Music is a big passion of mine and I sing a bit. What I realised recently is how difficult it is to make the voice really soar if I don’t truly connect to it. It almost feels like singing itself is not possible if it doesn’t originate from a place of meaning and expression. I noticed that my disconnection creates a sort of ‘stuckness’ in me. An inability to properly engage my voice. And, this made me think of how stuckness appears more generally in our everyday lives.
Disconnection
It made me think of how unenergised you might feel in an uninspiring job or relationship. It made me think of being demotivated or lethargic when faced with a particular initiative. The hesitation and the dispassion. The stuckness of being unable to move forward and engage fully. And, like with singing, one of the principle sources of such stuckness might be a lack of connection to whatever it is your are doing. The key question here then is: How much do you really connect to the things you do — your career, your hobbies, the people in your life?
If the answer is “kind off” or “not very much”, then it will not be surprising if you do not feel very engaged. If you feel bored and uninspired. Disconnection can become the birth place of apathy and discontent. We can lose interest and go through the motions without really enjoying what we are doing. And, that’s not a good place to be. For, if you don’t really find meaning in what you are doing, what really is the point?
Connecting
The kind of connection I am talking about is more than about just thinking that something might be a good idea or that you ought to do a particular thing. It is rather about connecting with every fabric of your being. An unequivocal and wholehearted intention to engage, because that is what inspires you.
I always think of how children become so absorbed in their games. It doesn’t matter if they are simple or made up, they truly identify with them and consequently the games become naturally compelling to others, even adults. Anyone who has joined a 4 year old’s tea party will know this!
Final thoughts
Of course, the potential causes of stuckness in our lives can be complex and varied with sometimes deep roots, related to for example childhood traumas. But, the kind of stuckness that arises through everyday disconnection is perhaps at one level even more sinister. Because we might tolerate it or not even be aware of it. Because we might accept it as something that does not require changing.
Noticing your state is then the starting point. Ask yourself: How connected am I to what I do? And, how would it feel to really be inspired in life?
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