25. Music keeps me going

Today I was not feeling very well. To keep me going in the tasks I had to do, I used music. I was listening to music on my iPod and singing (very off key) to keep me going through sweeping and manure shovelling. It definitely works. When I listen to music, I focus on the music, not on discomfort or the dreariness of the task at hand. It's like the beat in the music tells my body to keep going and not lie down on the ground and sleep. It pushes me forward and keeps me going.

Making music is also rejuvenating. Usually, playing the flute or the drums makes me more happy and harmonious. It's like there is something inside me that is fighting to get out. It can take different forms when it finally gets out of me. I could improvise on the flute, write a melody or a song, paint a picture, write a poem, write a story (though that hardly ever happens), or take photographs. I am sure there are many other creative outlets I could use, but these were the ones that sprang to mind.

I reflected over it today: what would I do if I was stranded on a desert island? No music, no books, no internet. Of course, first I would make it a priority to make or get the things that would keep me alive. Then I think I would eventually find the music of the nature around me. The waves beating the shore with an unsteady rhythm. The sound of the wind in the trees. The sounds of the living creatures, singing me to sleep and waking me up. Then I would discover the stories the island had to tell. I would probably flesh them out in my imagination, but I would discover signs, like small notes passed in a classroom. An old notch in a tree, a broken branch, patterns in the sand, signs of creatures going about their business. I would begin to piece it all together, in a great tapestry of life where everything has its place and order. I would eventually fit myself into the big artwork the island would be, and live in relative harmony with nature there.

At least this is what I hope would happen. I know I am not as open to the music of life and nature as I should be, but I hope I will be someday. I wish I could greet every creature as my brother, and live with nature instead of battling nature was much as I do now. My dream is to feel at peace and one with nature. I hope I will continue on that journey my whole life. It's the journey that matters. Not the final destination.

Books read: 18
Pages read: 4852