The Power of Song

When it comes to music, I am a little bit of a paradox. Were you to ask me how important music is to me, I would say that it is more of an accent than anything. I have always said that people always seem to be either a movie person or a music person, and I have always been the former. I am hard pressed to remember band names, and while they can be enjoyable, concerts are certainly not the first thing that I think of to go enjoy myself. In fact, I am more likely to attribute a particular song to a movie or show than I am to acknowledge it or the artist on their own.

Strangely, there are certain aspects where music is incredibly important to me, and in those arenas, it is nearly vital. The area? Expression. I am not sure that there is anything quite like music when it comes to being able to say exactly what is going on in someone's head or heart. The only comparison that I can see in accurately expressing humanity and our plethora of emotions is poetry, and lets face it, in modern society, music is far more popularly accessible, and therefore a stronger medium with most people.

Even within the realm of expression, I differ from many people when it comes to music. I know many people feel the music itself as an expression. They can attribute songs to an emotion, person, thought based solely on the notes that are included. Some people even control their emotions through this. An ex of mine would listen to angry music to get over anger. It didn't matter what the song was so long as the tone was angry. I completely diverge from this.

For me, the power of songs is totally in the lyrics. This may not be completely surprising considering my love of language and literature, but the truth of the statement is deep indeed. I cannot love a song without being moved by the words. This is not to say that a fun, flippant song can't have good lyrics. If that is the song's goal and its lyrics work towards that end it totally works for me.

As I mentioned, I count on music very rarely, but in the instances I do it is imperative. I think the stronger emotions that are involved in something, the more music comes into play. Powerful emotions like love and anger always seem to find their way into musical expression. This is a great thing. I think that people often need to let out things that their own words cannot do alone. Even someone who is a master of words cannot sometimes express what comes internally. Songs do that in a way that is completely universal. A song can tell us what is inside, and more importantly it can tell it to someone else.

Some of the most moving moments that I have had with friends and lovers is when our situation is expressed in song. In a relationship, I think that sometimes things that can't seem to be effectively communicated can come so much more clearly through a song. A fast way to my heart is to indicate that a song truly says what you feel, and mean it.

Perhaps my love of music in these situations is simply another example of my love of communication between people. When your own words aren't enough find a song that sets the mood and says your words for you. I think that we can never find too many ways to express ourselves, especially with those we care about. Sharing a song with another can be an incredibly intimate and wonderful thing if both parties put thought into what is really there. And who can complain with drawing people closer together?

Telling the Universe You Are Ready

A while back a friend of mine mentioned something that I think is both profound and accurate. He was talking about his business and how he kept saying that he wanted more clients, but that now that he thought about it, he didn't really do anything to tell the universe that was what he really wanted. In his example, he mentioned that he didn't have his workroom setup to actually be the way he wanted to present it to clients. He wasn't saying that people were turning away, but that his presentation didn't really open himself up to the possibility of getting what he wanted.

The universe has a way of giving us things whether we want them or not. People, events, opportunities all float in and out of our lives all the time. It often times seems as though we have no control over this, but following this line of thinking, that isn't entirely true. It certainly has its merits, and more importantly some evidence to back it up. You are far more likely to receive something if you open yourself up to it as much as possible.

You can get philosophical or theological to try and create explanations, but in truth it doesn't matter. Whether you think it is divine intervention, fate, chance, or simply a human ability either to draw things to us, it doesn't really matter. For those truly wanting to be clinical about it, perhaps the phenomenon is nothing other than the more open we are as people to a possibility, the more likely we are to recognize it. Maybe it would have been there regardless, but if you aren't prepped, we will just miss it.

I am not just talking about thinking that you want something. This idea is that you actually take steps to open yourself up to what you want. Taken another way, consider the "If you build it, they will come" idea. Want to find someone to share your bed with, but have a twin? Not so much. Want to travel internationally but still don't have your passport? Not being open. The idea is that whatever you want, you should make yourself as available to it as possible. Don't think that you will do something when you get what you want, do what you will do when you have such things, and then they will be more likely to come to you.

Of the examples I gave, I like playing with the passport one the best. If you have always wanted to leave the country, you certainly don't need your passport until you actually plan a trip. The idea is that by having it you are telling yourself, your sub conscious, and the universe itself that you are serious about what you want, and you are ready to seize it the moment the opportunity comes along. Out of the blue someone could ask you to go to London with them, and that is one less concern you would have.

