When familiarity is centered, the energy is calm and grounded. Familiarity isn't about performing perfectly, it's about understanding deeply. What if we chased familiarity instead of perfection?

By taking out your instrument, you are a certain person in a certain place in a certain time arranging certain uncertainties into certain form. When so much is uncertain, 3 minutes of creative practice is something tangible we can weave into certainty.

When I teach flute lessons, I ask my students, "how did that feel?" after they finish playing part of a warm up, etude, or solo, often when it didn't go according to plan. They figure the answer I'm looking for must be something external, so the first words out of their mouth are usually observations or judgments about what happened. But when I ask, "how did that feel?" I'm not asking about what could be judged externally, I'm asking about what you experienced internally.

In the spirit of reflection, here are some of my favorite practice prompts and contemplative questions from MPR over the years.