Stop: Take a moment, look, listen and contemplate
In the Moment
Sometimes a natural phenomenon just stops you in your tracks and forces you to be in the moment.
That happened to me the other day just as the sun was setting. I was listening to my Daily Mix 1 playlist on Spotify, a set of music drawn from my favourite relaxing composers - Ólafur Arnalds, Max Richter and Anna Sofia Nord, among others.
The playlist had just moved on to Slow Meadow, a recent discovery suggested by Spotify's clever algorithm. Slow Meadow is an American solo music project founded in Houston, Texas by multi-instrumentalist Matt Kidd. Matt writes pastoral, deeply-felt compositions creating atmospheric, ambient, chamber music.
Boy in a Water Globe
As the poetically-named Boy in a Water Globe started to play in my headphones, the music took me in to the garden to be alone with its calming sounds. I wanted to be in the fresh air with the birdsong in the background and to lose myself in the moment.
It was gone 5.30pm and the day was grey and unremarkable. So I was unprepared for the beauty of the sunset revealed to the right and West over the garden fence, as I walked slowly across the lawn.
As I stopped and turned to face the sunset, a violin wave from Boy in a Water Globe surged in my ears. My eyes took in the cloud patterns, contrasting with the dark shadows of the arteries of the winter trees and the blue, pink and yellow colours formed by the sky and setting sun.
Take My Breath Away
It was a breath-takingly, beautiful moment. As sound and vision perfectly intermingled. So calming at the end of a working day! Try it. I recommend taking a moment to stop, look, listen, contemplate and wonder. As I did.
Listen
You can listen to Slow Meadow's Boy in a Water Globe by clicking on the link below.