warm beating heart, generous soul

"Come on now darling let's shake off these blues
I'll let my hair down and you take off your shoes
I feel like a baby, new born in the spring
I'm setting down this sadness and I won't remember it!"
- Coachella, by Brooke Fraser


The song talks about when the singer went to the famous music concert in California, Coachella. She sings "We're daughters, sons, brothers, and sisters tonight at Coachella." I've never been to that concert, but I know what she means. There are times when I've joined in with a crowd of strangers for a musical event and suddenly we're linked together because of our shared love for the music, the art, the artist; every sound and sense of those few hours. We've come from all over just for that time. Just for that experience. The notes are piercing and the lyrics enter our hearts. "I'm a warm beating heart, you're a generous soul, and I love you though I've never met you before."


I love the singer's bold and certain statement: "I'm setting down this sadness and I won't remember it!" There are things that can do that: things that can help us fold our worries up like a heavy cloak and set them down while we let ourselves be wrapped up instead in something beautiful. Music can certainly do that. I can be in any kind of mood - sad, angry, despondent, anything - and when a song comes on the radio that lifts me up or touches my heart I can turn up the volume and sing along and set everything else aside for a little while. For others, it might be something like dance, or art, or the company of loved ones, or running, or cooking. Things that heal and mend, because in setting our perspective on something better it allows us to step back for a moment and refocus.

Because music means so much to me, I decided long ago that it was something I would be willing to spend money on over many other things. Some people prefer to eat out at expensive restaurants or buy name brand clothes. Me, I'd rather go to concerts and buy music. Of course, there have been times when I've stood in line for an hour, or been jostled by crowds, or had incredibly sore feet by the end of the evening but there's always that moment when I loose myself to the music and the fact that I'm there united with dozens or hundreds or other people who are there nodding and humming and smiling right along with me, a sea of faces all tipped towards the stage, mesmerized, which makes it all worth it. It would have been easier to stay home and watch TV, to not have spent the money on a ticket and waited in line and stood in the midst of a sweaty crowd. But then again it would have been easier for the singer to stay home too, and never have gone to Coachella and never have written a song about it. Sometimes doing something that is a little more challenging can bring about something wonderful, like stepping away from one's sadness and gaining a better perspective.  So come on my darling, let's shake off these blues. Do something that makes you set down your sadness. Do something that makes you feel a little more vibrantly alive. Then share it with someone else, love. I'm a warm beating heart, you're a generous soul, and that in itself can carry us as far as we let it.