Invitation to Music Concert

When I was young (in Grade Four) my mom converted her Hawaiian guitar to a Spanish guitar, and bought me a beginners' book, and helped me start to learn to play. So I was kind-of self-taught through the years, and I also had some lessons when I was in about Grade Six. With the chords I learned, and teaching myself how to play church chorouses, I somehow plateaued and played for many years at that level. For the last few years, I hardly played at all, although I still really liked and like the guitar.

Fast-forward to 2009 - For about 3 months now, I have been taking lessons with a very talented teacher, who is also a singer and song-writer, Dave Anthony. I am learning a lot, and, of course, realizing that there is much more for me to learn and advance in, in my playing.

Dave has recently made a new album, Starline Episode. His style is a nice blend of retro rock and rhythm and blues. Check it out at the following websites:

(His official website)
http://www.daveanthony.ca/Home/tabid/911/Default.aspx

http://cdbaby.com/cd/daveanthony

http://payplay.fm/daveanthony

http://www.reverbnation.com/daveanthony

Dave will be singing and playing his guitar on May 20 in Kelowna, BC, at the Minstrel Cafe, from 8:00 to 10:30 p.m. Location: 4638 Lakeshore Road, Kelowna, BC. If you are in or near the Kelowna area, don't miss it!

Minstrel Cafe Website
http://www.minstrelcafe.com/index.php

If you are interested in guitar lessons, here's the place to go for his guitar teaching website:
http://psalmsinger.com/guitar/index.html

Announcing My Niece's Website and Blog

I would like to invite my readers to visit my niece's new website and blog, at http://www.sunflowerschoolhouse.com/, launched yesterday. My niece, Honey, and her husband Jonah, are the parents of five children. Honey is homeschooling them, and, in the process, is developing some great resources for families and homeschoolers. She is having a May Giveaway, offering different downloadable products daily, until May 31st. You may still be able to get the products from yesterday, as they will be available until noon Pacific Time; after that you can get today's product. While visiting the website, be sure to read Honey's post from yesterday, entitled "Happy Mother's Day", in the "My Blog" section. It is really inspirational and funny as well!

Women Heroes

Today, as we are nearing Mother's Day, I'd just like to draw attention to this very interesting webpage about women heroes:http://www.myhero.com/myhero/go/directory/directory.asp?dir=women

On this page are photos and links to biographies of many women who have made profound differences in people's lives. Some of the women included are well-known, others, not so well-known; many I had not heard of. I am inspired by seeing what people accomplish in their lives, especially when they have great obstacles to overcome, as some of the women described on this site did. Happy reading!

I Do My Best -- A Tribute to Mrs. Whittaker

There are times when one seemingly "small" act of kindness can powerfully impact the recipient's life for years to come. Such was the case in late October, 1963, when my Grade One teacher placed a bookmark on my desk. Printed in felt marker below a little drawing of a smiling pumpkin, was this simple sentence: "I do my best."

I do my best. Such powerful words. Evidently, my teacher, Mrs. Whittaker, saw that I was putting forth my best effort in my work, and decided to reward me with these words of affirmation. Through this simple action, she communicated to me that doing one's best is what counts. What's important in life is not -- "Did you do the task perfectly? Did you get 100% on the exam? Did you win the game? Did you do something better than someone else?" - but, "Did you do your best?"

"I do my best" became my approach to life throughout my school years and beyond. I aim for "excellence", but not necessarily "perfection". I appreciate Michael J. Fox's thought on this: "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for; perfection is God's business." Perfectionism generates anxiety and sets us up for disappointment and feelings of failure. Perfectionism is based on the misbelief that we can and must do everything right, all the time, which is impossible. If we put this type of expectation onto ourselves, we can feel that we have failed if we make even a small mistake, or if we get anything less than the highest possible score on a test. As a result we can be robbed of the satisfaction we could have had from enjoying what we did and simply knowing that we did our best.

An attitude of excellence, on the other hand, means saying to ourselves, "I will do the best that I can with the knowledge, ability and resources available to me ." If we choose excellence, it is not tragic if we make a mistake. We do not have to become stressed out if something we do does not turn out perfectly. If we make mistakes we can learn from them, and grow in character and ability. With an attitude of excellence, it really doesn't matter if someone else can do something "better" than we can, because our focus is not on outdoing others, only on being and doing the best that we can. I have found that this attitude brings me a lot of contentment.

A couple of days ago, when going over my school report cards, I found the bookmark. It means so much to me, and I'm really glad I still have it. When I looked at it, I thought, "I would like to thank Mrs. Whittaker for how she influenced the direction of my life." I don't know how to contact her, so I got the idea that I could write this blog post and perhaps she will come across it someday. So, Mrs. Whittaker, if you are reading this, I say a big "Thank you!" to you for encouraging and challenging me to develop the lifelong habit of doing my best!

Michael J. Fox quote:
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3172.html

Interesting articles about perfection versus excellence:

http://www.medhunters.com/articles/fromPerfectionToExcellence.html

http://www.ivysea.com/pages/intrap_0701_2.html

http://simplemom.net/how-to-be-disorganized-unproductive-aim-for-perfection/