Diving for Light, Day 18 - Accepting Gladness

We must risk delight...
We must have the stubbornness
to accept gladness
in the ruthless furnace of this world…
We must admit that there will be music
despite everything.
 - Jack Gilbert, “A Brief for the Defense.”

The other day I found myself laughing uproariously over some absurd thing that was going on in the news. That’s not unusual for me. My reaction, however, was. A month into shelter-in-place orders, with so many people fighting for their lives, I felt a little guilty for finding something funny. Is it still ok to laugh at the world? For that matter, is it still ok to enjoy the pleasures of life - food, sex, the beauty of spring outdoors?

Is there anything more comforting than chicken soup?

Resoundingly, “yes.”

​There are certain fundamental things that make us human, that keep us going, that provide joy and gladness even in the darkest of times. Everyone has the right to be delighted. All is right with our souls, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, when these elements are present.

Music is one of the most important of these. I say this not because I am a musician, but because it is simply true. There are so many historical examples of the power of the music keeping us human in the darkest of times. I think back to Christmas in the Trenches in WW1, where German and English soldiers put down their guns on Christmas Eve to sing together across enemy lines, and then to celebrate Christmas together before resuming the horrors of trench war. I think of the beautiful music and compositions that came out of the Nazi death camps from condemned Jewish composers. And just recently, so many musicians from every kind of musical genre have come into our homes virtually live - providing a balm for our souls in troubled times yet again. Music speaks where words cannot. 
 
I’m noticing this every day in the teaching of piano lessons to my students online. The connection that we have as humans - adult to child, adult to adult, teacher to student, teacher to parent, even, is amplified by the music making. I can tell, simply by watching my student’s body language, that they feel better at the end of their lessons. It’s interesting to see them arrive all wiggly at the bench, then physically calm as the lesson progresses. 

Much has been written lately, in far better words than I can provide, about allowing ourselves to grieve, to love, to laugh, to experience life in all its dimensions even while looking death clearly in the face. We must let go of guilt around wanting to be human.  Offer thanks for being alive. Send your love out into the world. If you can, make music. But above all, live every day as a fully human being. 

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Exercise to Try:
Brushing your Aura
 
This exercise is about waking up your felt sense, or, in other words, about experiencing yourself as a unified being, mind and body. 
 

• Standing, shake out your body from head to toe. 
• Using a cupped or flat hand, pat yourself all over - front, back, arms, legs, head, feet.
• Massage a bit where you know your muscles get tight.
• Feel your feet on the floor and notice the sensations in your body. 
• Now, from the ground up, take both your hands and “fluff up your aura” - bring your hands up through the air a few inches away from your body as if you were fluffing up your hair. Work up your body, front and back, legs and arms, until you get to your head. 
• Do the same thing on the way down, “brushing” any tension you find into the ground.
• Stand quietly and notice how you feel.