The importance of wallowing

The Eels latest album "End Times" is unofficially called "My Divorce Album" by its creator. He mourns the loss of his love. http://www.eelstheband.com/

The song "Little Bird" can officially make me cry real, official tears every time I hear it. I'm intrigued by this concept and act of wallowing. I'm intrigued by the art that it inspires. The references to this are endless.

A good friend, a literary genius if I may say who may someday be a collaborative blogger, was going through the unraveling of his own marriage and pointed out - how much music would there be if there wasn't lost love? It's an interesting point. How much Art would there be in general if there wasn't complete and utter loss? This quickly becomes a deep philosophical discussion about our need for pain to appreciate the good things. I think we can come back to that at a later time.

I'm grateful to have a group of close friends who are amazingly deep thinkers. I plan to pose that question the next time we indulge in wine, good food, and profound conversation. This is one of those cliches where someone needs to interject, "So did you solve all the world's problems?" chuckle chuckle. Not really. The real story is that we are working moms or single women ages 25 to 40 in this city and we end up being amateur sociologists, psychologists, and anthropoligists (that might encompass the other 2 ologists anyway...) It's interesting to try to view things from a step back, an observant vantage point. Sorry but in my stream of consciousness style, this becomes a segue to yet another musical reference on the new Ben Folds album. http://benfolds.com/

If you're not familiar with this one, his new album "Lonley Avenue" (again with wallowing?) is a collaboration with Nick Hornby. Also, in case you don't know this, Nick Hornby is a writer - he wrote "High Fidelity", which happens to be in my top 20 favorite movies. Having his literary talent combined with Ben Folds music is worth a listen, if not a buy. While I'm not the biggest fan of Ben Folds historically, I am in love with the lyrics on this particular album. Check out the song that inspired me to give his album a chance "From Above".

Anyway, I appreciate the thought that it is "so easy from above". If we can step back, we're able to see things more clearly, from a state closer to detachment than when we are right in the middle of the drama. So, while I wish I could claim that there is NEVER judgement involved in our discussions, that wouldn't be an honest statement. Yet, we are definitely not approaching our discussions with a fault finding attitude. It's more inspired by curiosity toward human behavior and the evolution of our species mentally and emotionally. So... if I apply visible art to my life...

If I created a quilt comprised of the fabric of my life's experiences, it would be patchworks of bright color and an alternating patchwork of sad colors. I'm grateful to say it wouldn't be one solid color. It wouldn't be the green of living in one place for my whole life. It wouldn't be the red of being in one long term relationship for my whole life. It definitely wouldn't be the blue of being on one career path for my whole life. It might look a little bit like Joseph's technicolor dreamcoat.

In my previous post, I mentioned Karen Salmansohn's book "The Prince Harming Syndrome". Check out her website : http://notsalmon.com/ Viewing each person who crosses our path, whether we perceive their influence to be negative or positive, teaches us something. So, without the person who pushed me into a new life, my dreamcoat might be solid green... not so dreamy.

Here's another thread : The "Fool" tarot card, which shows a "fool" in colorful motley clothes, pack tied to a staff, a small dog, and a cliff, symbolizes infinite possibilities. It's an interesting connection between color and possibilities. I don't know very much about tarot, astrology, or other similar studies. I am just excited about the variety of beliefs that have been carried through history. From an aerial view once again, I'm going to quote Death Cab for Cutie, "They're all different names for the same things." So, on that note, I make the decision to live or die by the fortune in the cookie I just received with my delivered Chinese lunch... ready.... "Emotion is energy in motion". Okay.