Practice and Play

A famous chess coach advised me  when I was a very young boy…

Master – “Solar, I know what’s your problem! You don’t practice.”

Myself – “You must be joking. You know I play chess for atleast 4 hours a day!”

Master – “I know you play for many hours. But you seldom practice”

To me, this conversation didn’t make much sense then. Today it was an eye opener. As I was driving back from my dance class. I realized I was trying to dance but never practicing. I was practicing my guitar but never playing.

It all of a sudden dawned to me that practice and playing and two different things with a very thin line. You practice with care To play with Confidence. Even in chess playing is not practicing. When you practice you are alone. You work on isolated concepts to perfection. When you play, you aggregate imperfections to make a Whole!

So are you the kind who is always practicing or are you the kind who always plays? Take a moment to consider this analogy in every part of your life. Work, Relationships, Recreation … Maybe it will make sense. Remember it took me more than 12 years to understand that simple but profound statement. And I think it is going to change the way I learn things forever. Maybe there is a meta-state where there is continuous practice tending to play and continuous play tending to practice. A state where you are both practicing and playing and where one complements the other!   I am beginning to wonder :)