Life has its low points, and a whole bunch of whatever lumped into the middle, and a few bright, diamond-dust highs scattered here and there. Obviously, the trick is to get out from under the lows, clutch and cling at the middle like crazy, and run the clock, waiting for some highs.
It's never obvious that the lows will in fact bottom out, not while you're in them, hoping the blows will pass. It's not evident things will turn the corner if shabby luck has the habit of breezing on in, triple-bundled, arriving in wholesale batches from three to thirty-three, by the case and the gross. Somehow, those low points actually come to an end: We get through, get back to the middle, and even go on to some more highs.
It's important to have a good memory in that duration, while underwater, waiting for the tide shift, for that sea change -- for that chance to break through to another side, where there is air, fresh air and light.
In case of blues and these lows, getting moving, out of the mental rut, changing gears, is just what is needed -- and not only the physical sort. Use whatever you know works best for you. Many of the things we all have used in the past -- live music, theater, dining out, vacations, travel -- are no longer available to us, with the decades of repressive, periodic economic-meltdowns. When reality intrudes so harshly, we need to be more creative to survive.
If some of your old avenues are blocked or no longer available, we have a few suggestions, if you'll allow them. Some of these notions are perfectly viable, but are usually overlooked in the noisier, frowzier attractions that always seem to snag our attentions, our lives, and our days. And, as you are already reading this here, on a computer, via web, these other jump-start ideas will cost you hardly anything more, almost zero.
The good news? Libraries are cheap and plentiful, even today: books, audiobooks, music, movies, and more, all available via check out -- free, or next to that. You could read about "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do and How to Change It," by Charles Duhigg, should you be interested in the art of manipulation that's done to you daily, perhaps gain tips on awareness and fighting back. The book itself awaits, as would be a copy of "Bloomberg Businessweek" if you wanted to dive in there, too, for a review. Plus, worlds and worlds more: How much can you carry?
Or, continue the fun and thrill of discovery. Experience some part of science shown in hyper-mesmerizing ways, before you're even aware you're doing something as effortlessly brainy in your leisure time, exploring the world, out prospecting for wonder, locating a side of awe.
How about planets leaving the Milky Way at warp speed? That one's below, first spotted here at the TVNL site -- a place of constant science surprises, too, along with the real news.
More? Try the BBC website, Science/Environment tab. They are always a half-dozen or more stories worth courting there. And, for science, turned on its head, shaken like a crazy snow globe, just for your pleasure? That would be NPR's "Radiolab," a radio program and podcast hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, a team of tour guides who make science laughable, insightful, and -- careful, now -- fun. They will take you places in your mind and in your heart you had not known were there.
Robert also has his own science blog at NPR, "Krulwich Wonders," which today sports a truly amazing, eight-minute video -- in case you wondered what it might be like to soar into space, then, drop 40 miles, and splash down in the ocean. This ride is very highly recommended, as video rides go -- link's down below.
But, then, all of Krulwich's works are recommended: as an award-winning science reporter, this is the person Einstein had in mind as a non-charlatan, could explain absolutely anything to any six-year-old child's satisfaction -- making him or her laugh in surprise and fascination, all along the way. You may never want a break from these amazing tours of understanding and intuitive clicks and locks -- they are definitely addictive, let me tell you, and, in the best possible way. If you do, there are many more choices queued up at your computer's door.
Try out NPR's "American Life," for radio and podcast drama and discovery, the whole range of waterfalls and cascading emotions. They knit together a number of dissimilar elements under a common radio roof. As DaVinci and ancient Greeks have said, genius is the ability to connect dissimilar things -- and these people are authentic geniuses, right over there.
If you enjoy sound and ideas painting and mixing in your head, percolating away in your imagination, helping you regain perspective, then all these are for you. They cost nothing to try. Curious, now: What would you give to be delighted, energized, to shrug off any lows -- you know, right now?
It is imperative we never forget the magical, childlike awe of living in the moment, with fireflies and sparklers, under twinkling starlight skies, us, being alive, inside each second of life, letting everything else drop away. This is a vital survival skill, too, living through lows.
It is imperative we remember how to get back to that place, as often as we can, not forget where that part of us lives. These are the places where each of us finds that certain sweet spot, where we heal, where everything clicks, pivots just right, then opens us back up to sunshine and moonlight -- opens us up to possibility, back from the lows, back from the dead.
We need as many of these places as we can find and make, and make them even faster than is our ability to forget where we last put them -- especially come Hell, high water, and those lows.
May we recommend:
http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=5194672
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment/
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-15/book-review-the-power-of-habit-by-charles-duhigg
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0323/Runaway-planets-ejected-from-galaxy-at-insane-speeds
