Living The Life You Want

Music's Magic

What do Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Del Amitri's Roll To Me and Duncan Sheik's Barely Breathing have in common? 

A few minutes ago they all powered through my home speakers via Pandora Radio, the Internet-based service that lets anyone program their own radio station. 

More significantly, they got me to appreciating what a remarkable gift the world receives from those with the ability to create music.  As the former head of communications for a major music company, it's not the first time I've had this revelation.

But music is so ubiquitous in our lives, it's easy to overlook what our existence would be like without it: no Handel's Messiah, no Pachelbel's Canon in D minor, no Frank Sinatra's version of New York, New York, no Beatles' I Saw Her Standing There, no Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling.  The crazy thing is, there's a million more songs that have touched all of us in some meaningful way, if only by getting our toes tapping and helping us feel just a little bit lighter.

The infinite number of ways artists compose notes, chords, vary rhythms and find interesting ways to accompany the sound with lyrics leaves me in awe at human ability.  Just as impressive, all of these artists at some point decided what they felt, what they had in their head, what they wanted to express, was worthy of being heard by others. 

Thanks to all of them for risking rejection and allowing the world to discover their gifts.  Every day we are more satisfied in our own lives because of their courage.

What courageous act can you make to help the world be just a little bit better?

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I was flipping around some ideas for a holiday entry and decided to share lyrics from a classic Christmas song, written by Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in 1945.  "Let It Snow" is about love and living in the moment.  And life doesn't get any better than that.  Happy holidays.

Let It Snow

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But your smile is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It doesn't show signs of stopping,
And I've bought some corn for popping,
The lights are turned way down low,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

When we finally kiss goodnight
How I'll hate going out in the storm.
But if you really hold me tight
All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dying
And, my dear, we're still good-byeing,
But as long as you love me so
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

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The End

I don't have a clue why, but I found myself thinking about the Beatles having ended their union almost 40 years ago and somehow the lyrics to "The End" popped into my head.  They're worth remembering:

"In the end, the love you take
Is equal to the love you make ..."

--Lennon and McCartney

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The Impossible Dream

As I sat down to write, I had one of those moments when something truly inexplicable enters our thoughts from nowhere.  In this case, it was the a line from "The Impossible Dream", a hit song from the musical Man of La Mancha.  The reason this is inexplicable is because I always associate the song with with a cheese-tastic, too-earnest performance by Robert Goulet (remember him?).  But taking advantage of the instant Internet, I followed my curiosity and found the lyrics, written by Joe Darion (music was by Mitch Leigh), to be a bit of an inspiration for living a more meaningful life: 

To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.

To right the unrightable wrong,
To love pure and chaste from afar,
To try when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star.

This is my quest,
To follow that star --
No matter how hopeless,
No matter how far.

To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march
Into hell for a heavenly cause.

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will be peaceful and calm
when I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,
That one man scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star.

A good lesson in staying open to our intuition.

http://petroskey.typepad.com

 

Beginner's Mind

In Philip Toshio Sudo's Zen Guitar, he brings the insights of Eastern philosophy to one of the most popular instruments of the West.  In a chapter exploring the concept of working with "beginner's mind," he writes the following:

"Here is where you start:  Play one note on one string and pour in every ounce of your heart and soul.  Then repeat.

"On a technical level, any beginner can do this.  The challenge is one of spirit.  The idea is the same as the tennis coach who instructs beginners to hit the ball as hard as they can with no concern for whether the ball lands in court or not.  First learn the feeling of hitting the ball hard; worry about accuracy later.

"If you can't play what you hear, then hear what you play.  The intensity of your effort should be the same as if you were shouting from your gut at the waves crashing ashore.  Martial arts call this kind of shout katsu.  Katsu is the roar of a person who knows what it means to be alive."

Responsibilities Along The Way

In a previous post, I referenced Zen Guitar, a book in which Philip Toshio Sudo discusses Zen philosophy as way to properly approach playing our most popular instrument and in the process provides a a meditation on living a life of purpose, contemplation and harmony.

To develop a mindset for properly pursuing what he calls the Way of Zen Guitar, he suggests we must accept five responsibilities:

A responsibility to yourself.  Apply yourself and develop your talent to the fullest capacity, without excuses.

A responsibility to your talent.  Put your talent to good use, not to bad, in the service of something outside yourself, and do nothing to waste it.

A responsibility to your art.  Express your song truthfully, in the face of all opposition.

A responsibility to your audience.  Respect those who come to you with open ears and foster a sense of community.

A responsibility to the Way.  Act as sensei (a teacher) to those who sincerely seek to find their own path, and share with them what you know to be true.  The Way is for everyone.

According to Sudo, to abidcate even one of these responsibilities puts you at odds with the Way of Zen Guitar, which ultimately represents the most meaningful life.

Seize The Day

When my wife and I were dating in the mid-'90s, Christian music singer-songwriter Carolyn Arends caught our attention with a beautiful, heartfelt inspiration called Seize The Day.  I was thinking about the song and realized it captures the spirit of what I hope for readers of this blog:

I know a girl who was schooled in Manhattan
She reads dusty books and learns phrases in Latin
She is an author, or maybe a poet
A genius, but it's just this world doesn't know it
She works on her novel most every day
If you laugh, she will say

Chorus:
Seize the day, seize whatever you can
'Cause life slips away just like hourglass sand
Seize the day, pray for grace from God's hand
Then nothing will stand in your way
Seize the day

Well I know a doctor, a fine young physician
Left his six-figure job for a mission position
He's healing the sick in an African clinic
He works in the dirt and writes home to the cynics
He says "We work through the night so most every day
As we watch the sun rise we can say

(Chorus)

Well I know a man who's been doing some thinking
He's as bitter and cold as the whiskey he's drinking
He's talking 'bout fear, about chances not taken
If you listen to him you can hear his heart breaking
He says "One day you're a boy and the next day you're dead
I wish way back when someone had said

(Chorus)

Well one thing I've noticed, wherever I wander
Everyone's got a dream he can follow or squander
You can do what you will with the days you are given
I'm trying to spend mine on the business of living
So I'm singing my songs off of any old stage
You can laugh if you want, I'll still say

Chorus:
Seize the day, seize whatever you can
'Cause life slips away just like hourglass sand
Seize the day, pray for grace from God's hand
Then nothing will stand in your way
Seize the day

Master Musicians On Leaving A Legacy

I came across a couple of quotes from master musicians Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton separately ruminating in their own way on leaving a legacy:

"Whether you are in the bar, the church, the strip joint or the Himalayas, the first duty of music is to complement and enhance life."

Carlos Santana

"I think musicians, as they grow older, usually become interested in doing something more lasting ... You've just got to settle down and make everything count, and make sure it's worthy of being heard again, not just a throwaway."

Eric Clapton

Are you contributing and making every moment enduring?