THE GRAMMYS 2016 and ROLLING IN THE DEEP

I tried to watch the Grammys last night. I was hopeful. I like all kinds of music and there are many young up and comings that I listen to on a regular basis. My youngest son keeps me in the loop. He lives in Kansas City which you may or may not know has a happening music scene. It’s a hot spot for Indy bands and my son was born with music running through his veins.

I looked forward to the Grammys this year because I love Adele

and even though I knew she wouldn’t sing Rolling In the Deep, I was looking forward to her performance of her latest hit. I also wanted to hear Lady Gaga’s tribute to David Bowie, and the Eagles of course. It was a disappointment, and I lost all patience when Adele’s performance went south. I felt for her. I was very sure it wasn’t her fault. I just kept wishing they’d stop and start over instead of muddling through. It was painful.

Her response? “Sh… happens!” I wondered if she was just taking the high road, or was really that nonplussed about it. Not a bad attitude to have of course, because she’s absolutely right. How difficult that must have been for her, probably as difficult as it was for us to listen to it…not to mention disappointing. All I could think of was, “do-over, please”. For both of us.

Yet, life goes on, even when it comes to the Grammys. We don’t get do-overs. Rarely at least, and even if we do get a second chance of some sort, previous failures and disappointments rumble in the background of our psyche and we feel tentative and uncertain when we try again or we compensate by striving for perfection.

Like a rock carried along by a river’s current,  we too are carried through life by the force of time. Sometimes it’s a fast, smooth ride. At other times we encounter obstacles that push us to one side or crack us wide open. We find ourselves in pieces or stuck, unable to get back in the flow.

It takes help to get rolling again when this happens. We need a friend to pick us up and help us find our way again, or a new understanding, a new awareness, an epiphany.  It takes courage and decision to find the rock solid core of who we are so that we can get back into the stream of life.

When we’ve been in the stream for a while, rolling along, we become like the rocks I found in Monument Valley last September, all round and soft.  The movement through time smooths our surfaces and rounds our edges and in this state we are more resistant to breakage, more resilient and at ease rolling in the deeper waters of life. Adele knows something of this process. Even though she is young, much younger than you or I, she’s an old soul who is growing up fast…faster than most of us have had to do. Her flip response may be real, or it may be a mask to protect herself. Either way, her response was a good one. She’s developed some resilience. She has a sense of humor about herself and is willing not to take things that are out of one’s control too seriously.

What’s the take away? What can we learn from Adelle’s experience with the Grammys this year? For me, it’s learning the value in taking a step back when life throws us a curve, and to  remember that nothing is perfect…as Wayne Dyer liked to remind us “no thing” is perfect.  There is also value in making it a practice to interact with life, like we are a rock rolling down with a river. It’s not always possible to grab on to the shore, to something solid in life, but it is possible to learn to trust the journey and understand the process – to see life as a process, one that smooths our edges and strengthens our core self. We may not be able to see ahead through the muddy waters, but we can trust that we are a part of something bigger and grander and most assuredly an essential part of the whole.

[tweetthis]It is time to stop wishing, worrying, planning, hoping and dreaming our lives away.[/tweetthis]