Monday, January 31, 2011

Freedom

"Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose."
-Viktor Frankl

Another quote from Steven Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". This one comes from a man who was held in the Nazi death camps during World War II. Frankl came to the realization amongst the terror that surrounded him that he could decide how this would affect him. He had the freedom to choose what kind of person he would be if he came out on the other side. HE got to CHOOSE.

There is no argument against that. If a man in that situation can still say, "I'm am in control of who I am as a person. My environment will not determine my destiny" then who of us can argue against it. Covey uses this quote to get across the idea that as humans, we are self aware. We can see and access ourselves. We can improve by thinking things through, and changing. With us it isn't simply STIMULUS and then RESPONSE. We have THOUGHT between the two. We can choose to ignore it if we wish, but even then we CHOOSE to simply respond to the stimulus without thinking it through. This is how Covey encourages his readers to begin making effective and positive change in their lives. Take a step back. Look at yourself, and your actions. Look at the things you value, the things you need and want. This empowers us to align our actions with the goals we have.

As a conductor, there is an abundance of stimulus in our professional lives. A flat note, the student who forgot their music, the student who is consistently disrespectful, the possibly tone deaf singer on the front row. The list could go on for days. Covey tells us that we can take a second, and choose how we respond to each of these different stimuli. We can align the action we take with the principles that we hold for ourselves and our ensembles. By doing this we can respond in the most appropriate and effective way.

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