There are many cumbersome ways to kill a man...I mean, heal a broken heart

Let's say I know someone who found herself deep in the throes of an little bit of an unrequited love situation for, oh let's say the greater part of the year. This mostly bitter and only occasionally tantalizingly sweet ordeal was punctuated by melodrama and much, much agonizing (because we all know love is the purest form of agony) with friends, family, colleagues and strangers in strange places, and eventually culminated in a resolute declaration that the smithereens that her heart had broken into would never be reconstituted again. Well, it is my pleasure to write that this hapless young woman's heart has in fact reconstituted itself and is well and truly recovered from what can only be described as a highly emotionally taxing situation no human being deserves to endure. There are so many reasons why she has recovered and so many contributory factors to her arrival at the place of sanity and wellness that it would easily take me months to chronicle them all. I can however, quite confidently say that a very large role was played by the music industry, for it was in music that she came to the realisation of the (rather obvious) fact that hers was not the first situation of this type and if simple, ordinary people like multi-platinum recording artists could seemingly experience and overcome these things to the extent that they could even use them to earn a living, well then surely, a bright young fox like me (I mean, this young woman) could do likewise and come out on top? The following is a taste, a mere sample, of the soundtrack of an eclectic muso's journey out of the mire of ill-fated love. You could also think of it as a five step algorithm to getting over a broken heart. If you get stuck on any step go back to the one before. The fact that I can blog about this without being reduced to a heap of incoherent, jumbled up emotions is proof that it works!

Lesson 1: Hey, it happens to the best of us...


Daniel Bedingfield: If you're not the one.

Angie Stone: Snowflakes.

Dela: Lucy's and Loose Leafs.

Gabrielle: Out of reach

Juanes and Nelly Furtado: Fotografia

Lea Salonga - On my own (Les Miserables)

Diam's: SOS

Love is coming undone and hearts are breaking all over the world in different ways, for different reasons and in different languages. Who are you but a mere mortal to expect to be exempt from these things?

Lesson 2: Shake it off, champ. Just keep walking...


Madonna: Power of goodbye

Dido: Hunter

Maxwell: Pretty Wings:

Lupe Fiasco: The show goes on

Coolio: See you when you get there

Joss Stone: Could have been you

Coldplay: Paradise

Tough break, Johnny; just keep walking ..


Lesson 3: Don't just walk around in circles. You need to be walking AWAY from the object of your unrequited limerence and TOWARDS the person you used to be before you lost yourself. The old you was doing just fine before this whole debacle; the old you was aces...Even better if you can walk towards an even better version of yourself the world has never seen: wiser, stronger, better, more sympathetic with your audience, as it were..:-)

Enigma: Return to innocence
...if you want, then start to laugh, if you must then start to cry...

Lupe Fiasco: Beautiful lasers (2 ways)
...find a reason...simplest things, you really like summer, you really like music, you really like reading...

R. Kelly: The storm is over now
... I can see the sunshine (somewhere beyond the clouds)...

Oren Lavie: Her morning elegance
...and she fights for her life...

Common: Blue sky
...this is my Inception, I'm writing my dreams...immortal view of a star doing what I'm born to do...

U2 - Walk on So go on then. Time to do all those things you failed to do because you were busy wallowing in the sea of cathexis!

Lesson 4: if the darkness tries to creep up on you again assault it with positive self talk and think happy thoughts. The following music never fails to put a smile on my face.


Bobby McFerrin: Don't worry be happy
...don't bring everybody down!

Lupe Fiasco: Just might be OK
...affirmative, no further furnishing is needed...I believe we are completed...

OMC: How bizarre
...ooh baby, it's making me crazy...

Cornershop: Brimful of Asha
...she's the one that keeps the dream alive, from the morning, past the evening, til the end of the night...

Jimmy Cliff: I can see clearly now
...all of the bad feelings have disappeared, here is the rainbow I've been praying for, it's gonna be a bright, sunshiney day...

Queen: We are the champions

We are the champions, 

we are the champions, 

no time for losers,

 cause we are the champions... of the world! 

That's right. Not the room, office, city or country. We are the champions of the WORLD!

Don't be choosy. Take your happy fix however you can get it: a funny joke, a funny friend, an uplifting book, song or activity. Lap it up! And don't be afraid to exaggerate your self efficacy and play up your awesomeness. If you're feeling down and out then chances are you're underestimating it already so you'll just about hit the mark if you go a little overboard with the positive self talk. 

Lesson 5: Keep hope alive! No one likes a bitter, jaded, sourpuss so expect better, expect more and be ready for it. 

Rachel's: Water from the same source

Just pure instrumental genius that inspires and reinvigorates me!

I for one, am an insatiable optimist and fully expect this fantastic young lady to look back on this past year one day and throw her head back in laughter as she rides into the sunset with James Franco/ Michael Ealy/ Thierry Henry/ John Legend/ Jared Leto/ Common/ Ryan Reynolds/ Columbus Short/ Lupe Fiasco... the possibilities are without end!

Ah Dela...Surely I have found a friend to my soul? I recently discovered Dela, a twenty-something year old, French genius of a music producer living in Canada. Below are the lyrics to the Changes of Atmosphere (Intro). They were written by Liza Garza, a highly gifted spoken word poet, vocalist, lyricist and activist whom I am absolutely thrilled to have discovered, and whom we will definitely be seeing more of on this blog.

Changes of Atmosphere (Intro) - Lyrics by Liza Garza


In the name of the Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Let her ask in faith nothing doubting 
For she that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed
Everything in this world cursed and lost in our forgetfulness
Why do we choose to ignore the obvious in wishful places far too distant
If we could awaken we would truly listen to melodies, they are so divine
Witness life blooming colors not apparent to our earthly eyes all the joys connected to our earthly lives are but a glimpse to what awaits
So this time I say I’m finally given rewind re-love for the sake fully living and desperate hope of fully dying in a pure state 
My only desire but to forgive and stay
My only hope that you would do the same
Our only mercy that the Most Gracious would remember our name and with this change we begin this gracious dance, this wholesome trance
Foundation so solid nothing shakes or bothers what’s rooted so deeply
We witness these mercies rescue us
We remember the Best of guides is guiding us
And with the firmness of this very step
And with our certainty of death we know that this is the most intimate caress
A kiss from the inside out
So close to truth we are now strangers to doubt
And now whether wrote in triumph or defeat
We throw our hands up in victory
This grace nearer to me than the arteries in my neck
Than my heart beating 
In my chest we are filled with the most gracious very breath
And finally you will kiss the truth just by kissing you
You will witness your love, loving you
And I will kiss the truth just by kissing me
I will witness my love loving me
We will kiss the truth just by kissing us
We will witness our love loving us in awe as loves descent from beneath us
Souls satisfaction, seven heavens await in atmospheres change in change of atmosphere

Gratefully discovering DELA

I love discovering new music! Dela is my latest find and I love his instrumental hip-hop. His sophomore album, Translation Lost, is pretty much about love dissipating, ups and downs, the confusion, passion, rage and grief that comes with the realization of an irreparable disconnection and discordance between the two parties in a relationship. I feel this! The track I'll probably be playing over and over in the car is Lucy's and Loose Leafs:-)

His first album is Changes of Atmosphere released in 2009. Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! I particularly love The City, Veuillez Veiller Sur Vos Rêves featuring Les Nubians and John Banzaï, Long Life featuring Talib Kweli and Stress... because I am currently rather stressed:-)

So, between the two which do I prefer? I love them both! But I'm buying Changes Of Atmosphere:-)