Some things will never be the same…
Like mixed tapes for instance. They, whoever they are, can try to bring them back with their deep desire for nostalgia, but we all know how ridiculous they really are. You have to take the cassette out of its trendy little sony walkman or the vintage tape player that your mom pulled out from the back of her closet, and flip it over for five, maybe six more songs until you have to flip it again. Not to mention that the majority of the time it’s all the same artist you have to listen to unless say it’s a soundtrack or worse, “best of” mix. Then there’s fast-forwarding and rewinding if a song is one you love/hate. If you lived during the time period when cassettes or cd’s or even 8tracks were THE thing then you know how amazing Spotify or other music sources are. The amount of music available is astounding, if not overwhelming. I cannot even imagine being a passionate teenager fueled by music nowadays. I’d feel so overwhelmed by the vastness of choices. How could I ever really get to know an artist like I did Janet Jackson or the Cure when there are so many artists to listen to? Back in my day (read in a deep grandfather, “I told you so” voice) I spent all my money on music, pickles, grab bags, and candy. I was a strange kid. I’d ride my bicycle for miles to the record store (it was still called that then even though very few records were sold, if any.) and spend an hour or more trying to decide how to spend the ten dollars I had. The new R.E.M. tape? or new Maxwell blank tapes to make my friends mixes? or risk it all on a new to me artist like Dinosaur Jr? Life was simple. Less was all we had and we didn’t know any different. The cereal aisle at the grocery store was tiny, colored television was still amazing, and the world felt huge.
From the 1990’s Fast forward to 2018 I am thinking about the mixed tape now called a playlist that I would make for my friends to say goodbye to 2018 and the mix I would make to welcome the new year.
The first song that comes to mind when I think of 2018:
Goodbye Stranger. From there I will leave you the mix I put together that sums up how I feel about 2018 and the playlist for the start of 2019!
What song would best sum up 2018 for you? What song do you want to lead you into 2019? I am still looking/listening for my 2019 song.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year filled with whatever you need to feel your best.
While I’ve never ever been big on New Year’s resolutions or a “word” to guide me through the new year, this year I am making a list of things I want to focus on, call them resolutions or whatever you want to call them, I feel like I need the guidance more than ever this year. I need to make this a good year and I know I am responsible for trying my best to do so, starting with a list, however cliché it might be. Sometimes we get to a point in life (I am picturing my life as a GPS map with a pinpoint to where I am) where we need guidance. That’s where I am, standing here, list in hand, looking up to whoever is in control of my navigation system and saying “help me”. Guide me. Guide me through creating more structure in my days, through meditation, art, photography, eating better, shutting up more, listening, reading, being present, and however else you can guide me to get me out of this rut that I feel stuck in.
Everything will be okay as soon as you are okay with everything. And that’s the only time everything will be okay.” - Michael Singer
from the untethered soul - which I am reading and loving. I plan on starting it over as soon as I finish the few chapters I have left.
In other news… In case you didn’t know, I do have a new workshop starting very, very soon.
I will post a new lesson each day for 30 days to get your inspired. Here’s to starting the new year off right! :) 30 days. 30 lessons. 30 minutes each day.
My past workshops are still available for another year, some at half price.
After this workshop I hope/plan to do a couple other new and fun things that I will share with you as soon as they are a little further in the works.
Burning the Old Year
BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
Letters swallow themselves in seconds.
Notes friends tied to the doorknob,
transparent scarlet paper,
sizzle like moth wings,
marry the air.
So much of any year is flammable,
lists of vegetables, partial poems.
Orange swirling flame of days,
so little is a stone.
Where there was something and suddenly isn’t,
an absence shouts, celebrates, leaves a space.
I begin again with the smallest numbers.
Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,
only the things I didn’t do
crackle after the blazing dies.
