Tuning into the rhythm of life helps us to learn new skills for the future, reminds us of the past, and live in the present moment. Life is like an ocean and we’re like a boat on a wave bobbing up and down. Lately, I’ve been giving tuning into the rhythm a try.
In the office, Eric is one of my favorite people to talk to. He has a unique ability to switch from grounded reality telling it how it is to highly intellectual and deep meaningful conversation. The icing on the cake is that he is able to stitch both forms of conversations together with fun humor reminiscent of zen philosophy. His recommendation of Zen Guitar opened my mind to new perspectives on life. That’s when it surprised me when Eric Said.
“That’s not music”
Eric wasn’t talking about a genre he didn’t like, but rather what I thought was music this whole time. Earlier in the conversation, I was talking about not being able to read sheet music. Although my practice wasn’t as focused as it should have been, It irked me that I was unable to read music after all this time. Eric must have noticed my shock when he said that.
“It’s just a visual representation of music. Have you ever heard someone play a melody where every note was correct, but there was no soul in it?”
Eric had changed my perspective not with a book recommendation this time, but a sentence.
Tuning into the Rhythm at Work
I enjoy where I work, my department especially has the friendliest most conversational bond in the whole company. Even then, the office can be quite a discordant environment to work in. Phone calls come in, people bust through the door, and fires need to be put out. On my wish list is a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones, but for now, a pair of normal headphones is how I get my focus time in. In the chaos of life, you can try tuning into the rhythm of work, by tuning into the music itself.
I normally use Tidal to listen to music, only because their integration with my DJ software SERATO DJ makes it easy to create playlists on the fly and then mix the min SERATO later. Something was telling me to listen on Spotify so I listened to that instinct and hit a couple of stations I like. As great as TIdal is, they are years behind Spotify’s recommendations and social features. Crazy that Spotify used to have little tables set up on my college campus.
Picking Up Old Rhythms
Thanks to Spotify’s social features I saw that my old friend John was listening to a song from Porter Robinson’s new album. It’s funny as how you grow into an adult two simple things can trigger so many memories. Memories of all the moments John and I had shared flooded into my brain. From college, in highschool, and even when I told him to just ask his now wife out because he was freaking out about wanting to date her. Porter Robinson blew me away with shelter and I’ve come to appreciate some of his other music. When I clicked on his new track Dullsythe I was blown away by how beautiful and experimental it was.
So much so that in between rendering videos, I messaged John about it. It always surprises me how easy tuning into the rhythm of old friends is. After all this time although John and I were different people, we talked just like we used to. It had been over five years since I’d seen him, but somewhere deep in my brain was a vault of precious memories. Music is like a friendship with John, it’s lifelong. Anytime you hear that song or album you unlock a doorway to a different time, but now you have a new perspective on it.
Creating New Rhythms
There was something about that Porter Robinson song and the conversation with John that made me want to hop into FL Studio and play around with an idea I had been turning over in my head. There was on old remix that I liked some aspects of, but I’ve made significant progress as a music producer over the years so there were things that could be improved as well.
Instead of wasting time and energy thinking about something, just do it.
I spent about three days on the project. When I get into the groove, the only time I stop is when I have to eat, sleep, or shit. When I looked up it was done. At this moment in time I could actually listen to a song I’ve made over and over and feel satisfied. This came after a successful week of work, a video production that got me an interview, and some growth in my YouTube Channel. But it was never about the views or growth, I had gotten over the need for external validation. It’s like TylerTheCreator said.
I just like doing it
Tyler The Creator
Sometimes your dreams and thoughts keep telling you to do something. I was finally listening to who I was and waking up to my own life.
Tuning Into the Better Rhythm
Another dream of mine that kept nagging me was to work with my old boss at Sunset Auto Wholesale to start phase 1 of my dream Touge Legends. Phase one was to export cars from japan and sell them in my hometown of the 253 Tee Tactown Tacoma. I was so excited that I landed the interview I had to tell him. Nate had been such a large mentor and positive influence on my life. Maybe we can start the importing thing I typed excitedly.
One of the best things is when you come to an old friend and both of you have good news.
“Everything I’ve wanted to do with music is about to happen”.
Real friends are happy for their friend’s success and I was thrilled to hear that. Despite Nate working with a big name, I was happier that he had accomplished his goal. At Sunset Auto Nate and I would stay after hours to work on our personal projects for a bit. Sometimes I’d blog, make sketches, or write music downstairs before we both practiced our DJing skills. It was nice having someone there to comment on areas where I could improve. Conversely, he’d throw me some love when I did something good. There were times when Nate, Farb, and I would go out to dinner after. I never really worked for a company there, I was helping a family business and receiving an allowance.
After some time catching up about everything under the sun, I told Nate how much I grew to appreciate his guidance and presence. And when you open up to people, they usually respond with kindness.
That’s The Rhythm in Your Heart
“Marco, you’re intelligent, creative, and able to do so many things. Why not you? Although the most important thing and the reason that we work well together is that you’re kind.
The only thing I don’t like about you is that shitting on yourself attitude”
While I’ve gotten over the need for external validation or the opinions of people who I’ve learned to ignore. When someone whose opinion you value and a mentor you look up to says something like that. It hit’s different as GenZ’s say. . . the only reason I say genz stuff is because of my friend mini who I talk to every day so don’t judge me.
Nate saw something in me when no one else did. Long before I was able to say my mantra You’re Enough, You Create Your Own Reality, . . . and you’re cute Nate was there to say you are valuable and loved. My mom says that all the time, but I could be anything and she would say that because as kind as I am she’s got me beat on that front.
I felt like Miles Morales at that moment. Here someone I looked up to was telling me I had a spark that only I could bring into the world I just had to leap and believe in myself.
It finally felt like I was synchronizing. Tuning into the rhythm of my heart.
What’s the rhythm in yours?
Much Love LBM ❤
