Little Sachets Of Hope and Peace
Finding a silver lining in the pandemic
2020 has surely been one of the darkest years for all of us, and the news has been nothing but dispiriting. Keeping a check on our mental health while slowly testing our waters to adapt and swim through these waves is our Everest to conquer these days. The “new normal” is not what I look forward to, nor do I long for the old ways. I covet a change that brings about a harmonious lifestyle, and that’s a long way to go. But I’m not writing this to talk about what changes we need to make, nor do I expect us to flip 180 by the end of this letter. No. I want to tell you about the greener side of the grass, where I’ve been looking and found little sachets of hope and peace. I want to share them with you, and I pray you find some sachets for yourself too.
A few little things
Though I don’t have the greenest of thumbs, I do seek comfort in Mother Nature in order to silence the voices in my head and look on the bright side. With a lot going on and us being confined to isolated spaces, my mind started running out. I began looking around me to pacify my thoughts, and I didn’t see much, not at first at least, but then I squinted my eyes a little harder and started to notice a few little things.
I noticed the air got a little cleaner, and that made me wake up without sneezing every morning. I noticed that people started picking up projects that they had kept shelved for years. I noticed people spending more time being kind and compassionate towards each other. I noticed wildlife visiting the concrete jungle. I noticed the sounds of the birds I had never seen before chirping on my balcony.
I soon sought comfort in these, and it was the closest I could get to Mother Nature. The trees, the birds, and the breeze helped me ease up a little.
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Breathe a little slower.
The universe is made up of frequencies, and I believe that we just need to find the right ones for us to be in phase with. Not to take a philosophical walk, but there’s a way music works with the mind that may not be quite as direct as visual media but still leaves a mark. With the right music, one can either be agitated or relaxed. I wanted the latter, so I started digging the internet for it and, soon, found an artist from the land of the rising sun whose music serves this very purpose.
“I wanted to make music the same way that Picasso paints.” - Takashi Kokubo
The Japanese sound engineer and composer from the 1980s made conscious decisions in his sound design to sculpt beautiful albums of ambient music, or kankyō ongaku (environmental music), that are directed to calm the mind and soothe the soul. The sonics included a blend of raw, untouched nature with melodious bells and harps that enthralled you. While Spotify doesn’t have most of his work, you can stream his albums on YouTube. My personal favorite is The Day I Saw The Rainbow from his Ion Series.
In a recent interview with The Japan Times, Takashi Kokubo stated that his approach to music and sound design is to try and breathe a little slower, which is something that we all need at this hour.
A little hope.
Battling our inner demons while keeping a smile on our face has always been romanticized by our generation, but, of late, it has become a little extra hard for us, finding ourselves lost amidst chaos. I hope that whenever you feel a little lost, this letter finds you, picks you up, helps you breathe a little slower, and assures you that everything is going to be all right.
