How to Listen to Music

Here’s a recommendation on how to listen to music. Just before twilight, open all the windows of your room. Put on your favourite music and curl up in a comfortable chair. Slowly, purple rays will float in. The music will seep into your bones along with the darkness. Finally, when the darkness is all there is, savour the silence. When you’re ready, put the lights back on and ease yourself softly back into reality.

That’s how my dad and I listened to music when I was a kid. Out of all my memories of him, this will remain my favourite.

Laugh Like You're Mad

I find that singing along to my favourite music at the top of my voice every morning is a great way to start the day. That it is a good idea to put down a funny book every now and then during its reading and laugh out loud for five minutes. Ditto with a movie. To grin widely while experiencing anything wonderful. Not hold anything back.

In the words of Jewel (one of my favourite musicians), “We’re going to be alright as long as we laugh, laugh like we’re mad, because this crazy mixed up beauty’s all that we have.”

A Passionate Life

Most people (maybe even me) don’t have enough passion—the ability to be so deeply moved by something that it scars your very being. To feel, for that instant, that life is perfect. To be so overwhelmed that you think you’ll burst. To say that I can take anything because I have this.

Passion requires an open mind that will allow new thoughts and experiences without chaining them down by prejudices and beliefs. So I try. I can’t see how much I fail, but I do know how much I succeed. And each time I succeed, the reward is bountiful.

I Envy

People I would love to be and thereby envy:

Musicians—to sing and play an instrument, solo or part of a grand orchestra
Writers—to twist and bend words into shapes and forms to make the breath stop awhile
Astronomers—to gaze at the stars and understand a universe pure and clean
Astronaut—to take a new vantage point and realise how grand the grander scheme is
Dancers—to endow your body with deserving grace
Mountain climbers—to breathe rarefied air and know it doesn’t get any better than this
Painters—to stir the soul with a swirl of colors

Missing the Poetry

Some of my friends are preparing for their M.A. Literature exams and it’s making me nostalgic. I was never a great fan of studying like most kids in school or college aren’t. Education is wasted on the very young. I flitted through my M.A. course with my eyes half-closed. So I’ve got my degree but I didn’t learn much. I wish I had. I’ve figured out learning can provide immense pleasure.

I feel tempted at times to sign up for a course. But my life seems so busy already. I think I’ll at least buy a few books of poetry.

The Perfect Weekend

My idea of a perfect weekend is at a secluded beach not too far away spent in the company of a friend who will not impose conversation on me. We’d stock the car with music, books, and an overnight bag. We’d walk on the sand and play in the water when the air is cool. For the rest, we would lie on hammocks or lounge in wide, comfortable chairs letting the sea breeze play on our faces, while we read book after another. Then we’d drive back home, dusk sweeping its way inside the car to mingle with the music.

Catch Up

Do you ever feel like you’re playing a losing game of catch up with life? I do, all the time. I plan, and order, and rearrange so that I can feel calm and content. But sooner or later, life throws something unexpected at me. Small or big, I must find a way to accommodate the new demands life is constantly making of me.

While I’m doing that, the things I really want to do get pushed aside and I find my dreams slowly slipping away. It’s time again to give life a good shake—to plan, and order, and rearrange.