”I am not a journey person. I am a destination person. I hate the trip. I just can’t wait until I reach the destination and once I’m at the destination, then I can enjoy myself. This year I’m going to focus on enjoying the journey.”
A woman shared this with me at a yoga retreat. After our conversation, I wanted to help her enjoy the journey more (because I freaking love the journey). So I came home and recorded this new episode of The Cha Wilde Show, which resulted in this new song “Hello My Love”, to help her and you, anyone who feels distracted by the destination, to find presence, to enjoy the journey and to enjoy life more deeply. Listen and let me know if this helps you. Send me a message. or comment at the bottom.
The other ladies at the yoga retreat said:
“I’m turning 60 this year, so to celebrate, every day this year I’m enjoying myself fully that day. Every day will make a big celebratory year. If I die at the end of the year, it’s okay because I had a good year.”
”It’s been a hard year of doing what needs to be done. Every day I go through the list and every night I go to bed feeling heavy knowing that I have to wake up the next morning and go through it all again. I’m just searching for some presence because it’s all going by so fast.”
”Every year, I’ve been so focused on forgiving other people. This year, I just want to focus on myself and getting to know myself better.”
These comments rolled in my mind all weekend. Everybody just wants to feel present. I hope I can help even just a little bit with this new episode. I sat in my garage and created a song that I could imagine myself listening to while on a road trip. I LOVE the journey, the traveling on trains, cars and boats. I love land travel (not so much air travel but it’s still impressive). The journey fills me with joy. I love the new scenery. Rather than just telling you how much I love it, it’s best to show you. In this video I’ve included video footage of me recording this podcast in my studio PLUS footage of me out in the world on my journeys, my adventures with friends and epic scenery. I hope my joy for the journey is just a little bit contagious and inspires you to go find some “journey joy” for yourself. ;)
TOOLS FOR YOUR JOURNEY
Take a deep breath. Wiggle your toes. Experience the world through your senses.
Anticipatory Pleasure vs. Consummatory Pleasure — Listen to EDM drops! As in EDM, so in life, the drop is satisfying because of the build up. There is pleasure in the moments of the journey and pleasure in looking forward to the destination. It’s the whole package. You as a human, include beginnings, middles and endings at all times. Enjoy BOTH the journey and the destination; not one or the other. Don’t deny yourself the joy of the destination. Enjoy both, dancing together.
Journal. Write letters to yourself in someone else’s voice; the voice of a wiser being who knows exactly what you need to hear. You can time travel through your life and remember your journey and see your growth. Write about anything. I don’t care how old you are or how many times you’ve tried and failed at journaling. Try again. Start creating your library. You’re going to write a lot of shit and along the way you’ll find some gems.
Practice. Your practice will always be there at any moment and you can go to it at any moment as your portal to enter the presence. Breathing practice. Meditation. Yoga. Piano. Running. Your practice brings you into the now. Find things in life that you choose to make your practice; they become your foundation that you stand on and your train track that you travel down. Walk down the same road regularly. Go on vacation to the same place. Place yourself next to something steady so you can observe your fluctuating self. You’ll start to notice the changes and growth in yourself and this will spark your interest in your journey. Build a relationship with your practice and the present moment so it becomes a friend calling your name. How are you going to build a relationship with the present so you look forward to spending time with it? If you want to be present, you need to know what the present is and what you love about it and why you want it. You have to know what you want if you’re going to get it.
Play good music! Music themed with your destination helps build anticipation pleasure. Our destination is feeling our body. Choose music that wakes up your body and makes you want to dance, that stimulates all your chakras so you feel enlivened.
SOUNDS CREATED IN THIS SONG
Cha’s ujjai breath — atmospheric sound like the ocean or wind, starting with the breath to become present, to connect with a basic primal rhythm that always brings us into the moment, stimulated chakra #6
Cha’s fingers snapping in various locations in relation to microphone — humans can easily engage with this action (snapping), ignites the willpower and action that we need to move forward on our journey, moving us so we don’t feel stagnant, snapping our attention back to the present moment, stimulates chakra #3
Layering multiple snaps to creating a richer, deeper, more dynamic, stimulating, satisfying feeling; power of community and coming together
Used the breath (inhale) as a riser to build anticipation. The journey is all about anticipation. EDM drop is all about the build (anticipation) and the release of the drop. They come as a pair.
Train sounds to trigger subconscious visions and memories of traveling, journeying by trains. Real life sound effects can be used for all sorts of background vibes, and manipulated to resemble other instruments. It add thematic texture.
Guitar Loop that makes me want to sing! Whenever we find a sound that inspires vocals to flow out, we go with it. Flow with the inspiration, whatever is coming in naturally. For the first takes of the vocal tracks, I just opened my journal and started reading out loud, singing the words I wrote months ago. Sing your journal out loud and don’t be afraid of being cheesy.
