May | 2012 | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the month “May, 2012”

08 May 2012

Your Life’s Song

Can music come down to just 6 songs? Can it be that simple? What is your one most special song in your life?

I am reading “The World In Six Songs” by Daniel Levlin. It takes a small jump to understand that there are some fundamental ways that songs communicate: songs of friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love. There seems to be a pre-historic yet beautiful process at play when we sing and dance at weddings, cheer at a concert, or just emerge ourselves privately on headphones full of music.

Just the other day my wife had mentioned how emotional she would get at certain times in our lives when she would listen to music. Not just one particular song or artist, but music itself. Why can a song make you cry in a matter of seconds? Like all of our senses, we trigger emotions ( and memories) around songs that emit emotion and intensity.

With so much music in my life, I can tell you that there are a lot of emotions tied to those songs that make the journey like a soundtrack in my life. Even if I forget they exist, as soon as I hear them it paints a picture and derives and emotion that is unique.

My daughter once asked me that “if I had to pick a theme song” that would be the song for the start of the movie of my life, what would it be? Oh man, that is such a hard one.. is it for you? Do you have that significant song that says it all to capture the important emotions of your life? No, not that song you can’t get out of your head (earwig songs Stephen King called them). No, not just the song played at your wedding or graduation party. But the song that has meaning because it is therapeutic, or bonds you with a moment or a cause, or bridges the emotions that you struggle with.

What is your song?

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Emotion, Favorite Song, Music, Personal Soundtrack, Theme music

04 May 2012

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Time Travels Forward, Are You?

Choose: Forward, Backward, Standing Still.

That is what one of my bosses years ago used to say. Either you are making forward progress, looking backward, or you are standing still (side to side is still standing still).

Forward motion is desirable it so it would seem, most the time. The movement is your life’s path, the path that will end when we meet that fateful day somewhere in the unpredictable future. Some days however it is an inch by inch progression forward, other days it can move miles ahead. And then there are those days that seem like things are standing still – even that can be welcomed. No change, no bad news, no good things either- but that could be just what is needed. But generally forward progress keeps pushing you on…

Looking backwards on life’s path is educational, there may be times and places that you want to return to in your life, but time only moves forward (unless you are in one of those wild time travel movies). You have to learn from your past, but you cannot return to it even if you try, it will always be different from it was as time has made it so.

You may be like some of my younger friends who are in a hurry to move things along. For them it is almost urgent that things change at the fastest pace possible. Running toward the future can be healthy, but it can mean you have the chance to miss some genuinely great experiences along the way, or run into things that can stop you cold. Other times it can feel like you could be running to the end to the end of the path (end of life) much too quickly. I have had close friends that were like that… like almost in a self-destructive way they would do whatever it would take to rush the day along by drinking it way, or smoking it away, even sleeping it away. ( play “Working for the Weekend” song here for the soundtrack)

There are people I know that really want to make things stand still in their lives. No changes. Like being in a comfort-zone, enveloped in a place the is safe. While moving forward for others is urgent, these people are some that are urgently hoping for things to not change…like they are dependant on it. Co-dependant with the lack of change, years later frustrated , they ask themselves “what happened”? Since time and progress was moving all around them. They can’t get that time back, others in forward motion have passed them by, and they start looking backward. Which is never going to be the same as it was. Of course the best choice is forward, but after so long it is hard.

I can tell you as I grow older there is comfort in having those slow, unchangeable days where progress forward is almost a stand-still. But progress forward is good… spiritually, mentally, physically, intellectually. There is always time to grow.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Change, choices, comfort zone, experiences along the way, Forward Progress, life is precious, Reality Check, self, Time, tracks in the dust

02 May 2012

Just Because You Should, Doesn’t Mean You Will

Just because you should, doesn’t mean you will.

Okay so this is the follow up to my previous post Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should.

I find myself in this situation very often. There is a list of things I should do. Many of them are things that would make me a better person, others are just things that I know would be nice to accomplish for what my dad used to say “the good of the order.” There are plenty of excuses as to reasons why I can’t (see my post The Scale of Accountability). There are many reasons that I just put things off. When I was young my dad also used to say that I was definitely a “pro-crastinator” on some things– as opposed to an amateur one I guess.

But besides putting things off or just finding excuses, I find that when I reflect on everything I have done at the end of each day, there are several things that got in the way. I let them I suppose, or I prioritized them way down the list when I shouldn’t. They get relegated to “tomorrow” stuff… or put on the weekend list. That’s just going to happen because there are only so many hours in the day left over after work and sleep and eating.

Something’s may just be simple things to do, but when piled up together they are like a bunch of pieces of a puzzle that look difficult to assemble. Some of those things need more time- more quality time, or more concentration than my brain-cells have to offer. Yet others may be things that are not that desirable to have to do in the first place, and then that too weighs on the decision to do them.

Sure there are chores, house repairs, detailed cleaning, running the errands of the day, paying bills, corresponding with emails and messages from friends and family, and so many other things that seem to “task” the lists. What easily gets pushed farther aside is the focus that I need to keep grounded in what is truly important… and that alone seems to get pushed around on the “to do” list.

At the end of it all- doing what is important to feed yourself spiritually should be at the top of the list. For me that would be spending time in the Word. It may be just meditating on the positive things that I should be sharing with the people around me. It may just be sitting down with my family and enjoying each other’s company, or with my wife and longtime partner in this journey…taking time to really know how her day went or what she is feeling today.

There I go then… things I should do… but don’t get to. Even examining the things that get in the way is an entry on my “to do” list. If you use Excel spreadsheets- I envision it to the error message for a “circular reference” – put on the to-do list to clear the to-do list.

I will get to it soon!

Nope. Maybe right now… how about you?