In an ideal world

That’s a phrase often used when you’re in a defeated mindset. It is often followed by something that we don’t think is possible.

e.g. In an ideal world we would be able to overcome these injustices.

If in an ideal world us as society, as humanity would be able to overcome the injustices then why can’t it happen.

It’ll take much more than a day or 2 but if you cared enough to think it or to say it, then maybe it’s worth trying.

We as people make the world what it is collectivley, it’s not so seperate from us that we have no impact.

As The Drifters song goes ‘you just have to wish to make it so’. It takes much more than a wish alone but it doesn’t mean that, that’s not where change can begin.

Everybody’s got a thing

Everybody is going through something, you’re not alone.

It’s like that Pfunk song goes ‘I’ve got a thing, you’ve got a thing, everybody’s got a thing,

And so if each one of us has a thing that we’re dealing with alongside living our lives then we shouldn’t use that as an excuse.

It is so easy to use your life circumstances as the reasons why you can’t do the things you daydream about. You might find yourself saying or thinking:

If it wasn’t for…

I know it can get difficult (I’ve got a thing too, remember) but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t even try.

All you need

And maybe all you need to do is take a deep breath and let go. You have the opportunity to take control of the way you want to feel even though you may not realise it.

It’s often only when you decide that you want something more or something different that you become aware of what is available to you.

Suddenly you find that ‘all of us are here, awaiting you’ and the love, support or kindness is almost overwhelming.

And I’m sharing these words as someone who has experienced them.

The importance of a helping hand

With age I’ve come to understand the importance of a helping hand. I think it was the words ‘everybody needs a hand to hold, to pick you up when you fall’ from the song If you lean on me by California Dreams.

The song was about being there to support the person you care about. To some it may have just been cheesy 90s pop (California Dreams was a fictional band from a tv show) but to me it really meant something.

It’s important to vocalise to people that you’re there if they need you. Lending a helping hand can be as small as holding the door for someone carrying a box, giving someone back something they’ve dropped or checking in with someone because you care not just because they’re going through something.

It’s really just about extending kindness to me and having that awareness that we all have things going on in our lives.

Music and feelings

Whilst listening to the songs, I also read the comments.

This music was making people feel something and bringing them joy. It’s nice to think about how this singer is capable of doing that to people he’s never met, the majority of which he will never meet.

I even found myself smiling, feeling inspired even. I felt like writing. I sat listening to the words and feeling the music. One song in particular that stood out to me had the words ‘We’re just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me’.

The music evoked a sense of longing and nostalgia.