A Dream about Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons

by Ben Folds

I promise you that performances, presentations, and public speeches will improve when you can acknowledge that your audience has made a choice to be there and to give you their attention. They’ve changed their plans, traveled, and paid hard-earned money, and you should never take that for granted.

And you don’t have to kiss the audience’s ass. You don’t have to bust a move, tell jokes, or juggle. You don’t even have to speak or smile. It’s an internal thing—an intention that radiates out of you. It’s humility and gratitude. It’s about living inside the notes, and between them, and understanding that each of those notes may mean a completely different thing to each person in an audience. Once it leaves your fingertips or your lips, it’s no longer yours. Maybe it never was.

Moments of self-honesty are often laced with selfishness. I’m not proud of my selfishness, but we’ve all seen how acts of honest selfishness can often unblock the way and liberate others to live their lives. At least then everyone knows the truth and can carry on.