Drums that have a punchy, grinding vibe to add some edge to the song which was starting to sound predictable, stimulate chakra #2
Breaking up our vocal takes into percussive beats to create an interesting melody or percussion rhythm that connects with the voice and then lining up the vocal beats with the drum loop to harmonize or replace the drum beats, chakra #5
Search for rhyming words (for lyrics) at Rhymezone.com — if you can’t find a good rhyme, go in a new direction. Near rhythms, no thank you.
Play keyboard and experiment with grand piano, glass piano and synth sounds until the sound is delicious. Stimulates chakra #4
Cello to add deep rich feeling in the chest. Adds so much character. Stimulates chakra #4
FROM MY JOURNAL
A LETTER TO CHA FROM GOD / Oct 12, 2019
Hello my love,
A while it has been, so lonely in the present without you,
although not more of an ache, a longing to be with you in the here and now,
Fire is a gift for you this year and always.
Sit still with her as she moves you.
You’re doing a beautiful job of doing the work; so many temptation have jumped at you
and slayed them one by one you have cleared space, engaged and progressed.
You’re learning so quickly and sowing so many seeds in a plentiful rich soil,
and the harvesting is on its way.
You will see fruits of your focused labor so soon.
Enjoy this moment of the journey; each step is cherished and essential.
Do not worry, you’re perfectly on course. Keep moving and
move in the stillness.
Love, Cha
LYRICS EXTRACTED FROM MY PHONE NOTES
I go to new places so I can feel like me.
I came back and everything was different.
I’m chasing the invisible and I can’t see where I’m going
I suppose it doesn’t matter
The pathway is still showing and I am still knowing.
Oh, wow how beautiful this day is,
This journey away from home to return home.
You feel most like yourself when you’re far away from home;
out there you see what’s important enough to bring with you.
I could travel the world singing for strangers but I would rather sing for my friends.
I keep trying to make the strangers my friends but I can’t seem to keep them.
HERE’S THE FINAL SONG WE CREATED.
still need a little more? here you go…
Gil Frosdale reminds me that we can choose “the beautiful way.” What is the beautiful way to travel, to do your work, to move through your daily tasks? You’ve probably been told to choose to fast way, the efficient way, the kind way or the fun way. HOW are you being? HOW, what is your energy, your intention, your vibe as you are acting, approaching the projects of your life. Are you rushing? Worried? Are you drifting? Zoning out? Obsessing and tight? Distracted? What does your body feel like? What’s the quality of your being, your state of being, your experience of the moment, the sensations in your body? Are you focused on the destination and what are you promising yourself in that destination? Are you telling yourself that the destination is peaceful, beautiful, enriching, in ways that the journey is not? What if everything you’re looking forward to in that destination is already traveling with you? What if whatever you’re looking for is already right here, inside you, inside the present moment? Your journey is just the movement of your body and consciousness through space and time toward one destination after the other. You’re driving in the car toward a yoga retreat. The yoga retreat is the destination. Once you’re at the yoga retreat, then you’re journeying between your bed and the kitchen, then to the yoga studio, then down the forest path. Little destinations inside your bigger destination. Your entire day is comprised of journeys and destinations. The question then is not whether you are journey or arriving. The question is how are you journeying and how are you arriving. Are you full here, engaged with each part of the living process?
If you have a moment to jump down an eloquent well curated rabbit hole, read these blog posts from Brain Pickings (see links below). They shed light on the topic of journeying from a slightly different angle. This first article is a reminder of how we love. Can you bring this loving quality to every part of your life; the journey and the destination? How to Love: Legendary Zen Buddhist Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on Mastering the Art of “Interbeing” This second article is a reminder of how we try to segment our lives, organize ourselves into pieces. We divide ourselves into a person who works, a person who loves, a person who plays. So many sides of us. Of course we go crazy if we’re so divided, it’s multitasking constantly. Remember that you are one being, one dynamic whole, a galaxy of dancing stars that are ONE. Poet and Philosopher David Whyte on Fulfillment Beyond the Limiting Notion of Work/Life Balance
What can you do with your talents, your resources, your passions, your skills so you can help uplift other people when you hear their needs? Today, I’m thrilled to use my skills as a composer, music producer, songwriter, to play with sounds and explore this idea of journeying and arriving in the present moment as we travel to a destination. A life of constant journeying and constant arriving. Let’s use musical creativity as as playground. Listen to this new episode of The Cha Wilde Show if you’re on your journey of learning how to enjoy the journey.
what to do now?
check out my newest paintings — I just turned them into yoga leggings you can buy in my online shop!
LOVE,
CHA🍍WILDE
