It is already February, friends, and the past few weeks around here have seen Mother Nature’s mood swings! But the beginning of a new month is a place that I love- the blank calendar pages, maybe birthdays or anniversaries or vacations penciled in the little squares- a space of possibilities.
The past few months I’ve started to pay more attention to the start of each month and that space of possibility, going so far as to choose a theme to carry with me for the next x-number of days, and then curate a playlist to come along for the ride.
These playlists- Studio Vibes- started out as being nothing more than allowing friends into the crazy space between my ears. A more nuanced and pop culture influenced/life influenced/friend influenced/frustration influenced/work influenced-method of communicating and sharing a theme with people I love.
November Studio Vibes was pretty lush, sound-wise, with some slower sounds, a few upbeat sounds, and no real discernible theme. I think I was looking forward to a holiday filled with sunshine & the beach, and wanted to try and capture the easiness of vacation days.
December Studio Vibes was only a teensy bit holiday-ish (shout out to A Charlie Brown Christmas and the Vince Guaraldi Trio, and yes, Mariah Carey), and really leaned more towards music that I felt was a good mix for the variety of people we spend winter holidays with: some jazz, some rock, some emo, some r & b.
January Studio Vibes was meant to be both forward-thinking and retrospective. I wanted the playlist to tell the story of life: all of the special (and mundane) events that mark a calendar and make a story. Weddings, birth, promises, changes and challenges, death. It’s all there, I hope.
Which brings us now to February.
I’ll give you one guess as to the theme.
I started thinking about love, all the people I love, the places, the things. I kept thinking about the different ways we define love and our individual love stories- like how some have finally found “The One.” Have you found yours? Did it take more than one time trying on this love thing? Two times? Three? You’ve lost count?
Let me digress for a minute: You know how people say “you just never know” when you’ll meet The One? It’s true. You could be in grade school or high school or college. You could be in the grocery store or out for a run or a bike or even at the gym. Maybe you’re at a fundraiser or professional conference. Maybe you’re at the bar having a drink. Maybe you’re driving in your car and you catch their eye as they run or walk by your car.
But you meet. Sparks and fireworks and angels singing. Or nothing, really, except an internal “huh.” And then you’re an item, a couple, in a relationship. And then what? LIFE happens, and it might wedge between you and them. Maybe you’ll weather the storm, maybe your umbrella will flip inside-out and become irreparable. What then?
Love. Learn. Repeat.
In yoga, we talk about energy centers, or chakras, and how they can be open/active or closed/stuck. The heart chakra- anahata in Sanskrit- is right in the middle of the seven chakras, and is close to your anatomical heart. The word anahata translates to “unstruck” or “unhurt,” and it is believed that when this chakra is balanced, you’re in a pure and spiritual place that is buried beneath all of the hurt from the past (gotta work through it!); it is the place where your physical and spiritual selves meet, where your hopes and dreams are integrated in such a way that they have no choice but to manifest.
There’s the “learn” part for you.
What does all this have to do with playlists? Nothing, except to suggest you share a listening experience with someone you love. It doesn’t have to be my playlist. Doesn’t have to be a playlist at all. Watch a movie together, take a walk, cook a meal for each other, get old-fashioned and write/read a love letter or poem. Need inspiration? Take some from this poem written by the late genius, Mary Oliver:
Coming Home
When we are driving in the dark,
on the long road to Provincetown,
when we are weary,
when the buildings and the scrub pines lose their familiar look,
I imagine us rising from the speeding car.
I imagine us seeing everything from another place--
the top of one of the pale dunes, or the deep and nameless
fields of the sea.
And what we see is a world that cannot cherish us,
but which we cherish.
And what we see is our life moving like that
along the dark edges of everything,
headlights sweeping the blackness,
believing in a thousand fragile and unprovable things.
Looking out for sorrow,
slowing down for happiness,
making all the right turns
right down to the thumping barriers to the sea,
the swirling waves,
the narrow streets, the houses,
the past, the future,
the doorway that belongs
to you and me.
*sigh*
And so I leave you with this playlist, February Studio Vibes, a tribute to all the ways we love: dreamy, upbeat, dirty, joyful, declarative.
Until next time, Rachel