Discover The Loneliness In Your Mind

I arrived in the mountains yesterday. I stopped at a favorite spot to snap a picture. It was the perfect time of the day for it. The sun starting to set. The colors bursting. And for the most part, the world was still.

Shortly after that stop, a dear friend sent me a musical composition that a choral group she sings with is working on for a concert. I will confess, choral arrangements in my inbox don't often feel like things of magic when I see them arrive. But make no mistake, with this piece, I did receive a piece of magic.

The piece is titled "Music of Stillness" by Elaine Hagenberg.

It is based on the poem "There Will Be Rest" by Sara Teasdale.

The poem goes like this:

There will be rest, and sure stars shining
Over the rooftops crowned with snow,
A reign of rest, serene forgetting,
The music of stillness holy and low.

I will make this world of my devising
Out of a dream in my lonely mind.
I shall find the crystal of peace,—above me
Stars I shall find.

I think sometimes we miss the reign of rest because we refuse to let our minds get lonely. We live in a world where it is harder than ever to let our minds get lonely; we live in the information age. To a large degree, maybe it is that information that dethrones the reign of rest.

I stood on that hillside, staring out into the distance. The sheep grazing on a far away hill. The colors, fighting to hang on before falling forever to the ground, as if knowing this is their only season to shine. The sun, fading, another day's work is done.

I found a crystal of peace looking out there.

A peace made of my devising.

A peace formed inside my lonely mind.

I encourage you to allow your mind a few moments of loneliness today. It can feel intimidating, I know, as if a mind broken free from the world is no longer of value to the world. But you know, sometimes the world wants to show off its value too.

Maybe the world wants us to stop writing songs for a moment, just long enough to hear the songs the world has already written.

And maybe there, in the world we devise, in the loneliness of our mind, holding our crystal of peace, we will come to write the most beautiful songs of all.

I encourage you to listen to the song below.

It is indeed magic. ​