Affirmations or bust

“…In life, there is no real safety except for self-belief.” – Madonna, Billboard Music Awards, 2016

In light of the gutting of the Federal Government and the demolition of the global development sector, I wanted to share some wisdom gleaned from musicians.

Art is often about pain and suffering. Some of the very best songs are really sad songs. So what can musicians teach us about hardship?

The first artist up is Madonna, whose famous line, written above, has inspired me for almost a decade now. It’s wisdom I try to share with clients, friends, and my own damn self as often as possible.

For the past decade, since Madonna uttered this phrase during an acceptance speech at the Billboard awards, I’ve been trying to stress-test her words against any circumstance I could imagine. So far, it’s held up. The only safety in life that I’ve found is, indeed, self-belief.

To illustrate this, let’s look at another musician: Sergei Rachmaninoff, the brilliant Russian composer who was working at the turn of the 20th century. His 2nd Piano Concerto almost never came to be. Why is this? Rachmaninoff suffered a crisis of self-belief.

As a young and talented musician, Rachmaninoff had written his First Piano Concerto and debuted it to merciless criticism. He was so horrified at the reception of his work that he fell into a deep depression and was unable to compose for three years.

Rachmaninoff finally created music again after he began working with Dr. Nicolai Dahl, a neurologist and hypnotherapist. Dr. Dahl regularly treated Rachmaninoff with the affirmation, “You will begin to write your concerto. You will work with great facility…the concerto will be of excellent quality.” The same affirmation, repeated time and again, worked its way into the artist’s consciousness, and he completed his Second Piano Concerto thereafter.

The music premiered to great applause, and was dedicated “To Monsieur N. Dahl,” proof of Rachmaninoff’s belief in his hypnotherapist’s work.

During these times of great uncertainty – when ‘safe’ jobs are being mercilessly slashed, and when the job market is flooded with talented and terrified people – a person could easily become overwhelmed with helpless and hopeless thoughts.

These thoughts can be paralyzing, and won’t help anyone to gather the strength that’s needed to press on.

I hope that the artists of our world, with their brilliance and courage, can light a path forward for all of us who are hurting and unsure right now. The only safety is self-belief. You’ve got gifts to give and work to do.

No matter what rejections you may face, no matter what the outside world says about you, remember: You will work with great facility…and your work will be of excellent quality.