I was changed by a close encounter with a time-travel capsule from the late 1980’s.
This appeared in the form of an actual music mix fragment recorded on cassette by a DJ in Italy, that was unearthed and shared with me.
(You can dance to it too on my Soundcloud link below.)
While I made a cup of tea, I danced around as the sound filled my kitchen with the fun, poppy tunes of my teens, and drank in the sense of playfulness that was the hallmark of those days. The sound was filled with synth, drum beats and an overall tone of this specific music genre that literally doesn’t exist anymore. The songs were blended, matched and synched up in such a cool way, that they created a sexy dance flow for a typical Friday night in the Euro-club scene at the end of that era. An time that I remember so well…..
It was the very last song that changed everything.
As I poured the hot water into my tea cup, I felt a stab in my heart that took my breath away and made me put down the kettle. The Blow Monkeys, “It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way” ended the set and with it, I just fell apart.
Sobbing, my hand to my heart, I felt the deep loss of that era. I could, in that exact second FEEL what it was like to be that girl again during that time period. I could feel her excitement and her playfulness, and the remembrance of what it felt like to be a star on the rise. There was enormous hope on the horizon, and a powerful sense that we were all going to go there together.
The late ‘80s was the end of the Cold War with Russia, and by November of 1989, we gathered around the TV to watch the Berlin Wall come crumbling down. Millions of people were chanting in the streets for change, and the momentum was sweeping around the globe. We were excited, jubilant, had plenty of money and although I had grown up with an ecologically conservative household. the idea of climate change had yet to truly take root. This was an era of plenty that was growing, and it was perfectly reflected in the music of the time.
My tears turned to grief as I felt the loss of that innocence and the unassailable knowledge that those days were forever behind us. Even more striking, was the awareness that the energy that my kids are awakening into is so vastly different than what I had come into adulthood with. Our kids are becoming aware in a world that has been engaged in multiple wars since the day they were born. They are now in the looming shadow of climate change as their heritage, and hold very few illusions about a happily ever after. What job? What economy? What hope? There is marching in the streets again for many conversations that were begun in those days, but have remained unfinished business throughout the decades since.
Our kids are struggling as a normal way of life now, in ways that you and I (if you are over 30) can hardly imagine. So what is the remedy? How do we change the tide that is sweeping our shores barren from pretty much anything to look forward to? (And have you heard what passes for pop music these days? I shudder.)
It’s going to come down to US.
That’s right, you and me and everyone we know are going to have to lean into the load and try to shift things towards a better direction. We have to apply what we have learned about what doesn’t work into new directions that might. We have to stop the behaviors, mindsets and characteristics that have kept us whistling in the dark. We have been acting like there’s nothing spooky out there if we just keep our eyes down and play pretend. Well, that has clearly and irrepressibly NOT worked. There is no calvary speeding in to save the day, no knight on a horse, and you are not the victim. You are the answer. Maybe not all by yourself, because these things do take a team to pick up and turn around, but you do have a part to play that is pretty gosh darned important.
You know how I know?
Because if you know that you have not being playing up to your full measure, if you have been shirking the load like it is someone else’s problem to move, if you have in anyway been less than accountable to every cotton-picking detail that you can possibly be accountable for, then I hate to say it, but you are part of the puzzle that got us into this pickle. Which means, quit feeling sorry about it all and help us move this thing forward. We know the truck is spinning its wheels in the sand and there’s no way that any of us can do this alone. Together however, in consciousness, good humor and with a shared sense of adventure, we totally have a chance to tuck in and change everything. For reals, y’all.
The passing of the Notorious RBG was such a gift. Now, I know you may think it was terrible timing and just another nail in the coffin of 2020, (and we all know how un-fricking-believable this year has been so far…and trust me – there’s still lots more to come folks!), but I see it differently.
I just don’t believe in coincidence, as you may already know. There is a boatload of malfeasance and shady business going on everywhere you look, so how could her dying right now, with all this other stuff splashing on our shoes, be helpful in any way?
Have you ever peeled an orange and inhaled that tiny spray of incredible orange essence (that is basically stored-up sunshine) that literally bursts forth everywhere? That’s exactly what happened the moment RBG passed away.
Her legacy was not a secret. However, when she stepped back, her essence was sprayed in glorious, luminous, non-stop technicolor in 24 hr loops for the whole world to recall in an instant. That reminder was a catalyst and a wake-up call to remember what the power of one tiny, little morsel of a dedicated, intelligent human could do for literally millions of people in one lifetime. Of course, you have exactly this same ability if you would but choose to do your part. We don’t need you to do everything, but you do need to do something.
Whatever you are called to do, do that.
Whatever you love to share, share that.
Whatever you are inspired by, shine that.
Whatever you wish to see happening around you, be that.
We can’t make it without you.
There is no future.
There is quite literally, only you and only now.
(Click to listen, dance & find inspiration to create something new from the old! Oh, and follow my Soundcloud station too for great meditations, etc. Thank you 😉
