🎹 TREE 549: Lois Payne plays piano with her eyes closed

This week, the words are written by Lois Payne. I’m doing the drawings and choosing the music. I work with Lois. She is super smart and funny and she keeps the Teams chat from getting boring. Her official bio is: ‘Lois Payne is 23 years old and from Shropshire. She has a Master's Degree in Creative Writing and a PhD in procrastination. But she's trying, and hopes to produce a collection of short stories in the near future.’ You can read one of her very short stories by going here and scrolling about halfway down the page —Jeff

Sometimes I play piano better with my eyes closed. If you’ve ever played a musical instrument, you might know what I’m talking about. When I know a piece so well, and my fingers have mapped the same journey over the keys countless times, trying to read music is a distraction.

Something doesn’t process right. I’m too busy anticipating the next step so I fumble. Hit bum notes. My fingers trip over one another. They’re moving faster than my brain can process the score in front of me, like a dog tugging on a leash because it knows the walk so well, it can’t understand why you feel the need to restrain it.

There are times when we need to be alert and concentrate on the task at hand. Other times it can help to breathe, go with the grain, and trust yourself to do what you know how to.

For me, that’s as close as it gets to what psychologists call a ‘flow state’ - that trance-like frame of mind that allows people to sit in one spot for hours on end and do a thing until it’s done.

What would happen if you let go, stopped searching for problems to solve before they exist, and just allowed one moment to follow another?

What’s one thing in your life that would go more smoothly if you allowed yourself to play with your eyes closed?

Worth thinking about.

Jemima loves her routine.

How lush is the guitar on this! And the layered vocals! (Spotify)

Grow slowly
Jeff