Finding the Right Key
You know, I’m beginning to feel a little more of this tug-of-war, if you will, going on between my body and spirit these days. It’s always been there to some degree, though maybe because I’ve become a bit more measured, for lack of a better term… it seems more pronounced… who knows?
I recall as a child my spirit soaring like an eagle as my body did everything in its power just to keep up. I was fearless, my energy level was off the charts, and my limitations, as far as I was concerned, were nonexistent.
Yes, life was a song, I was the composer, and the hook had no end in sight. No rules, no holding back… and believe me, there was no doubt in my mind that I was gonna sing it forever!
That my friend is the way it is when the spirit’s in charge… footloose and fancy frickin’ free. Hakuna Matata!
But as time progressed, I began to sense the gravity of life slowly amassing within, trying its best to weigh me down. Yes, the vessel… i.e. my body, which houses this free flowing spirit of mine, was slowly awakening to the fact that unlike its occupant, it had a whole different set of circumstances to deal with. In a word… REALITY!
You know, this reality thing has a tendency of putting the reins on footloose and fancy frickin’ free. That is, if you allow it.
As I sit here at my computer with my mind wandering, trying to make sense of this polarity between body and spirit, I can almost hear God’s self-talk as He’s breathing life into the spirit of mankind for the first time.
“Let’s see… I want to keep this simple, but not easy. I want you free yet grounded. You must fear, to persevere… seek, to find… cry, to heal. But there’s no way you’re going to find the time to gain such wisdom constantly running amuck on earth solely as a free spirit.
So here’s the deal. I’m going to house you in a body to slow you down just a bit, in order to give you time to figure things out. But I’ll leave you a key… a key which will disconnect you for instant rejuvenation, motivation, and dream chasing… and believe me you’re going to need it.
You need plenty of time to run wild and be free, so make sure you disconnect often. Warning! If for any reason you choose to hunker down inside too long between outings, you will run the risk of losing or worse yet, breaking yourself. If that happens, well… just don’t let it happen. So whatever you do, don’t lose this key.”
So what’s the key???….Music!
Reality grounds the body… music lifts the spirit.
Sure… there’s a litany of things which lifts the spirit… but music is in a class of its own. It has the power, in any given moment, to not only lift the spirit but to completely disengage and release it.
Just one melody from a forgotten song can instantly whisk you away, back to your childhood, or maybe to a precise moment when you met someone special or experienced something wonderful for the first time, complete with all the trimmings in vivid detail. 
A cry from a cello can disconnect you from reality faster than quick. Yes, it can have your spirit peacefully floating away on a cloud of contentment before your body even has a clue you‘ve checked out.
And if a driving drum beat, perfectly in sync with an unpredictable yet somehow anticipated rhythm, exploding within a whirlwind of electrical harmonies, i.e. Metallica, can’t awaken that dormant “footloose and fancy frickin’ free” of yours… nothing can.
Here’s the thing… we all are made up of both body and spirit. The degree to which we keep them both fully engaged and properly balanced determines the quality of our reality.
It’s when the spirit is the highest that our emotions are the deepest and dreams seem most vivid.
As I mentioned earlier… as a child, my spirit soared because my body wasn’t yet aware of the reality it was supposed to embrace. So reaching dreams didn’t only seem possible, they were absolutely expected.
Note to self for when life is weighing you down:
Don’t ever, no matter how old you get, think you’re too sophisticated to let go and be a little childlike, for there is where your spirit lives and thrives. You see, those dreams and desires don’t change… you do.
It’s never too late. Everything that motivates, inspires, turns you on and gets you fired up is forever smoldering in your spirit just waiting to be rekindled. All it takes is a single spark of emotion to once again ignite it. Turn the key, and turn it up! And do it your way!
It’s good to be back,
Bill Peak
OMG!! what a great entry. You are so right about music. You hit it on the nose when you said “just one melody from a forgotten song” can send you back to childhood etc. That happens to me all the time. And those same feelings I had, I feel again just as strong. Steve says that my limbic system must be huge (that part of the brain that is associated with emotion). I love your description of the body and the spirit. I never looked at it that way but now that I’ve read your blog, it makes so much sense and music being the “key” is brilliant! Thank you again for sharing your wisdom. You really need to think about doing a TED talk.
Sibyl, I believe whether you’re writing it, playing it, singing it, or just listening to it… doesn’t matter. I believe everyone is much better off if I keep my “TED talk” to my blog… but thanks for the encouragement.