The phenomenal Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was sitting in a small cafe in France. Waiting for his third cup of coffee, while a smoldering cigarette rested in an ashtray, he was doodling on a paper napkin. Oblivious to Picasso, another patron, a woman from an adjacent table, had been observing keenly. A few minutes later Picasso put his pencil down, lifted the napkin and stared at it blankly, as if he wasn’t pleased with it or maybe it needed more work. He was then about to crumple the serviette when the lady spoke.
“Don’t!” she hollered, almost startling Picasso. “I’ll take it.”
He gave her a curious look and kept silent a few moments longer than one would usually in a similar situation.
“I’ll pay you for it,” the woman continued and reached out for her handbag. “It’s not for gifting or sale,” Picasso said with indifference.
“Oh yeah?” She pulled out her checkbook. “Maybe I can offer you a good price!”
“Done. Four million Francs.” This was roughly $10,000.
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Well, that’s the price.”
“But it only took you a few minutes!”
“No Madame.” Picasso folded the napkin and put it in his pocket. “This took me sixty years.”
While growing up, most of us have our sources of inspiration, our role models, people we admire, our super-heroes. These are the people who reached the pinnacle in their respective fields and the world labeled them as geniuses, child prodigies, talented, gifted and so on. For, they demonstrated not only an extraordinary skill but a great degree of effortlessness too. As if they just sat down and championed their art. Nothing could be further from truth than the assumption that they were born with it or somehow got it all too easy.
Effortlessness in anything comes from immense effort. The more mindful effort we put in any endeavor, the easier it gets to become naturally good at it. Whatever you wish to master, be it meditation or basketball or anything at all, be prepared to put in a lot of tiring hours. Keep at it. Mindfully. Keep reviewing and continue working. Gradually, you’ll discover that things that seemed difficult, even impossible at first are now well within your reach.
Source: ”The Children Of Tomorrow” by OM SWAMI
