Since almost the beginning of the pandemic, my sisters and I started a weekly family zoom call – to help cheer up my 92 year-old father, who was feeling the isolation of Covid rather starkly.  We are still doing this.  My beloved dad is now 96.  Yesterday on the call, before the conversation gravitated towards what is so unavoidable, my younger sister asked the question, “So what are you doing to stay sane?”  I felt a sense of excitement.  Instead of talking about the things which would bring us all down, we shared what else was going on our lives, and what we do to find balance.  I had a similar conversation with some meditators this past weekend. These are some of the things I heard:

Nature helps.

So does the practice of being kind to everyone we meet.

A “news” diet.

Pausing.

Asking permission before launching into a discussion about “it.”

Time with friends.

Contemplating what we truly have agency over and what we don’t.

Gratitude practice.

Being cheerful to essential workers.

If anyone in a conversation is getting upset about “it” and they put up a hand, the topic is dropped right then and there.

Exercise.

Service to others – all kinds.

Playing music.

Contemplating the aspect of our work that is for the benefit of others.

Meditation practice.

Please add to this list… Make your own list. Surely valuing the balance that underlies all these actions will…

help us build our reserves.

help us open to the suffering of others with compassion.

remind us of the richness of our lives.

help us find the beauty in ordinary things.

connect us to our lives more intimately.

open the possibility for harnessing our creativity.

make us more resilient — and nicer — people.

—— —— —— ——

I’ve been auditing an terrific class at the New England Conservatory where I am still teaching jazz piano (part time).  The class is called Jazz Composition for Performers, taught by my friend Frank Carlberg.  He offers students concrete ways to get started writing so that they aren’t staring at a blank page waiting to get inspired: ways to construct a good melody from a few fragments, ways to put two chords together which then suggests a sequence, ways to expand and think about the blues for, ways to hear the music in poetry. Under assignment deadlines, I am getting some new work done, music entering the world that wouldn’t otherwise have been there.

AND I get to bring this music to my band “Heart of Hearing.”  The four of us meet for a two-hour rehearsal every month preparing for our steady “First Wednesday of the Month” 7:00 PM gig at the Lilypad in Inman Square, Cambridge MA.  In the rehearsal we begin to make the music ours.  Everyone adding ideas, shaping the architecture of the forms, working on the feeling and rhythms and other details so that when we improvise we have these structures and concepts supporting us.

The Lilypad is still our home – going on least 15 years, once a month.  If you have been reading these news letters, then you know how committed I have been to sharing this music.

The following night we head to our second home, for our “First Thursday of the Month” hit up at Spice Thai Kitchen in Ipswich MA, where for the last 15 years as well, a steady, loyal, deeply listening audience has grown – coming together in friendship, jazz, and excellent Thai food.

Before I stop typing and thank you for reading, I’ll leave you with some good news.  This Saturday night we will move the clocks ahead to start daylight savings time.  This Sunday there will be light in the sky until 7:00 PM.  Spring is coming!

Thanks for reading!

Hope to see you at one of the gigs.

love,

bert