August is a transitional month. It is situated between summer and fall. No school, then back to school. The heat of summer followed by an eventual cool-down. And like the other two months of summer, August slides by very quickly. All of a sudden we are all experiencing fall with all of the holidays looming ahead.
I faintly remember way back in my childhood when time seemed to drag. Everything was slow. The summer was long and hot. Fall was cool and far away. Each school day took forever and each month, semester and year was like dealing with infinity. What happened? When and why did things change so drastically? Were the days longer? Were clocks slower? Probably the answer was yes, at least in my mind. There was very little to create blocks of dedicated time. Time allotted to fixed projects and responsibilities. The flow of life connected to a clock.
I suppose that this change in time is part of growing up and maturing. Living a life that is now controlled by segments of time pasted to our collective consciousness. This begins somewhere in our schooling when we start having homework, taking lessons of all kinds and having commitments that we can’t avoid. It’s called responsibility. This is what causes our time to speed up and eventually get out of control. And these responsibilities and commitments start to build up and increase as we grow, and if we are not careful, they take over our lives. We have to learn to live with them and even control them just to keep our sanity and our health in some kind of balance.
How do we lose track of time and escape its control? Music! Music can take us to different places and different times. Music itself is based on time, but it can be flexible time. And it is this kind of time that can relieve us temporarily of burdens that we carry that are seemingly inescapable. We live in an era where music is everywhere. Almost any kind of music is available. We just have to remember to take advantage of its power and its magic. At home. In a car. Using headphones. Etc.
So get back at time. Listen to music and take control of your life. Widen your tastes and appreciation of styles both old and new. And just maybe this enjoyment will help you to live longer. For starters check out Bach, Beethoven, Benny Goodman, Benny Green and the “Bohemian Rhapsody!”