What is your favorite genre of music? This is today’s prompt on Jetpack and I thought that it was time I answered one of these! One of the things I have always done is ignored genres in favour of music I like, but I have found a number of common threads in my music. My […]
Musical Taste
A year ago I answered my first daily prompt but it would be a bit later that month before I decided to make it a daily habit. This first one was music based and, looking at it now, I feel as though it’s a very nice encapsulation of my earlier posts on My Musical History. Click on the link and not only will you get a nice read, but you will also get a link to an excellent playlist!
Is a little chaos actually good for us?
When I looked at this prompt I thought about the personal realm first. I have faced what seemed to be chaos in my life a few times. However, when I reflected I realised that at no point had chaos ever truly entered my life. Every occasion where I thought of chaos I could actually ascribe my situations to previous poor decisions by myself or others. Chaos is one of those words we can often misuse to excuse our own failings or to exaggerate somewhat difficult situations.
Now, I have been very lucky so far not to have been caught up in a natural or man made disaster, but I feel that this is what the word chaos should be reserved for, namely something completely out of your control which you had no opportunity to affect. We often misuse words and rob them of their meanings and chaos is a very good example. A morning where trains are completely messed up for whatever reason or roads are blocked is routinely called chaotic, but it really isn’t. It’s just one day where you can’t get to school or work easily. A storm can cause chaos in the short term and occasionally in the medium term. An earthquake can cause chaos for decades especially in poor countries. Human beings in their limited sphere cannot cause chaos, although they can cause anger, misery or despair especially if they lead a nation or a tech company!
If we replace the hyperbolic chaos with upheaval then I would agree that this is useful for personal growth, but perhaps that personal growth starts by using appropriate words that have, as far as possible, exact meanings. If you have ever faced true chaos then I wholeheartedly sympathise but if you have merely faced difficulties you will solve them much more quickly by putting them into perspective rather than trying to dramatise them.
Who is your favorite blogger to follow?
Here are some of my favourites, any of which are worth a deep dive
Lion & Unicorn Lion & Unicorn ‹ Reader — WordPress.com – an excellent social history site that also does film and TV reviews. I first discovered this site as Alwyn Turner, the best social history writer around, often contributes to the blog.
Paul Carney Paul Carney’s Blog – Stories, thoughts and musings on life, art, philosophy and education. One of the most fascinating, well written and, occasionally, mind blowing blogs around. Well worth a read especially when he delves into philosophy.
My Journey Into Sound My Journey Into Sound A blog that features music and reminiscences in a similar vein to my own. Always worth a read.
Fifienne BOREDOM IS FUN SOMETIMES An eclectic blog that is always fun to dip into. I really enjoy the 40 songs for 40 years series.
Rebuilding Rob Rebuilding Rob – Building a more perfect man A personal journey, but one which has a resonance to anyone who is trying to negotiate the pleasures and difficulties of life.
Lindsay Bloomer Whining, Wine-ing & Winning – A lifestyle blog full of mom stories, recipes, and a little wine to wine-d down. A fun blog that always raises a smile as it reflects on life in the US away from the politics.
There are of course more but this is a really good start. Happy reading.
What’s a lesson you’ve learned recently that shifted your perspective?
I have always had a rather negative view of other human beings and have reflected on that in a number of my posts in the past year or so. Then, on an otherwise unremarkable June day, well apart from the temperature, I was forced to do some significant rethinking.
I went up to town to do some shopping as I often do, even though Janet had told me to wait until she got home and the temperature was lower. The shopping went normally and I started to walk home. One minute I was heading down a street at my normal pace and the next minute I was on my side having fallen very heavily. There was no time to react but I must have done instinctively because I fell on my right side rather than face first. However, I still gave my nose and my cheek a significant bang and my nose was bleeding freely. As I tried to figure out what happened a couple who had witnessed my fall came over to help me up. They made sure I was lucid, which I was despite the shock, and asked me where I lived, and whether anyone would be there. I told them, thinking that they were just making sure I could get home once I had recovered. Next thing I know my shopping was in their car, I was in the back seat trying not to bleed on their upholstery and they were driving me home. They asked which house I lived in and drove onto my driveway. I was incredibly grateful and, although dazed, was able to express that gratitude.
If it hadn’t been for that lovely couple I would probably have been determined to struggle home on my own which would have done me little good. Just under a fortnight later I have recovered much of my confidence for walking although I am still tense whenever I prepare to go out. The bruises are slowly fading but what will never fade is the memory of true kindness of the sort that I often told readers was the exception not the rule. If that was really the case the couple who drove me home and the others who came to check on me were many of those exceptions in a very small area. I now accept I was wrong. People are fundamentally kind, whatever the media tells us, and I have first hand experience of that.
What do you do to improve your sleep?
Sleep, perhaps more than any other part of life, depends on the development of routine. You can’t improve the quality and duration of your sleep without getting good habits into place first.
The first habit I developed many years ago was to avoid caffeine after my morning cups of tea. When I was travelling to work every day I used to have a large mug of caffeinated tea and then switch straight to Lemon and Ginger or similar. That was actually something I learnt in Japan. During my first term there I had a number of issues with my voice in the classes and one of my colleagues said that he noticed me having black tea with milk. He told me that the milk coated the vocal chords making them more prone to failing in the lessons. I was a little sceptical but I agreed to switch to green tea for the rest of the term as a trial. I never switched back.
My second habit, and one I came to as a result of lack of money was to avoid alcohol in the evening and particularly before bed. Prior to the family budget being squeezed I would often have a beer in the evening and the occasional, semi-regular if I was really stressed, nightcap. When it became clear that it was either my alcohol or sports and dance clubs, and the occasional day out, for the children there was no contest of course. I gave up alcohol for eight years entirely and have never gone back to it in any meaningful way. My quality of sleep gradually improved and the only time I have alcohol before bed is when I have a really sore throat and I have a hot toddy! My grandmother, who signed the pledge as a teenager, vowing to give up alcohol, only had the occasional brandy which she always described as ‘purely medicinal’, a phrase I have half humourously adopted.
My third habit, developed much more recently, has been to do a meditation on the Calm App. I listen to the Daily Jay with Jay Shetty nearly every night. Sometimes I listen to the whole thing but on many occasions I am asleep almost straight after the three deep breaths! Allied to this I try to avoid my phone in the last couple of hours before bed but that is very much a work in progress. Let’s just say that I am slowly getting better at it! I swear by the Calm App and I really encourage you to try it. If you are interested I can give you a link for a free trial so let me know in the comments if you want to take me up on that.
So, how is my sleep now? It’s a work in progress, sometimes very good, occasionally pretty bad, but overall there is a clear improvement and it comes from the approaches I have outlined above.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 