Jerusalema

Right now, I am listening,  as I am driving, to the song Jerusalema while heading out for new adventures. Even though I grieve the loss of someone close to me, my dear and beloved god father to be precise, I can still feel the beat of this song. The music, melody, the lyrics and the beat effortlessly shifts my feelings from grief towards brighter and lighter feelings. 

The melody and tune makes me feel like I want to dance as I feel my feet moving and my body without thinking of bouncing up and down in the seat where I am at. If I hadn’t been driving I know that I would be standing up, clapping my hands high up in the air sweeping my feet off the ground. I would be dancing high up in the air. 

I can feel the heartbeat of this song knowingly that it was initially intended to spread some hope due to the corona virus all over the world affecting the everyday life of us all. 

Gradually losing someone close to you but still remaining in his or her physical body causes tremendous pain and agony. Losing someone with dementia is heartbreaking. It is a disease that keeps tormenting not only the physical body but also affects loved and close ones. 

But, instead of mourning the fate of any person with Alzheimer’s, perhaps you and I or whoever is reading this, perhaps the both of us could be bouncing up and down with our whole beings, shaking our shoulders and even clapping our hands, lifting them above our heads and screaming from the top of our lungs;. 

Only then, we might ease the pain if only a fraction but the way I see it, a fraction is better than nothing at all. Because if and when we share the burden of the loss of a loved one, the weight on our shoulders may lift up our spirits and spark our creativity flame and we might do something completely different from drowning in our own sorrows and, even worse, pass it onto the next generation, and next and next. 

And while we are at it, maybe, we could even stand up and take one step in front of each other. Tap the toes of the left foot four times and then tap the other toes of your right foot and now we do everything together.  

Bounce, shoulders steady, clap your hands and chant as high as you possibly can to the beat of Jerusalema. If you feel too embarrassed you might mumble the lyrics very low or only say them in your head. Who cares? Not me, since I have no idea what the lyrics mean but I am quite certain that it is something soothing because I can feel the melody down to the core of my being.

If we then all stand up, clap our hands and close our eyes, we intuitively feel the beat and what it is doing to our own heart beat. 

And if you, by any chance, are not able to feel the beat, then you might listen deeper, deeper to what your mind tells you not to do but all your senses and soul urge you to. Which is to get out of your own way and make sure you constantly are one step closer to that secret dream of yours. Closer to your longings and belongings because every time you step down from the way you were supposed to become. Turning into a version you never intended to is far worse off than dementia. 

So, I urge you to clap your hands and sing, chant, scream, move your lips at least.