Contemplating life at 35,000 feet

Another Long Flight

I am sitting at 35 thousand feet heading home from the most amazing two months. The island of Kauai is one of the most magical places I’ve ever been. As I look back on my intentions to blog daily and get some new music created and be busy for this long two months, I realize number one, that it went by like it was two hours. Secondly that I accomplished none of what I set out to accomplish and thirdly it was the most amazing experience to be in this place. I was very present each day. I did play music. I was the drummer for the Kauai Vibe Tribe, And I learned how to play “Blackbird”, one of my favorite Beatles songs on the guitar.

Going With the Flow

One of the things about this trip is that I learned a lot about the difference between setting intention, scheduling, and being in the flow of life. It seems with my busy schedule I have a tendency to put my head down and barrel forward not stopping to smell the roses or in this case swim with the dolphins.  Halfway through the trip I thought to myself “boy you have not done a thing!”. And then as I’m flying home I’m thinking to myself, “wow you did so much!”. I’m realizing the value of perspective.  I am also reevaluating the difference between doing and being. Because although on my list of tasks I may not have done much, I was more present than I’ve ever been in my life!

Being vs Doing

So this leads me to something to speak about. How much of our lives do we spend  “doing” and how much of our life is spent being in the flow of joy, happiness, and fulfillment. This past two months has awakened in me an aspect of peace, tranquility, inspiration, and joy that I do not ever remember having. I have met a new group of amazing people, I have played with some delightful musicians, and I have swum with the magic dolphins! It seems like every time we went to the ocean the Dolphins were there. One funny story is that I told a group that came for retreat that we would see dolphins Tuesday at 10::30 AM.  One of the workshop members said to me “you can’t make an appointment with Dolphins!” I didn’t say a word. But as we walked down secret beach…

Making an Appointment with the Dolphins

When we hit beach three they started jumping! And we had a wonderful time swimming with the dolphins.

As we engage our lives in the pleasure of living, we can ensure a greater degree of joy then living with the challenge of productivity. Not that there are not times that we dig in our heels stay up late at night and work hard, but the lion’s share of our life, if spent in the pleasure of living, will reduce stress and expand the joy beyond imagination. So I challenge you all in a pleasurable way, to look at the activities of your life and see if perhaps a swim with the dolphins might just be the ticket! Or perhaps drumming under the full moon! Let me know what you think.

By Toby Christensen

Toby Christensen, The Healing Drummer, is a recognized expert and innovator in the field of healing music. “Change Your Rhythm and Change Your Life” is the foundation of his healing therapies, his teachings, and his music.

1 comment

  1. I think both swimming w/ the dolphins and drumming under the full moon would be the ticket! I do agree, as we give ‘time’ the power to be the dictator of our lives, life becomes about numbers, deadlines, schedules, and with that the To-Do List.

    Your blog on this couldn’t have been more perfect timing. The new moon this month brought reflection more potentally in my personal world. I was thinking of all the things I have really enjoyed doing and what I wanted to accomplish with them as well. I became aware that some of those things had just become an added thing to my to-do list. For me personally they were things I just wanted to cross off my list or like a road map just one dot to get through before I reach my destination.

    “Where is the enjoyment that I felt in this before?” is initially what my thoughts were one day and so I stopped and thought about what drew me to my enjoyment of this activity when I first began…

    A little off topic I was reflecting on what I admire about Japanese culture (what’s not to admire? in my opinion) and I was thinking of how a lot of Japanese culture is deeply rooted in the arts and mastering these different art forms, but more so in the mindset of searching yourself and finding purpose which is called Ikigai- which means ‘something important that one lives for’ and ‘a reason for being’.

    So to fuse the two paragraphs above, I began looking at what I enjoy doing as an art form, (without the baggage of the ego ie competativeness and the need for perfection), but pure enjoyment and purpose….the magic and wonder has returned to me.

    Balancing doing w/ being leaves us with endless possibilites of enjoyment, but also allows us to live in “the flow of joy, happiness,and fulfillment” as you mentioned. Thanks for reinforcing this, as it is a simple reminder to be fully present as well in whatever I’m engaged in. There is so much wonder in the world that we miss out on because we forget to stop and smell the roses, swim with the dolphins, or fully enjoy what it is we are doing. 🙂

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