Gratitude Practice 2020 Day 283: My "How to Survive 2020 Playlist"

While in graduate school, an intriguing question was posed in one of our classes that I think about often even as it's been well over a decade since I carried a book filled backpack, tracked a syllabus daily and roamed around a college campus. Can't remember the exact wording but it went something like…"What is the most powerful art form?" Typing it out now reaffirms my initial reaction... which is/was…What an absurd question! How can one measure or quantify one form of art over another? Absurd. It would be a narrow minded fools errand to even attempt to answer this question. Poppycock! Rubbish! What an outlandish question! We all know the dangers that playing favorites can have, right? Art is so very personal and yet universally experienced. Art is constructive, sequential, interlocking and in its simplest form...related. Art and all art forms are inextricably connected and intertwined and correlated and influenced and so I will remain a neutral supporter and champion and appreciator of all art forms, thank you very much. To respond to this paradoxical question...I shall remain Switzerland and celebrate all forms of art equally…hip hip hooray for the visual arts! For dance and movement! For theater and performing arts! And last but not least, for music! EQUALLY important, valued and needed.

AAANNNNDDDDD with that... during this year, when so much of life has gone sideways…I have found solace through paint, marker, pen, crayon and chalk...so many moody mindless puddles of color have materialized both intentionally and as doodles during long zoom calls and meeting drawn not just help pass the time but to assist with the sorting of ideas and processing of thoughts...each creation made in gratitude.

This year, and thanks to Covid-19, I have moved and stretched and pushed my body to release emotions and pent up feelings in new and more consistent ways more than I ever have. Moving my body outdoors is now a critical need for my world to keep spinning. This physical momentum and expression, while completely absent of grace or rhythm or any significantly intended choreography, this movement has been nothing short of transformative….and I am grateful.

If I’ve learned anything at all this year it is that every boring average human is currently living out some kind of award winning life drama right before our eyes...every damned day of this beloved year. Our highs have been so high. Our lows have been valley low. And we've mudded through all of the magnificent messy mundane middle parts as if the big and small tasks of life are center stage worthy...because they are. No supporting characters this year. No silent actors bravely pretending to just “be tree” in the background. Nope. No understudies this year...all humans, each of us, are taking center stage and acting full out no matter the size of our stage or personal amphitheater. This year we are all existing day after day on the center stage of our boring and beautiful lives basking in full theater lights of 2020. What did good old Shakespeare say?... something like all the world's a stage and we are but mere players. Without question, every person I know deserves a standing ovation and multiple encores as we are living comedy and tragedy like we never have. If this is not live theater...then I don’t know what is.

And what has been the underscore for all of the above…my “How to Survive 2020 playlist” a random but powerful collection of music that I would be absolutely lost without. Never before have I been more grateful for the power of music.. To calm. To steady. To invigorate. To temper. To lighten. To inspire. To feed. To amp up and super charge. To lull and still. Music just does IT all. My random combination will never win any awards but this mod-podge mix of music…. consistently matches and meets my never ending list of needs and wants. Tonight, beyond grateful for music... for my music... Grateful for how each song, power ballad, and swoony symphony in my cue is there for thoughtful and needed reasons….and I could not be more grateful...and this piece of music...really just can’t get enough...

God bless the arts...in all forms and and for all of the ways it helps us transcend and transform. So, back to that silly question…I still can’t pick a favorite...and never will...Just so very grateful for all of them.