Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness

In my profession, I sit down too much I think.  It is the one aspect of this job that doesn't align with my nature.  Today I felt the familiar restlessness early in the day as I sat under the fluorescent lighting in the insipid cubicle.  Then I remembered my iPod and put it on.  Instantly my senses shifted gears and my awareness was transported away.  Music has the magical ability to take you elsewhere and revive you.  It can make a day otherwise dull into one of reclaiming oneself, restoration and realignment.   

One moment I was dancing on a rooftop overlooking the Aegean sea with the warmth of the setting sun on my face as I stepped in easy rhythm with an exquisite woman, the Flamenco band playing and the smell of the sea carried to me on the gentle wind.  The next moment I am immersed in the jostle of a packed stadium rattling and humming as the adored Irish rock band cry out that they still haven't found what they're looking for.  Quickly the urge to be elsewhere abates. 

More on music...

When I first moved to California, a lot seemed alien and I felt out of sorts with my environment because I was locked in by my limiting beliefs and assumptions of American culture.  For weeks I wondered if I could bear living here without sliding into loneliness and further isolation.  Then one day I picked up a CD at a music street vendor whose uplifting achingly beautiful music I had heard playing .  I went home to my rather spartan apartment and played the CD in my DVD player, the resident emptiness was replaced by the ambience of the music.  The shift was quite remarkable.  I knew then that I would be OK living the next few years in California, because right there was evidence that I could create my experience despite my circumstances. I was more in charge of my life and reality than I thought.