Free to Be Me

7/15/21

Free to be me

As we cautiously left our pandemic shelters, it was at times beyond captivating to watch the community come back to life. For me, it was slow. I took my time and, in some ways, savored moments of contemplation, weighed risk to reward, and cautiously optimistic took to a more public way of living once again, but with a keen eye on what was happening. I noticed grandparents and children, I paid attention to lovers strolling hand and hand. I quietly wondered, what was their pandemic like for them. Did they lose someone they love; did they grow tired and restless with zoom fatigue, did they catch up on Netflix, or did they perfect a yoga pose. While walking through the public gardens over the 4th of July weekend what slowly unfolded was me in awe of simple freedoms; free to walk, free from a mask, free to breathe, free to love and free to live. Our freedom is precious; there are so many who live without freedom, some right here in our own community.

“Emergence disturbs the concept of linearity and undermines the whole modern project of categorizing things neatly, once and for all.”~Bayo Akomolafe

When we emerge from something as profound as a near worldwide lockdown, for over a year of our lives, we are bound to emerge with some new ideas, different experiences and it can feel as though the world is different. Is it, or perhaps the lens has changed? For some, the lens is larger, for others it may have lost its color; maybe the lens became so narrow little light is able to scatter enough so to form a picture. No matter the lens, our ears are there to listen. I found myself listening more than looking. The images of grandparents and their grandchildren were only the smaller part of what I experienced, it was what I heard that set my mind and heart aglow once again. The sounds of people chatting mask less, the sounds of kids playing on the rose Kennedy parkway. The music bellowing from Italian cucinas along Hanover and of course the thrill of the return to live music. I never thought that listening to a Tom Petty cover band could remind my soul so eloquently that music has always allowed me to feel free. So, I danced, and I felt free!

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” ~ Aldous Huxley

This month as we contemplate music as an integrative therapy, we realize it isn’t just a story about our favorite band or the best concert we ever attended; it is about the connection. Music is much more than what enters our ear space, it’s about the visceral response within each of us. The ability to excite us, entertain ourselves. The capacity to imagine and dream. The amazing power to heal us where it hurts most. It is powerful, it is present and when it is not there, we likely are missing it.

“We try to re-create ourselves when things fall apart. We return to the solid ground of our self-concept as quickly as possible. (…) When things fall apart, instead of struggling to regain our concept of who we are, we can use it as an opportunity to be open and inquisitive about what has just happened and what will happen next. That is how we turn this arrow into a flower.” ~ Pema Chödrön

Moving through this not so normal, but mostly free summer, I plan on paying lots more attention to the sounds I hear, the connections made to those sounds. Be it a laughing child, a bird’s mating call, the ocean waves, or my favorite musical artist: Stevie nicks, I don’t want to miss a sound. Sounds, including music allow me to be free to connect. If you find me whistling by the lake, tapping my toes under my desk, twirling in my kitchen, or chanting some oms on my matt, you can be assured I’m expressing the freedom to be me. Go ahead be free and be FREE!

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ~Oscar Wilde.

Dawn

#selfcarerightnowrighthere