One of my favorite musical instruments is the bagpipes. Many years ago, on a beautiful sunny day, my family and I listened to a beautiful version of Amazing Grace performed by a piper on the shore as our family left Halifax, Nova Scotia by boat. We continued to listen to Amazing Grace as it drifted more than 3 miles from shore.

It was announced in newspapers around the world on August 22, 2016 that a 61-year-old piper had died of “bagpipe lung hypersensitivity pneumonitis.” It was caused by bacteria from the “wet environment” on his bagpipes that turned into mold and mildew. For the past seven years he suffered from “shortness of breath, dry cough” and could “walk only about 65 feet.”

Disinfecting every part of his bagpipes every day would have prevented his death. It’s about discipline!

This is a wake-up call for all musicians, pipers, brass and brass players to clean their instrument thoroughly every day. ” Cleanliness is next to godliness. “

Everything is related to discipline. The discipline of preparation. Two friends of mine are firefighters. They have their fire equipment ready, so in a matter of minutes they are ready for a fire. They practice getting fires started with their air packet ready in 90 seconds. Once you develop discipline, it becomes part of you, a good positive habit.

The true disciple gives you the freedom to do your best and be your best self, allowing you to achieve success. For example: cleaning your things and keeping your workplace organized.

My husband and I went to a local restaurant for a quick lunch. The waitress, whom we had never met before, brought our food and took an extra 5 minutes to get the ketchup out after our burgers were served. By the time he finally brought the ketchup, the burger was cold. Soon after, we were in a rush to get back to work. The restaurant was almost empty and we had to find the waitress to take care of the bill. This waitress won’t last long! She doesn’t have the discipline for work!

In our lives, we need to be disciplined both in our mind and in our body to keep ourselves free from mental clutter and / or physical clutter.

Like you brush your teeth twice a day to reduce the bacteria that feed on your body and we bathe every day. It is about our daily discipline.

When I was 8 years old, I remember my violin teacher, Mr. William Whitson, teaching me to wash my hands with soap and water before playing the violin. After practicing, Mr. Whitson showed me how to clean my violin with a clean cotton cloth to remove the resin from all surfaces of the violin, including the strings, fingerboard, and bridge. Rosin is pineapple from a tree that, in its clean state, is rubbed on the hair of the violin bow to grab the strings and make them speak. Mr. Whitson also had me clean the resin from the wooden part of my bow. I wanted to protect the instrument from sticky resin damage. He taught each of his students the discipline of taking care of their instruments. It’s about discipline.

Many years ago, when I was a student in New York City, I loaned my violin to a friend when her instrument was being repaired. When he brought me my violin after a week, it was covered in sticky resin all over it! It took me several hours to clean my violin. My ex-friend had not been taught the discipline of taking care of her violin. I should have brought my violin cleaner than when I had given it to him!

For more than 30 years, I have taught my string students the discipline of cleaning their instruments.

Part of the discipline is teaching our children to wash their hands and dry off after going to the bathroom. Harvard Medical School says, “In studies, washing hands with soap and water for 30 seconds decreased bacterial counts by about 99.9%.” They also say, “It takes about 20 seconds to dry your hands thoroughly if you’re using paper or cloth towels. It’s all about training and discipline!

What new discipline will you start today?

Take the challenge for a day!

Here are five tips: Try one of them!

1) You have a large pile of papers on your desk. Get your papers in order, file your information documents in the correct folders, and pay your bills according to the due dates on them.

2) Immediately after cooking dinner, put pots and pans in the sink to soak in warm soapy water. In this way, you can quickly and easily clean up after eating.

3) Eat one scoop of ice cream instead of two.

4) Stop smoking cigarettes for a day.

5) As you run out of certain foods in your refrigerator, write down each food you need on a notepad. Then take your list to the grocery store.

Remember, discipline is meeting some goal you have and not finding excuses for not finishing homework. Don’t procrastinate. To be disciplined you have to take the first step. Don’t just talk about it. Should. Take your first step. Then take the second step and continue until you complete what you started.

It’s about discipline!