Hiii,

 

I've had a lot of random thoughts floating around lately.

 

Serious. Strange.

 

So..

 

I figured I'd let you into my head for a minute.

 

Here are five things I've been thinking about recently.

 

 

 

 

 

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to become more spiritually aware while still living in a physical world.

 

Because those two things can sometimes feel like they're pulling in opposite directions.

 

You can become more aware of yourself, your thoughts, your energy, your connection to other people, the universe, whatever you believe exists beyond what we can see…

 

but you're still here.

 

You still have bills.

 

You still get hungry.

 

You still get annoyed in traffic.

 

You still have relationships and responsibilities and a body that needs sleep.

 

And sometimes I think there's a temptation to lean too far in one direction.

 

To become so focused on the spiritual that you forget you're actually living a life.

 

But I've started wondering if the physical world is actually part of the point.

 

Maybe being spiritually aware doesn't mean escaping the physical world.

 

Maybe it means experiencing it differently.

 

Being able to appreciate something as simple as sitting outside, hearing a song, watching the sky change, talking to someone you love…

 

and realizing that those ordinary things are still part of whatever this strange experience of being alive actually is.

 

I'm still figuring that one out.

 

 

 

 

I've also been thinking about music.

 

Specifically, why so much of the music around us seems to carry some kind of sadness.

 

Even when the song isn't necessarily sad.

 

There's nostalgia everywhere.

 

Longing.

 

Heartbreak.

 

Wanting to go somewhere else.

 

Wanting something that used to exist.

 

Wanting to be someone we used to be.

 

I find that fascinating.

 

Because maybe music is just reflecting the world around us.

 

Maybe we're living in a time where we're constantly looking backward because what is in front of us is unfamiliar or not what we thought the world would be by this time.

 

And then there's the bigger question:

 

Does society create the music, or does music help create society?

 

Do we listen to sad music because we're sad?

 

Or do we become more comfortable sitting inside sadness because music gives us a beautiful place to put it?

 

I don't know.

 

But I think there's something really interesting happening there.

 

Maybe we're not just listening to music.

 

Maybe we're listening to ourselves.

 

 

 

 

This one might be my favorite.

 

How is it possible to hear something another person created and feel so deeply connected to it?

 

Someone you've never met writes a song.

 

They've lived an entirely different life.

 

They've had experiences you'll never have.

 

They sit somewhere and put words together that came from their head.

 

And then you hear it.

 

And suddenly you're thinking about your own life.

 

Your own memories.

 

Your own person.

 

Your own heartbreak.

 

Your own happiness.

 

Sometimes you hear a line and think,

 

“How did they know?”

 

But they didn't know.

 

They were writing about themselves.

 

So what exactly are we connecting to?

 

Is it the person?

 

The idea?

 

The emotion?

 

Some kind of shared human experience?

 

Maybe we're recognizing something in another person's expression that already existed inside us.

 

Maybe that's why music can feel so intimate.

 

You're not necessarily connecting to the person who made the song.

 

You're connecting to the part of yourself that the song managed to reach.

 

 

This one is a little weirder.

 

But I genuinely believe some animals have a mystical quality to them.

 

I can't really explain it.

 

And that's what makes it interesting.

 

Take an owl.

 

If I told you I thought an owl was a magical creature, you'd probably understand exactly what I meant.

 

An owl sitting in a tree at night just feels mysterious.

 

Ravens.

 

Foxes.

 

Moths.

 

Deer.

 

Butterflies.

 

There are certain animals that seem to carry something with them.

 

But then I have to ask myself why.

 

Because if I said,

 

“I think pigs are mystical creatures,”

 

people might look at me like I've completely lost my mind.

 

And yet pigs are intelligent, social, fascinating animals.

 

So why don't we instinctively give them the same mysterious quality?

 

Why does one animal make us think of magic, folklore and ancient forests…

 

while another just makes us think of pens, slop, and mud.

 

Maybe it's the way certain animals move.

 

Maybe it's where we tend to encounter them.

 

Maybe it's the stories we've told about them for thousands of years.

 

Maybe we've collectively decided which animals are magical.

 

Or maybe…

 

some of them really do carry a quality that we can't quite explain.

 

 

 

And finally…

 

grandfather clocks.

 

I have no idea why I've been thinking about these lately.

 

But here we are.

 

There's something about an old grandfather clock that I find completely captivating.

 

The craftsmanship.

 

The wood.

 

The glass.

 

The tiny mechanisms hidden inside.

 

The pendulum slowly moving back and forth.

 

Someone had to make all of those pieces fit together perfectly just so this enormous piece of furniture could sit in a room and quietly keep track of time.

 

And then there's the part that really gets me.

 

A well-made clock can outlive the person who built it.

 

It can outlive the person who bought it.

 

It can sit in the same room through generations of people.

 

People are born.

 

People fall in love.

 

People grow old.

 

People die.

 

The house changes.

 

The family changes.

 

And the clock keeps ticking.

 

Tick.

 

Tock.

 

There's something almost beautiful about how indifferent it is to all of us.

 

We spend our entire lives trying to understand time.

 

Trying to slow it down.

 

Trying to hold onto moments.

 

Trying to remember things before they disappear.

 

And this old machine just sits there, quietly measuring the thing we can never actually touch.

 

Maybe that's what I find so beautiful about them.

 

They're a reminder that we're temporary.

 

But the things we create don't necessarily have to be.

 

 

Well,

 

Those are the five things currently taking up space in my brain.

 

I don't really have answers to any of them.

 

Maybe that's why I've been thinking about them.

 

I've always liked questions that don't immediately need to become answers.

 

Sometimes it's enough to just sit with an idea for a while.

 

So now I'm curious..

 

what have you been thinking about lately?

 

From the clouds,

 

Zookiee