An experience that taught me .....

AN EXPERIENCE THAT TAUGHT ME ……

Mario D’Couto

            Life as a whole can be a wide variety of lessons but as the title of this article suggests the experience I am about to tell you made me realize in a personal way the immense power of our subconscious mind.

            There was this show that my friend was putting up for his parish feast and he asked me if I was interested in playing the lead for the songs they were going to play to which I readily obliged. There was one little problem however and that was due to my work, I could not attend all the practice sessions. Anyways I tried to make best of whatever opportunity I had. The funny thing was that in all our practice sessions, right till the very end of the actual day of the programs, we were trying to figure out the right scale.

            After going over practically every scale imaginable, we decided to play the songs on a ‘F’ major scale. The previous day we were practicing the songs on a ‘G’ major scale. Although I had no problem with adjusting with scales and playing, for some reason I did not realize what was to come. To understand this a little more clearly, I must inform you that this show that I was about play was after a gap of about a year and a half. That is to say, I haven’t jammed with a group for quite sometime and for some reason and I did not feel the angst that I would have normally felt whenever I went on stage to play. Anyways, to cut the long story short, what we were supposed to do ended up become something else. The cause? Me! Yes, it was me! Remember, after going over and trying to find out which scale would be the best suitable one, we had decided to play on ‘F’ but given the confusion that we went through just before starting our show (there was a problem with the sound system), it did not strike me to think about the scale. Suddenly we had to start and there goes my fingers, playing the ‘G’ chord. What was more interesting is that I did not realize I had made a mistake until we moved on to the second song (we were playing a medley of 5 songs). Yet, given my experience of playing in the past, I did not want to make the situation so obvious and so I continued to play on that scale. Fortunately, our vocalist could adjust too. Thus, to the audience it looked like we did quite well but the truth we only knew. After the show, I felt bad although my friend kept reassuring me that there was nothing to feel bad about since the truth was only between us and nobody knew. Yet, I could not accept it.  

            On my way back home, I started thinking over the whole situation from the beginning and in trying to understand about what went wrong, it suddenly dawned on me that I did not fix it in my head to begin with the ‘F’ chord. Perhaps, my lack of foresight and the confusion with the sound system only added fuel to the fire. Somehow, it seemed like as though playing or starting the songs with the ‘G’ chord was the right thing to do. It was then that I remembered what Joseph Murphy wrote in his book, “THE POWER OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND”, our conscious mind is like the rider and the subconscious mind is like the chariot. Whenever the rider directs the chariot, that is where the chariot will go.

            The subconscious mind is like a sponge. It just accepts whatever it is given. It does not differentiate what is right or wrong. It is that area that is responsible for your second nature. All your habits spring from your subconscious mind. It is your store house for all your daily doings. Hence, in as much as it makes our movements second nature, it is our conscious mind that we need to take care of. All the choices we make has an effect in some way directly or indirectly. Choose wisely! Had I practiced “F” continuously (we decided on the ‘F’ scale at the last minute since the vocalist found this scale best suited him not forgetting that we just practiced only on 3 occasions together), I may have been spared the embarrassment, at least to myself and to my other friends who played alongside with me.


            Yet, life still goes on. While I felt bad about the situation, it was in some way an indirect reminder to me of the immense power of the human mind. I remember one of my teachers telling me to put in conscious effort in a subject in which I was lagging behind. At that time, it did not mean much to me but after having gone through this experience, it has become a catalyst for my personal development. Trust me, your subconscious mind has tremendous potential to transform you but first you need to do all the talking. Select an area that you like to work on and keep saying to yourself that you will do it. This thought accompanied by the act of doing it will transform your life, may be not overnight, but slowly and steadily. Big returns come with small and timely investments whether it is your finance, your habits, skills or whatever it may be. Only ‘YOU” can make the difference!

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