Blue

Feeling Blue

I had this question come up in one of my English Conversation classes - What is feeling blue? When I looked up in the dictionary what I thought would be words that would be considered similes they were all too drastic: despondent, despair, hopeless. ooooh, ick. o.k. - just a bit over the top.

Yesterday, for no reason I could pinpoint I had "the blues." It was a pretty day, I had a social event to attend that I was looking forward to, I was getting out of our box, I mean house. So I had to wonder why. Why does the mood shift? Sometimes that's very easy to pinpoint, something directly happens to make you happy or sad. But not yesterday, yesterday I was hit with a bad case of apathy. Even though I thrive on setting goals, I couldn't bring myself to sit down at the computer and write an entry on this blog. It wasn't for lack of inspiration, I have more ideas bouncing around in my head than I have time to jot them all down. I just didn't care.

I suppose we can all allow ourselves a day of feeling "off." But who wants to spend an entire day like that? If I can't seem to snap out of it then I look to others for help or inspiration.

This is where Matt Harding comes in - he has a YouTube video - it has been out since 2008 (he has a couple of earlier versions but this one is the best) - called Where the Hell is Matt? If you have not had a chance to see this please take a moment to check it out. I promise you, you will have a smile on your face at the end of the video. So when I'm feeling blue, or just want to laugh, I go to the above link for 4:29 minutes of joy watching a goofy guy, do the same goofy dance in 42 countries. I particularly love the Demilitarized Zone in Korea and Gurgaon, India. I also find the music inspiring. The song is Prann by Garry Schyman and the lyrics are adapted from Stream of Life from Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. I have the song (which you can buy from iTunes) on my iPod and I think it's on most of my workout mixes - I find it a great song to start off my workout. The lyrics are beautiful and inspiring...


Stream of Life
by Rabindranath Tagore

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.