kind words

“We all care about you, we will keep caring until and beyond, [when] you are strong enough to care for and about yourself…”

kind words…

I like to make a note of stuff that sparks my synapses, and here is where I occasionally share my rough thoughts.

I was cycling home the other day and found myself listening to ‘All in the Mind’ on BBC Radio Four. Among other things, it featured an emotional story about a girl who nominated her head of year at sixth form college for an award after she helped the teenager through a severe depression, and in her words ‘saved her life’. It perhaps highlights the importance of a kind word of support and genuine relation, cooperation, honest contribution. Worth a listen.

I guess it brings me back again to my favourite quote from my degree studies…

‘the interaction between things is what makes them…’

Wallace Stevens; ‘Realism’ by Damian Grant

Interaction with things (or others) requires space and time. It requires primarily acceptance or awareness, not blind engagement, interaction starts with an honest response to stimulus. 

Personally, I find ‘music‘ to be a vibrant source of abstract stimuli.

And so to another radio program that I have discovered recently… In contrast to BBC TV’s recent gutterances, @BBCSounds really can be a treasure trove of delights. 

Scanning BBC Sounds, alongside ‘Mindful Mix’  or ‘Ambient Focus’ or ‘The Morning After Mix’  or ‘Piano Flow‘…  I came across ‘Happy Harmonies’ with @laufeylin. Happy Harmonies is ‘a weekly series of mood-boosting songs and inspiring vocal harmonies from classical to pop’. I am loving the stuff above – really good output! #recommended!

With thoughts about interaction I listened twice when Laufey commented recently “There’s nothing like leaning on each other for support, and that’s what vocal harmony is all about”

Vocal harmony – Harmony; agreement, accord, a pleasing relation or combination…

I am reminded of the 10 years I spent singing with the choir ‘Global Harmony’ from Melton Mowbray. Singing with other people is a privilege. As I have said before, it’s not all about the performance, it’s about the act of singing, together. The whole thing’s bigger than the sum of its parts.

I miss singing together greatly!

Harmony is about being in the mix, with things (or others). It requires space and time. It requires awareness and an honest response to where we find ourselves. It requires us to care, and perhaps it requires kind words.

These recent thoughts may have been coloured by my recent reading of three books by Mike Gayle. I find recommending of books an odd thing because I feel we require different things at different times but if your library angel agrees take a look at the kind words of  Mike Gayle’s: 

• All The Lonely People.
• Half a world away. 
• The Man I Think I Know.