A few days ago, I came across a wonderful and surprising experience, which has inspired a specific resolution to enhance my life.
With some friends, we had scheduled an evening around jazz and dinner. I like Jazz adequately, at least the one that doesn’t put me asleep. So, I had expectations for a pleasant evening and nothing more. When the lead lady singer came on stage and her voice, frame and the accompanying band took over, it became rapidly clear that she had exceptional talent, and this would be no ordinary evening. Within moments, she soared to artistic heights that I had not even dreamed of. In particular, she merged two classic pieces of music, Ravel’s Bolero and Cohen’s Suzanne into an incredibly powerful and beautiful song. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbeACrAnxFE ). I felt moved beyond normal, incredibly fortunate to be witnessing this event and temporarily gained a heightened sense of humanity and awareness that beauty truly exists.
So this moment which was supposed to be among the pleasant but ordinary moments in my life became an extraordinary one. Of course, it made me hope that somehow, I could reach these heights more often in my day-to-day life. The practical question becomes immediately “how to encourage such moments so that you can experience them more often”.
Reflecting on how this particular moment occurred, it was scheduled by someone else, so it broke from the usual organization of my structured life. Second, I believed I made myself particular available to receive such a distinctive pleasure. As soon as I realized that that I was onto something special, I went for it and made sure that my mind was cleared of any thoughts other than just pure enjoyment of the moment.Also the artist was a surprise to me. I had not heard of her even though she has it turned out quite a following. She is famous among a small circle of experts and not in the broad marketplace. The shock of the surprise and the new contributed largely to the intensity of the moment. I will likely never experience listening to her as strongly again, so I must now pursue other artists to quench my thirst for the “extraordinary”. That will take time and a dedicated mindset.
In summary, my resolution going forward is as follows:
- To access extraordinary moments more often.
- To make it a priority by:
- Letting others set my schedule more often, so that surprises can occur.
- Dedicating some time to looking for “deep cuts”, artists that have an expert following, either on Youtube or another popular platform. They have thousands, not millions of
- Setting quality time for the pursuit of beauty. Early in the day, as a priority, before the mass of “ordinary moments”, dulls my senses.
