Travis Smith: my resume, bio and photos back to the main blog page

A Musical Metaphor

posted at 9:55 pm
on May. 27, 2009

Comments: 1 so far

Permalink

 

Previous entry:
I Will Never Be Bored Again

Next entry:
What’s there to do in Alaska?

Tiredness saps the curiosity from your eyes, and makes each approaching corner seem daunting, not promising. Anger wicks imagination from your thoughts.  Sadness ties itself to your dreams and like concrete kite strings pulls them down into the dirt.

These are the things I’m thinking about tonight: the effects that negative emotions can have on the very things that counteract them; like how having an upset stomach can make you stop eating well, which keeps you from getting the food you need to be healthy and cure your stomach trouble.

As I fight with mono, and with worry about being away from Hop Studios and from decisions that are piling up in Vancouver about where to live and what to do about how I work, I realize how easy it has become for me to start vibrating in synch with the emotions around me, and in turn to influence those emotions with my own worries and concerns.

It doesn’t take much to set a group of people in tune—I think we’re prone to self-tune to each other’s moods and sounds and rhythms.  And if that tune is a minor chord, if it’s a funeral dirge, or if it’s simply discordant—the tune can be hard to change.

That’s why a break, a period of silence, can be so useful and important.  Returning fresh, with a deep breath and a renewed sense of harmony, I hope I can take this opportunity for quiet contemplation to create a resonant environment of emotion, to hum a happy chord, and to have that be the sound that fills the space in which I live and influence the people with whom I interact.

I hope that, returning from this vacation, that I’m able to—to start things off on the right note, and to have that be the music with which I face some of the things I’ve got on my list to do this summer.

So if you see me humming when I get back, you’ll know why.

Overheard

“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”

...who said it?

“Almost every American I know does trade large portions of his life for entertainment, hour by weeknight hour, binge by Saturday binge, Facebook check by Facebook check. I’m one of them. In the course of writing this I’ve watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards and who knows how many more West Wing episodes, and I’ve spent any number of blurred hours falling down internet rabbit holes. All instead of reading, or writing, or working, or spending real time with people I love.”

...who said it?

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”

...who said it?

“I play with variables constantly.”

...who said it?

“Only the person who has learned Continual Love coming from a heart of Gratitude/Worship can effectively deal with the problem of loneliness.”

...who said it?

Comments

 

 

Add a Comment

 

 

Name:


Email: (optional)


URL: (optional)


Submit the word you see below:


 

 

 

Your comment:


Remember my personal info


Email me about follow-ups


 

Syndication Links


Click here for the main
XML feed for this blog.



Column only



Side links only



Quotes only

 

MetaBlogs

AboutBlogs

Clients

Humor

Journalism

Los Angeles

Mac

News

Personal 1

Personal 2

Photos

Politics

Other A-F

Other G-Q

Other R-Z

SocialNetworking

Tech 1

Tech 2

Travel

Vancouver 1

Vancouver 2

Vancouver 3

Vancouver 4

BizBlogs

Back to Main

 

Powered by
Expression Engine

 

Copyright 1995 - 2024 Mar 28

 

 

Want Column?

Enter your email address:


It will NEVER be shared.
Unsubscribe

You can scroll right easily by holding down the SHIFT key and using your scroll wheel. (Firefox users trying this will end up jumping to old Web pages until a) Firefox releases a fix, b) they change their settings like so.)