Healing Music

©Amanda Forestwood

“Music heals.”

It was among the things her psychotherapist proposed to help her find herself again. She had been down a very silent, dark and unnerving path for too long, she was now struggling to find the light. And she could use all the help she could get.

He had drifted away because it was too much to handle. But he could now see that she was trying her best.

He left her a note on the front door that prompted her to the backyard.

The violin was there: sitting majestically on the garden chair. Uniquely crafted. Just like her.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

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There is no try

“But what if I try and fail?”

“Well, that’s better than if you’ve never tried at all.” She laughed and her smile spread wide across her face.

“The only way you’ll change something is if you take the risk and do something you’ve never done before.

Keep in mind that sometimes, to go from a bad place to a better place we need to go through a worse place. It’s a paradox, but see it as a necessary evil. If you don’t fall flat on your face, you won’t know what it feels like if you fail. Once you learn that, you’ll be more determined to succeed and…well, fly! Make sense?”

He was timid. But perhaps that was the problem to begin with. He hadn’t developed enough confidence to cope with this world. Often, we need to suffer, to crash and fall, in order to get up stronger, wiser and more stubborn to make things work.

There is no try; just do.

Vintage talk

©MCD

“What’s this?” a little girl with chestnut pigtails inquisitively asked as her gaze fell eye level on a small table with an antique phone displayed on it.

“Well, that is a telephone,” her grandmother explained. “It is what we used to call each other at home before we had mobile phones.”

The young one looked perplexed.

“How?” she asked.

“You would pick up the receiver, place it by your ear and mouth, and then dial the number you wanted to call by using this,” the older woman demonstrated.

The little girl seemed amazed.

“Back then, when you didn’t want to speak to someone, you just told someone else to say you weren’t home. Now, with these phones constantly strapped to our hands, the first thing anyone asks when they call is not if you’re OK, but rather ‘where are you’?”, the woman ranted on a bit.

“Life was simpler then. And quieter too”.

Facing the world

© Sandra Crook

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Sure? We can…”

“No.”

The response was absolute. She’d rather be alone. It was just one of those days when she couldn’t quite decipher what was wrong.

He gave her a couple of hours.

Then he pulled her into a tight embrace – he knew this relieved her tension and said “let’s go.” He allowed no opportunities for questions. They weren’t important. And it didn’t matter.

About an hour later, they arrived.

It was the quiet place where their first date developed. It served as a reminder that it was them against the world.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

Life-changing flares

It takes courage to get up in the morning and convince yourself that today will be the day when something so wonderfully extraordinary happens that life will never be the same.

It takes guts to be so cheerful before you’ve barely opened your eyes.

Leo was one of those guys.

He was that person who sang as he shaved before going to work. Who made breakfast for the family on weekends. Who hardly complained about anything, because ‘what good would that do?’ He was the one who could literally turn your frown upside down because when you saw him, you wished there were more of him in the world.

Linda was a girl with mood swings. Like any female, she was easily affected by hormonal changes, to the extent that days of laughter would be preceded by spurs of inexplicable irritation or followed by moments of melancholic sobbing. There was no real explanation for any of it. She was, however, a person who would wear her heart on her sleeve; she would do anything she could and more to take care of the people she loved. She would organise surprises and be happier for the emotion felt rather than the gift itself. She was a person who would go all out, and despite what she said, she secretly hoped someone would do something similar for her too.

When they met, the flare lit up inside both instantly.

Leo asked her if she believed in fate. “What if everything we lived was precisely to lead us to this very moment, so that we could meet right here, right now?”

“What if we’re one connection away from changing our entire lives?” was her response.

She smiled and his entire world lit up. His heart fluttered and she blushed, her eyes glistening with happiness.

It wasn’t always easy. But they tried. Together. It required finding the middle line. Making compromises and retreating when fighting would not lead anywhere.

“I need you to be happy, because we can’t be sad together,” he told her when she felt blue.

“If you laugh, I’ll smile,” she would reply.

And step-by-step they would make each other better.

In life we don’t need extravagance; just one person to turn on the light. Everything else will follow.

Light and colour

©Trish Nankeville

There’s something inspiring about waking up to light and colour. It helps awaken your senses and boost your mood. And when you emit a positive vibe, you feel more confident, like you can take over the world if you have to.

He would bring her flowers every morning simply to see that radiant smile of hers.

She would beam like spring in bloom and he would boast of a mission accomplished.

It was simple things like that that made every day special. Monotony was dangerous, and boredom was lethal. It was keeping the spark alive that made it all worthwhile.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

The cat guest

©MCD

It showed up at the window unexpectedly. Like most things in life, it arrived unforeseen.

It was timid at first, unsure of whether to stay or leave. You could notice the anguish, the fear, the uncertainty.

It wouldn’t say a word, but it would stare right into your eyes.

As time passed, it would arrive more often, taking further steps inside. The nervousness disappeared and it was more certain.

Then it began uttering sounds; whispers at first that turned into confident statements.

With the passing of days, it became accustomed to being there. It looked forward to those visits.

And then it decided to stay.

The cat at the window chose where it wanted to be. It found love and care there, probed its surroundings, and selected to willingly be there.

It was pretty much how we all react to anywhere we go.

We may lose ourselves at times, and not know how we reached the crossroad we’re at, but if we remember how we got there, we’ll reassess our motives and actions.

Lo mas bonito de perderse es volverse a encontrar (The best thing about getting lost is finding yourself again).

Village air

©Sandra Crook

When he said he wanted to withdraw from the hectic routine his life had become, no one really imagined this is what he meant.

Months after being off-grid and out of range of all communication, his friends finally found him in a rural village driving a truck full of hay.

He had grown a beard that made him look somewhat more scruffy but in a charming way. But he seemed so much more relaxed and genuinely happy.

“I like it here,” he said, and for the first time he wasn’t pretending. It was true. The village air had rejuvenated him.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

Unreasonable requisite

There was only one piece of paper missing. He couldn’t find it anywhere. But it was driving him crazy.

He had already gone to the Department twice before.

The first time they said it was “preferable” that he had that specific certificate.

The second time that it was “highly recommended”.

Now, suddenly, it had become a requisite.

It was a simple page of processed timber that proved he had a qualification, which he obviously could demonstrate he knew – the language he spoke.

Yet, a paper could apparently demonstrate it better than his own tongue.

Reason has no limits.

Also part of Weekend Writing Prompt #217

Up and down

There is one thing he said when Monica was too young to comprehend it:

“They want to see you do good but never better than them”.

It was during a conversation about ‘friends’ who turn out to be envious instead of happy with their friends’ successes.

“Insecure people put others down to raise themselves up”.

That, she realised a few years later. When she could finally understand that it was not her fault that things were working out. She was simply open to life as it happened, and knew how to exploit opportunities and enjoy things.

Some people can’t handle that.

They need to find something wrong with others to prove themselves right. And instead of counting their own blessings, they focus on those of others. Because in essence, they want to see you do well, but never better than them. That’s the problem. Because real friends rejoice with your delight, and that magnifies the positive sentiment.

If we focused on transmitting positive vibes instead of jealousy and spite, wouldn’t this world be more colourful?