‘So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they become improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.’ Christopher Reeve
There are three stages in the development of a dream – as outlined by Christopher Reeve. As a dreamer, allow these three words to empower you. Let them fill you with excitement as you continue to take the step by step process towards the fulfillment of your dream. For to live with dreams, chasing dreams, expecting dreams – is to truly live.
1. Impossible – This is stage one when you have defined your dream. If it’s not impossible then I don’t believe you have dreamed BIG enough. So stretch a little more until your dream is – in your own capacity – truly impossible.
That’s a dream worth living for, or even dying for.
2. Improbable – It’s amazing who is targeted by a dream. For the dream often finds you long before you have ever found it. As you look around, you may stop for a moment and say, ‘That guy is so much more talented than me’, or ‘that girl has more money than I have to pull off such a huge dream’. ‘Look they have the connections, the experience. It’s so improbable that I could ever pull off such a dream.’
Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
by William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)
Background:
At the age of 12, Henley became a victim of tuberculosis of the bone. A few years later the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee. In 1867 he successfully passed the Oxford local examination as a senior student. In 1875 he wrote the “Invictus” poem from a hospital bed. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until the age of 53.
Musical Creator Sets Aside 13 Days To Pray & Fast For Future New York Production
Between the 16th and 29th January, Peter G. James Sinclair, the creator of ‘The Cross & The Switchblade – The Musical’ has announced that he will be praying and fasting with his direct focus on his proposed future Broadway production.
When asked why he is doing this, Peter responded, ‘Prayer and fasting is a principle laid down in the Bible that is explained as being something that Christians should do on a regular basis. One of the benefits is that it reminds you who is in control.’ And Peter added, ‘And that’s certainly not me.’
During the period of fasting and prayer he will be focusing on….
4. The future director and the team who will work closely to help Americanize the work so this is relevant to the New York audience.
And why 13 days? Peter answered, ‘It’s been 13 years since I first dreamed of staging my professional musical theater piece, and so I’m fasting and praying one day for each year that it’s taken me to arrive at this point.’
When I was only six years old, my mother decided that we should both learn to play the piano. I recall the skid marks all the way to lessons. All my friends spent their time kicking footballs, but I was now to embark upon a journey of scales, arpeggios, theory, musicianship, exams, and countless hours of practice. For eight years it was a hard slog for both me and my wonderful teacher Mrs Mae. My parents insisted that I continue with piano lessons, no matter how hard at times I found it. But then at the age of fourteen they allowed me to make my own decision as to whether I should continue. I quit.
But I didn’t quit music. I quit classical music and piano lessons and started to explore contemporary music, and at one point Mark Fitzgerald, an adult member of our local church, handed me some lyrics and asked me to write a melody. That small act transformed my life forever.
Throughout the next six month period of my life I started writing my own music and was genuinely excited about the piano again. So I returned to classical lessons with my new teacher Miss Bronwyn Ethell, but this time I was learning under my own steam, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I was practicing twice as hard and long and commenced upon the long journey of refining my skills as a composer of melodies and the writer of lyrics – a songwriter.
In learning to play the piano, for the second time around, I developed a work ethic. For in the early days I recognised, the one year I failed my piano exam, that effort is rewarded positively and lack of effort negatively. I also learnt the value of discipline and of having a regular routine. And as the years passed I discovered the importance of experimentation and of ad-liberation; that one doesn’t necessarily need to be stuck doing or playing what others play, but that I could in fact go ahead and create something completely new and limitless with those eight notes that make up an octave.
I came across this inspirational piece today and wanted to share it with you…
George Frideric Handel was a musical prodigy. At twenty-one he was a keyboard virtuoso.
When he turned to composing he gained immediate fame and soon was appointed Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover (late King George 1 of England). When Handel moved to England his renown grew. By the time he was forty he was world famous.
But despite his talent and fame he faced considerable adversity. Rivalry with English composers was fierce. Audiences were fickle. Sometimes they didn’t turn out for his performances. He was the victim of the changing political winds. Several times he found himself on the verge of bankruptcy. His problems were compounded by failing health. He suffered a stroke which left his right arm limp and damaged the use of four fingers in his right hand. Although he recovered, it left him battling depression.
Finally, at fifty-six, Handel decided it was time to retire. Discouraged, miserable, and consumed with debt, he felt certain he’d land in a debtor’s prison. So on April 8, 1741, he gave what he considered his farewell concert. Disappointed and filled with self-pity, he gave up.
Receive a copy of Peter's free ebook 'Dust Off Your Dream' (35 pages of pure inspiration) by subscribing to his blog MyBlackPiano, which will follow his musical's journey - 'The Cross & The Switchblade' to Broadway and beyond while also guiding you in the pursuit of your dreams.
