went on with a serious classical guitarist - he wore thick gloves the whole day because he couldn't afford to cut his hands. Of course they need some talent and the right shaped fingers, but without all that hard work and care
'Contemplating the teeming life of the shore, we have an uneasy sense of the communication of some universal truth that lies just beyond our grasp.' - Rachel Carson