Sounds of the city

Keys-check, water bottle-check, gym bag-check.
Placing the shiny white headphones into each ear one at a time, I press play and am off.
With Jason Mraz, Kylie and Owl City all giving me a private concert on the move, I am transported into my own world once again. Sometimes, without being able to physically contain myself, my mouth opens and the songs spill out to become a part of the bustling city.
I smile.
There was something familiar about the first few drops of rain that evening which nonchalantly splashed onto my face. My first reaction is always to stand and be still. I love the sound as the water meets the ground with a dull thud. Mid song, I remove the headphones and listen, suddenly becoming acutely aware of everything around me – The all-encompassing hum of cars and vans echo from miles around, a pair of high heeled shoes canter past, a plane flies overhead followed by the whir of helicopter blades slicing through the dark grey sky. The deep roar of a bike rushes past, leaves rustle in the swirling wind and the manhole cover I walk over clunks loudly. One sound at a time I am carried through the city which is playing the most beautifully chaotic piece.
If I could just listen hard enough, maybe I would also hear every single heartbeat around me. I wish I could hear that. 

We are constantly surrounded by the music of life whether it be our favourite band or a crying baby and it is all perfectly orchestrated, played to perfection.

The second guess

Pick a number, any number and I will tell you what you are thinking…

It can come from a missing text or a silent stare, a status update or a shift in body language.  A million questions are sent flying through our synapses faster than the speed of light all to fill in the missing gaps. What does this mean? What are they thinking? Is it anything or everything to do with me? At the slightest whiff of doubt or missing information, we jump into action and set our minds to work. Racing through a million and one possibilities, we finally come to rest at the one which seems the most logical, unaware that we could be facing in totally the wrong direction.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has ever put 2 and 2 together and come up with E=MC2 to the power of wrong. Who knew that being a mind-reader would be so exhausting?!

We are all so complex and perfectly unique that it is near impossible to see the world through anyone else’s eyes but our own.

… You were thinking of a purple penguin. See, told you I was a mind reader! 

Bricks and brooms

Missiles were launched, glass was shattered and blood fell to the earth. Energy was thrown out with such ferocity, everyone watching felt the fallout. The fires burnt a hole in my heart.

I must have watched hours of footage until that 30 second clip flashed up and gravity sent a tear rolling down my face towards my jaw which was now uncomfortably resting on the floor. Being helped up off the cold pavement, I felt a sense of relief and hope for the bloodied boy. Compassion shone through….then as his bag was unzipped and became a free-for-all, the questions began to escape.

Was there really any hope left? Did everything I believe about human beings really exist at all? Where was the love and brotherhood that I so vehemently champion on a daily basis? I was as dazed and confused as the pixelated face on my TV screen. This really can’t be our fate, can it? I went to bed that night with a deep sense of disillusionment and hurt…completely lost.

Enter stage left, hope.

People began piling onto the streets carrying nothing but brooms and compassionate love. Members of the community started pulling together to help others in any way they could to rebuild what was broken. It was time to support and heal, to connect and grow.

Things have calmed down a lot and the dust is slowly settling. Out of all the craziness of the past week, I am left with one thing. Light will always shine through. Love is the strongest weapon on this planet and we are all fully armed. That’s where hope lies.

To every individual who lost something this week, my love reaches out to you. That is what family is for after all.

You are what you eat

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Eat your crusts; they will put hairs on your chest. Want to see in the dark?  Carrots are the way forward every time…

Flamingos are amazing birds. Their entire appearance is a result of everything they eat. Their beautiful pink plumage is a gift from the algae and small crustaceans they feast upon daily. Watching them now together gracefully lowering their long necks to the cool water I can’t help wondering about how, if food can change one’s physical appearance so dramatically, what happens to the emotions we allow in?

We are acutely aware of only putting the ‘good food’ in our bodies and expect our beings to be automatically vibrant. What we think, we become and sometimes people will feed us a dish made from ingredients of their own insecurity and pain. That’s OK. We can pass on that course and skip straight to dessert if we chose. We don’t have to stay at the table until our plates are clean, having consumed every last morsel.

So I say let’s fill up on the most positive thoughts and feelings about ourselves possible and leave absolutely no room for anything else.   

Swings and roundabouts

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 – Coming ready or not...

All my friends had disappeared into the fast approaching sunset, never to be seen again (unless I looked in the bush and up the tree but why spoil their fun so soon). I remember how long those summer evenings were, stretching into forever.

As adults, we sometimes forget what it was like to be a child and instead, wear our bodies with a heaviness that does nothing to free our spirit. Feeling bogged down by our day jobs and expectations, the brightness and lightness of the real us slowly gets hidden under a layer of dusty conformity.

There is something in the way that children can look at this beautiful world we live in and know, without a single doubt, that every moment holds infinite possibilities. I do think that the little ones might just be onto something. Imagine waking up tomorrow and seeing everything currently in our lives as an amazing opportunity to fly. How freeing would that be!

So when the next challenge pops merrily along, stop for a second and try to see it through different eyes and listen to the inner child. They may be young but they are very wise.

Last one to the tree has to buy the sweets…