Warble practice
A juvenile magpie was learning to talk this morning.
Not to me exactly. Just near me.
Testing sounds. Getting them wrong. Trying again.
No hesitation. No self-consciousness. Just repetition offered to the air.
Hours later, I hear the warble again.
The same phrase looping through the afternoon.
Patient. Unpolished. Unfinished.
We wait until we're ready.
Until the conditions align.
Until we're sure we won't embarrass ourselves.
The bird just practises.
Not for applause.
Not for progress reports.
Not because anyone is watching.
Mastery lives in the loops no one sees.
What would you keep doing even if no one ever noticed?
A magpie practises its song without an audience or applause. Mastery lives in the repetitions no one sees.
