Maestro by Hans Zimmer

(from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack “The Holiday”)

Sometimes a song does not need words to inspire an unstoppable energy in us.  Sometimes all it takes is a few chord progressions and a variance of methodically, racing, fluctuating sounds, as “Maestro” so does inflict.  A creature of habit and repetition, I find that watching the same movies over and over and returning to specific songs that have been the soundtracks to my life, brings a new sense of clarity each time and a stronger foundation of truth that pieces together over time, thus helping me evolve into the person that I dream of becoming.

 As I break and break each year, like a ceramic piece made with love, broken with love, and transformed again and again into whatever I choose to be, the masterpieces that are formed are new renditions of the earlier works of art.  No matter how many times I am completely content with myself, I choose to break again.  I choose to see what happens when I am challenged and forced to surrender more and more.  Thus, the “-ing” in who we dream of “becoming” – it is a progressive, continual, ever-lasting joy that keeps the evolution flowing much like the build up of “Maestro” from piano to violin, ultimately leaving you with peace and love by the end of the song.

Nostalgic love for myself seems to build up until the glass is full, then, I choose to be dropped and shattered, only to find that I will become even more beautiful the next time.  My favorite love stories of all time from Sleepless in Seattle to The Holiday happen to demonstrate the life of a protagonist who just simply cannot accept that reality is all there is.  Somewhere in the protagonist, he or she believes in a more fulfilling version of what is right in front.

Just the same, my ten seasons of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. prove this same notion of something, so ordinary, like how having a group of friends can actually be a more meaningful version of “I’ll Be There For You.”  Without knowing it, the 6 friends meet in a coffee shop where their lives lead a rather pattern-like scheme of surface level jokes and unnecessary facial expressions – when in reality, they are each encouraging each other to be something beyond what they are in that moment.

Each character is a masterpiece, surrendering to the changes and ages, breaking with every season as they evolve into Monica & Chandler, Ross & Rachel, and of course Joey and Phoebe.  Rachel chooses a life beyond what her rich parents have laid out before her.  Ross refuses to let his divorce get the best of him and embraces his role as a father.  Monica dares to follow her innate skill of cooking rather than submit to the norm of the East-Coasting pressures of Long Island.  Chandler finds comfort in his own jokes and discovers the depth behind his jester persona.  Joey humbly depends on friendship and values their love to the max as he aspires to do the impossible and become an actor, in New York.  Finally, Phoebe.  She represents a character the writers so smoothly integrated into this piece – one of imagining a life beyond living in a box and being abandoned by her parents.  All 6 were created and developed under the pretenses of our very own society and of our very own generation.  Real stories hidden by the laugh factor, they can be watched over and over, time and time again as we break ourselves over and over, and time and time again, to be something more, to imagine something greater, to follow our hearts with deep trust, to submit to our dreams even when we think they are a joke.  What was once an idea became a protagonist and what was once a thought became a Pilot Episode – and then they were watched continuously for all to embrace and ruminate over, somehow making it into endless amounts of small talk that then turned into real relationships and friendships.

So the same happens in our tangible life lived, like a reoccurring movie or a show put into syndication and then continued onto Netflix – we are developing like a sketch made in the writing room.  With a rapid energy of flowing ideas and intuitively spot-on jokes, we are revisiting older scenes in our lives and readjusting.  We are brainstorming new scenes and crafting them to our liking.  Then, just when we are happy with what we have created, we drop it and let it all shatter, only to re-craft an even better version of ourselves with more detail and attention the same way music evolves one decade at a time, the way new hit movies are put up on the big screen every Christmas, and the way fresh, comedic TV shows premiere, sucking you into another 10 Seasons of tears of laughter.

I hope we all drop the ball (pun intended) in that New Years Rockin’ Eve kind of way and let it hit the ground, counting down the moments that have made us who we are today and how they will change us for tomorrow.

Have Faith in Choosing to Bloom,

Yours Truly