Today's lesson came from my meditation vault, so no, I didn't just move : )

 

Out walking today in my new neighborhood, I passed a yard full of chickens, roosters and hens. I really didn’t know the difference to be honest but I’ve just confirmed a hen is a female chicken and a rooster is a male chicken. If you’re like me and didn’t know that, you’re welcome. That’s today’s bonus lesson. 

 

Actually there are two bonus lessons. Did you know that roosters crow all day and not just at sunrise? Me either. Stay with me. I promise I’m going somewhere!

 

My walk was after sunrise and as I passed by, one of the roosters started crowing. This rooster was a pro and obviously had been doing this for years. After two or three crows from him, I heard a different voice. This was not the voice of an experienced rooster. I don’t know how rooster mentoring works but this had to be an apprentice of sorts. He had the makings of a masterful crow but his cackle delivery was weak and cracking, much like my son’s voice at fourteen. He crowed loud and proud anyway.

 

I love the quote in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way that suggests we have to be willing to be bad at something before we can get good at it. My perfectionism has seldom allowed me to do that. I felt I had to secretly get good at something before I showed the world I had any aspirations to do it. That is a limiting way to look at doing something new. 

 

A better approach is to find a mentor or teacher, or at least someone who has gone down the same path and is farther along than me. It takes humility to say I'm a beginner or that I want to learn how to do something better. Every master was once a beginner themselves. In the absence of a role model, another way is to just get started and not worry about doing it wrong or messy.

 

What are you willing to be new at today so you can be better at it tomorrow? Where will you be vulnerable today so that down the road, you can encourage others who have yet to muster the courage to open their mouths and try to find a new voice? Today is a great day for firsts. What will you do?

 

Check out these roosters to celebrate the experienced roosters, the up and coming roosters, and even the older ones still giving it all they've got.