Stopped In My Tracks

Tuesday Jan. 24:

After completing the writing exercise in class I began to think about the past, when I was just a kid. For that exercise I ended up writing about one experience in 6th that meant very much to me. That was the year that I became very involved in the music department at my school. I was in the school choir as well as played the trumpet in the middle school band. I look back at that year with nostalgia because I recall feeling, carefree, happy, and free of stress, nothing compared to the rhythm of college. In my writing I described a scene in which I am anticipating attending one of my band recitals and then go on to describe with metaphors what I felt when I was actually there. I described how the instrument felt in my hands, how the music sounded to my ears. Prior to this writing exercise I had never sat down to write about a meaningful event in my life in such a short period of time. Probably if this had been a formal paper that I had to write about myself I would have never chosen this event. I would have probably have thoroughly thought out a more appropriate event to describe who I am. In my opinion having to write on such a short notice allowed me to be more free with my thoughts and feelings, it brought out my subconscious, things that I had not thought about in years. Here is an expert of that piece of writing:

"Tick, tick, tick" the day seemed to drag on forever as I stared at the clock on the wall. I could hear my English teacher's voice in background, reading the longest most boring story she had ever chosen to read. As I sat there in my desk all I wanted to do was rush to band practice. I wanted to feel the smooth, shiny, gold body of my trumpet between my fingers as I produced note after note for all to enjoy. To untrained eyes my sheet of music was foreign language but not for me. I navigated through that sheet of music like an expert sailor through calm seas and ranging storms. When I began playing I could think about nothing else, I knew just were to go, exactly what to do..."


Friday Jan. 26:

I shut the door behind my back and plumped down on the nearest sofa. I was not only physically tired but also mentally tired. The school week was finally over, the weekend was near. These are often the feelings one gets when we focus on something for such a long. It is often those kinds of days that I feel that we wrap ourselves in our goals and neglect to look beyond them. We become engulfed in academics and neglect to see the big picture. As I sat there on that sofa I tried to imagine were I would be in 5, 10, even 20 years. These thoughts stopped me in my tracks. There were in fact numerous constants that I wanted my life to always have: family, love, education, travel, security among other things.
Sunday Jan. 29:

Browsing through Netflix I came across a movie called "The Secret". According to this movie the power of the mind is extremely great and has no limits. The movie professes that if you set your minds to accomplish something and are always positive about it will become true due to the law of attraction. You do not have to know how you will accomplish something, you only have to believe that it is true. For example, if you want to become a doctor, teacher, lawyer, rich, you have to think about those goals as if there is no doubt in your mind that they will become true. Of course I was immediately suspicious and skeptical of what I was hearing. The movie was created in a way that forced the viewer to at least attempt to believe that what they were hearing was actually true. This is because it was composed of interviews of people for whom the "Secret" was a reality. Regardless of the promises that this movie makes, one thing that I am positive about is the power of the mind. The mind may not be a miracle worker but it does have great power in our lives. The state of mind in which we find ourselves often defines the  directions and decisions we make in life.