What is self-made success?

What is Self-made success?

One day, I overheard a question asked our then-teenaged daughter by her friend's mother; “Who taught you to play the piano so beautifully?
Having listened to our three children practice each afternoon while I cooked supper, and hearing our daughter play classical pieces, and always feeling so grateful that I had been able to teach each to play, and grateful each had taken on the needed practice, my ears perked up for her answer to this mother’s question.

“I taught myself,” was her answer.  
My ego felt a bit deflated.
Yet, indeed, through her practice, she had learned to play.  While I believed, encouraged (read that, insisted) on daily practice, and I invested time and energy into weekly sit-down lessons with each child, my awareness shifted to gratitude for being that for her.  For without that, she would not have “taught herself.”
Invest in others.
Be a light-worker.
Take the time, energy and effort to do so.

---