I think that we should always try and think about what we want in our lives most. I think that the thought does help you recognize opportunities, and it also helps create those chances. Taking that a step further and thinking about ways in which we can "prepare" ourselves for exactly what it is that we are wanting at that time, the more likely we are to obtain what we so fervently desire.

Dallas, cuisine, country, & love

I am a bit behind in writing this to be sure, but the thoughts are still there, so I figured I better get down to it.

Last week I went to Dallas to visit a friend of mine, and get out of town to clear my head a bit. I don't really think that anything got resolved, frankly thoughts kept revolving around two different aspects of my life that kept me from having the kind of escape that I wanted, but it was still a good time. I am not the kind of guy to fill pages up with a series of events, but a few interesting things did happen that I should note (all this is of course excepting the concert which I already talked about, but which was indeed the highlight of the trip).

Just to lay it out there, I am not sure if I picked the bad time to visit, or what, but Dallas was CRAZY! Some of the worst storms they have seen in a long time, hours of traffic in directions people swear there shouldn't be any, oh yes, and to top it all off, Dallas caught on fire before I left. I call that timing. Ok. On to the actual experiences!

I went to this restaurant called Texas de Brazil, and it was AMAZING! I bring this up only to comment on how fantastic it was, as well as put out there that I was able to try some new things, which has become a rarity of late. I don't regularly come across something that is completely new. If you ever have the chance to try one of these restaurants (apparently there are several) I highly recommend it. The buffet alone was incredible, providing a veritable feast including… wait for it… heart of palm, which is indeed the inside of a palm tree. I never even knew that they were edible. Quite tasty indeed. After delighting myself there with everything from salad to lobster bisque, the "real meal" started. There are these little cards that you flip to the green side when you want meat brought to your table, red when you are done. And boy did they bring some great things. There were several types of chicken, beef, ham, lamb, etc. all cooked completely differently and for the most part were quite tasty.

Alright, enough food talk. I found myself making an interesting discovery. I have been down and out a little on real relationships lately, and strangely there was little coming my way even among people I knew to reaffirm my faith in love. Where I found this affirmation turned out to be none other than a country bar. Yep, that's right. Going in there with my friends was interesting, and not because of the music. Though it is not on my playlist constantly, I do mix in some country from time to time, and really enjoyed a lot of the songs they were playing. What set me back was the fact that I felt like one of the only single people at the bar. Normally at a bar, gay or straight, I would say the vast majority of people there are single, either appeasing their boredom or looking to meet people. That's what single people do. The random couples out to hang out with their friends are greatly minimalized by the loners surrounding them. This bar, the ratio was completely reversed.

It took me a while to figure out exactly why that was, but I can think of a few good reasons. The least of such reasons being that there were 3 other bars on the same street that were boasting the cream of the singles crop. Even putting that aside, I realized that country bars actually lend themselves to couples. Unless it's a line dance or someone just being silly on their own, the vast majority of country dances are partnered. There are tons of things that you can do two-stepping, or four-stepping, and really you can dance all night just like that- if you are with someone else. A partner is mandatory. Given the closeness of these dances, strangers or even friends doing them together is somewhat rare, so when the dance floor is full, couples abound. Seeing as I was visiting another state and not looking for anyone for other reasons anyway, I decided just to be social. Talking to so many of the people there, listening to their stories, watching them dance with one another really reminded me that real relationships exist, and they do work.

So many times, we look at the people around us and only hear of the bad things. Who broke up with who, whose heart is broken, etc. We forget to celebrate the successes of those people that stay together for a long time or even forever. I have two friends passing their fourth year together, and no one ever really mentioned their relationship. Only when they started having troubles did the discussions ever come up. Looking on a world scale it is even worse. Think of the "sweetheart couples," the ones that seem to capture everyone's hearts. Think about how much press, thought, and time are given them when they are together. Now think about those that have broken up. It seems like the pinnacle of relationships was magnified within them, but only apparent to us after they have crashed and burned. So many bad relationships, and people bouncing around trying to find what they want and need, and all we hear is the bad.

No wonder people get bitter and jaded. We no longer live in a world where survival depends upon finding a mate. To me it seems that such circumstances would make it so that those who come together are happier, and yet the world would like us to think that it is not so. For me, I was thankfully reminded that while the world can look dark at times, it may only take a trip to the nearest country bar to realize that there is a lot of light too.