Heartbreak Hell in Berkeley: Celebrate Valentine's Day with Sad Songs & Soothsaying

Looking for Valentine's Day plans? May I suggest Heartbreak Hell @ The Monkey House this Saturday, February 14, in Berkeley. Sad songs about love, loss & all manner of things that make a heart crack
A benefit for BASCIA: Bay Area Suicide and Crisis Intervention Alliance Doors 7, show 7:30-10. Event will end at 11.  

Wisdom Accrual: 16 notes to myself on my birthday

It's not a particularly big birthday this year, but it's far enough down the road that of course I'm taking stock after my latest turn around the sun. Have I learned anything useful past the 'all I learned in kindergarten?' Yes, some of those lessons carried through: daily painting (or art-making) sessions and naps are still a great idea. Bikes and birds are joyous things, being nice matters, and its best to watch out for boys like Charles Hoff who made a game of chasing girls by running them down and grabbing at them.
Mostly I learned in kindergarten that my existence was the tiny tip of a large iceberg of humanity stretching far beyond the scattered houses, canyon roads and apple orchards of our smallish town....which eventually led me through and to the BA, countless hours of post-graduate/extra-curricular study, 26 states, four continents, four guitars, two marriages, two houses, two cats, multiple dogs, multiple deaths, multiple therapies, multiple stitches, Catholicism, Buddhism, yoga, omnivorism, vegetarianism, veganism, pens, paper, art, music, bikes and birds to here, now.
What to make of this?
Notes from the road thus far:

1. Do your practice. (Everything is a practice, whether it's feeding the cat, chanting the sutra, taking a shower, loving your mate, facing the page, stepping on stage, etc. et al)
2. The forgiveness business. Even if it's painful as hell.
3. Have your feelings. 
4. Know what's yours.
5. Listen.
6. You can rewrite the story
7. Get clear. Be clear. (Are you in or out?)
8. Get out in nature. (The moon! The stars!)
9. Laugh.
10. Moderate consumption of all kinds.
11. Don't wait. 
12. It, everything, will change.
13. Honesty.
14. Gratitude.
15. Reverence. 
16. Love.

Happy Valentine's Day: World Sound Healing Day Feb 14, 2014 + Some Poetry

It's no secret singing makes you feel better. Sound vibration — whether you're chanting or singing in the shower or part of a choir — is going to alter your felt sense somehow (usually for the better).
Coinciding with Valentine's Day, a tribe of sound scholars, healers and singers have organized an international event around healing sound: World Sound Healing Day! The 12th annual event — where people from around the globe are invited to 'sound' a healing note in unison at 12 noon (local time)— is today, February 14.
"Join thousands throughout the planet for the 12th Annual WORLD SOUND HEALING DAY on Friday, February 14, 2014. At 12 noon (local time in your time zone), sound forth for 5 minutes with the “AH”, created and projected with the energy of compassion and love."
 
Heal your heart, heal the world! Healing Sounds pioneer Jonathan Goldman offers a free sounding mp3 for those who want to join in.  Find a list of in-person events here.

I once heard a writer instruct her students to carry a book of poetry everywhere. I've followed her guidance at times, always happy when I do. Poetry just gives. To whit:

The Quiet World 

by Jeffrey McDaniel

In an effort to get people to look

into each other’s eyes more,

and also to appease the mutes,

the government has decided

to allot each person exactly one hundred   

and sixty-seven words, per day.

When the phone rings, I put it to my ear   

without saying hello. In the restaurant   

I point at chicken noodle soup.

I am adjusting well to the new way.

Late at night, I call my long distance lover,   

proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.   

I saved the rest for you.

When she doesn’t respond,

I know she’s used up all her words,   

so I slowly whisper I love you

thirty-two and a third times.

After that, we just sit on the line   

and listen to each other breathe.

                           —Jeffrey McDaniel, “The Quiet World” from The Forgiveness Parade. Copyright © 1998 by Jeffrey McDaniel. Reprinted with the permission of Manic D Press.