Thinking About the Quote, "...don't die with your music still in you..." and I Pondered...

We fret and complain about how Life seems to come at us at a faster and faster pace. We do, don't we? I know that thought buzzes around in my bonnet sometimes. BUT, then I decided to check in with history and reassure myself that this belief is a highly subjective one. Imagine!

You see, I realize that, perhaps when our ancestors lived prior to the Industrial Age, life on faster horses with lighter carriages probably seemed a bit faster than stone wheels and riding on Elephants. Am I right? So, our worries and anxiety are not limited to our time. I mean, when was the last time you had to run for your life from a herd of mastodons stampeding. Or a sabre tooth tiger leaping down from a tree? It sure didn't happen to you in this lifetime. (Unless you live on the set of the "Jurassic Park" franchise)

So, what if it happens that when we combine our doomsday clock mentality regarding the planet with our highly inexplicable respect or admiration even, that we as a society seem to have for the military industrial complex world and our acceptance of or general apathy towards the increase in all things warlike (certainly not peace-like) including: guns, gangs, anxiety, bullying, depression, suicide, aggression, generalized feelings fear and anger? What happens when we combine all of this? Add to that our growing obsession with social media...

I don't know exactly, but it sure seems like we pay less attention to our inner world, our mental health and the mental health of those we are closest to, choosing instead to worry about the external. You know? How we look on social media. Does our house measure up? Does our appearance measure up? Our house? Christ! Who we hang out with! Does who we are measure up to what we think we see on social media?

What's crazier than that??

What's crazier than that is normalizing comparing ourselves to what we think we can trust 100% what we see on social media. And our teens are doing this for up to 9 hours a day, according to a report from "Common Sense Media" and the reality of this report from a Common Sense Media article: "Teens indicated that it’s all about getting the coveted “like” on social media. Teens crave that positive attention. And the more likes the better. To get likes, teens, especially females, will often oversexualize themselves. One teen said, “The less clothes you have on, the more popular you are.” –-Dayton, 17.

But, well, about now you'll be wondering, "what's all this got to do with the title on this post?" And I don't blame you. Finding my way back to the reason for posting this, I wonder the same thing...until I realize that all of these developments, these things that have taken over our consciousness in this life, are the very things that threaten to be what allow us to forget, disregard or minimalize the things which bring us the greatest joy and the importance they carry in fulfilling our purpose, following our passions in this world, and living out our dreams.

We all know the Mark Twain quote, "Comparison is the death of Joy" and all of this brings that into harsh definition, doesn't it. The more we compare ourselves to what we see, what we think we see and others, in general, the less we are apt to connect with deep joy. The less we are apt to think that anything we do is truly worthy. The greater our chance for never truly experiencing our dreams realized...expressing the music within us.

What does this mean? It might mean sticking with it when everything around you tells you that it's a worthless dream or that you're not good enough or that your dream is silly. It means fighting hard for what matters to you and blocking the exits that allow your ego, fragile and perilously attached to outcome, to drag you out whether you're kicking and screaming or not.

Do not diminish your dreams. Don't compare your dreams to anyone else's or to what anyone thinks you should do. YOU are a valuable and worthy being on this planet and what matters to you, matters. Period. You matter. So do your dreams.

Just ask Ke Hui Quan, about keeping your dreams alive...He's the grown-up "Goony", the Asian Oscar winner who debuted in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom over twenty five years ago!

Your music, the song singing deep within you now...it's got a chain to your love for life, your joy, your passion. Don't let it molder away. Don't die with your music still in you.