Non-Stop Montage

My February has been, in a word, shit.
A series of things happened that took me all over the place emotionally, and the fact that so many of them happened all at once was just breathtaking.
What grounded me? We all have our health still. Nobody died. I have a couple of people who just, well, get me.
My number-one salvation, though, was music. When a day had completely sucker-punched me, or, as was the case, several days in a row, and I would sit back and think, what the HELL was that?, it was music that brought things into perspective.
And thanks to a couple of like-minded friends, I discovered a lot of new music. Music for sadness. Music for inspiration. Music for kicking mental ass.
It made me think, why can't life be a more or less nonstop music montage? I say "more or less" because I know that the danger of having something around all the time can make you tune it out. Familiarity breeds contempt, you know?
In the movies, when a music montage is played, what happens? A LOT of shit gets done. The first time I really understood this, I was nine and watching Revenge of the Nerds. I think the song went something like, "You put one foot in front of the other foot, and the other foot down, down, down." By the time that was over, guess what happened? THE WHOLE DAMN HOUSE WAS RENOVATED. And it was a seriously dilapidated house, folks. It should probably have been condemned. But they had completely restored it, on a college student budget, within one song!
How can you not love that concept?
There were many music montages in my life from that point forth. Rocky in training. Assorted people undergoing some sort of life-altering transformation. All good stuff.
That is the backbone of my long-term practice to keep music playing in my life as often as possible. I have it loaded on my computer. On my phone. XM Radio fills the void in my car. Or my backup CD collection. I even have some cassettes stashed around here somewhere. No more records, sadly.
I miss records.
Music playing reminds me that, no matter what, there is beauty in the world. I see it in nature, and I appreciate it. But with that current of music added, it's like Life 2.0. It takes me a little further. It makes me a little better.
Even if it doesn't, it feels like it does, and really, don't we make our own reality?
The songs that have made me happy this month include:
1. All My Days, Alexi Murdoch
2. The Loneliness and the Scream, Frightened Rabbit
3. F@$$ Was I, Jenny Owen Youngs
4. Stubborn Love, The Lumineers (whole album is pretty good)
5. San Francisco, The Mowgli's
6. L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N, Noah and the Whale
7. Past Lives, Langhorne Slim and the Law
8. Cut it Out, Kitten
9. Don't Say Oh Well, Grouplove
10. I Can't Cry No More, Heartpunch
Really great. That doesn't even count the dozens of others I listen to on a daily basis, but they're some recent favorites.
Find your own montage. Make your own happiness.
You may not get that house renovated in two minutes, but you'll feel like you can take on the world.
Or at least like the world won't eat you.