Listening to the Lyrics and Standing by Your Truth

This post very suddenly became an interesting amalgam of ideas, because I sat down to write one thing and a second idea somewhat rudely barged in on top of the first one!

I pondered the dilemma for a few moments, and then decided "OK, I can make something of this!"

So what happened was that I was reading some piece of seemingly meaningful commentary relating to the importance of music in our lives, and suddenly this person made the statement that "happy people hear the chorus and melody but only depressed people listen to the actual lyrics."

Some of you might be old enough to remember playing vinyl records on a turntable, and with it that horrible scratchy sound of the needle skidding across the record.

It was that sound.

Edited to add: Pausing for a second to send a shoutout to @jaynie because we're evidently "thought sharing" at the moment... I recommend you also read her remarkably similar experience! Now back to day's show...

WTF, Over?

As a lifelong music lover (or should I say "addict?"), I found myself immediately filled with almost irrational annoyance and then I had to slow down for a moment and consider why I was immediately getting so fired up by those words. After all, that's the whole "what annoys you externally often has a lot to do with YOU, internally" thing to consider.

But, from where I was sitting, that just seemed like an overly rude generalization by somebody who clearly was not a music lover.

I'm one of those people who listen to a lot of music — in fact you could say that music is my constant companion and the perpetual soundtrack of my existence, and I do listen to the lyrics and I find a lot of meaning in many of them. If I were to go by this person's definition, it would follow that I have probably been "chronically depressed" since age 12!

So I reflected on that for a bit longer, and then came to the conclusion that this person evidently has some kind of dislike for people who actually sit and think about things and their deeper meaning. And that part definitely would apply to me... I contemplate things and disassemble them and try to figure out what they mean and find much joy in doing so!

Intersecting Thought

And that was the point at which "idea number one" intersected with "idea number two."

Because I got to thinking about this whole notion of "having your truth," and having insights and opinions about things and then standing by them with integrity... even if they're not very popular or the societally accepted norm.

From what I have observed of life, an awful lot of people are only "fair-weather friends" with their beliefs, and when challenged on something, rather than explaining how they arrived at where they are they either get defensive and try to kick sand in your face, or they back down and say "yeah, you're right, that's probably a better answer," even though they don't mean it.

Being a Peaceful Sort...

Now while I am somebody who stands up for what I believe in and what I think is right, I am also not so stuck in my patterns that I'm not willing to change my mind in the face of conclusive proof to the contrary. In fact, I am rather a pacifist and I believe in Nonviolent Communication and I'm not interested in having a fight with people... I'm more interested in trying to understand their perspective so we can find some kind of common ground.

Of course, standing by your words can soon become a slippery slope. In a distant past when I worked in "Korporate Amerika," I often would resort to framing ideas that could improve our processes as "I read an article at some point in which people were doing this, that and the other which might help us" and presenting it in that way rather than saying "I had an idea and we should do it like this because it'll work better."

Of course the sad thing about doing it that way was that it immediately gave me more credibility than if I had shared that it had been my own idea. Which back then made me somewhat angry at the world and became a contributing factor to why I left mainstream work.

That, and the fact that there are many ways in which I "don't play well with others." I know how, but it's not often natural to me.

You're not Like "Normal" People!

In truth, farming out my personal ideas as belonging to a third party was also a way for me to avoid having to deal with the broader issues of being fairly smart, highly sensitive and somewhat psychic, and not exactly "neurotypical," which was generally a combination that left most people staring at me in a rather wide-eyed and confused way... and not really understanding what I was saying until they had gone away and researched it for a couple of weeks.

On top of that, I also had to find ways to express myself that followed my firm belief in "Do no harm." Which can be quite challenging in this world of ours, where lots of people are offended by virtually anything that strays outside the straight and narrow generally accepted version of reality.

Hence, I tend to treasure those rare individuals I encounter on my path who are able to both act with a great deal of delicacy, compassion and sensitivity, while at the same time also being entirely true to themselves.

In the end, I suppose there are really different kinds of "rebels" in life. There are those who are just noisy and angry and a little bit distructive, and then there are those who walk their own path all the same, and do so in a conscious and sensitive manner.

Meanwhile, I'm going to continue listening to the lyrics and finding meaning in words others may never see!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a beautiful Friday!

How about you? Is music important to you? And moreover, do you listen to the lyrics? Do you stand by the words and ideas that mean something... to YOU? Is that a challenge, or does it come naturally? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.03.28 22:58 PDT
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