It's a Classical Life

Last week we talked quite a bit about the change of seasons, and reflected on Charlotte Bronte's work Jane Eyre . This novel is a beautiful example of how our lives change and our circumstances change - often times outside of our control. If you haven't read it already, please consider doing so, especially if the change of season is passing you by.  How has your week been? Have you seen changes in nature this week? Perhaps there are leaves turning glorious orange and amber, or the first new buds are blooming. Autumn and spring are by far my two favourite seasons and bring the most gorgeous colourful changes into our world. It is so easy to take advantage of this colour burst by bringing cut plants or leaves into our homes as decor. Listen to the animals. The cuckoo doesn't usually arrive here until December, and I love to hear it when it does. It says summer to me. Today, I thought we could continue our seasonal theme by listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. But firs...

  In the last one hundred years we have become very good at entertaining ourselves purely for entertainment's sake ( this , by the way, is a really interesting article on the history of mass entertainment if you get the chance to read it). We look at ways to "escape the everyday" through the pure consumption of entertainment - television, movies, music, and more recently, the internet and social media. This amazes me because over the last one hundred years we seem to be more time poor than ever before. So the precious time we do have is spent on consuming entertainment.  Wouldn't it be great if during our entertainment time we were also improving ourselves, learning something new or taking the first steps to creating something ourselves? Wouldn't it be wonderful if all content creators also had the same goal in mind as our friend, German composer Handel- to improve the lives of the consumers? (Click here to hear my favourite Handel piece). Unfortunately not all d...

The summer and Christmas holidays have continued to be a disappointment. Although the weather is mild and the air is beautifully clear and crisp, we are still isolated from friends and family living on the other side of the border. I miss them. I missed being with my parents, sisters and nieces and nephews for Christmas. I missed the big, loud, exhausting days of Christmas time spent together. The year we all couldn't wait to end still seems to be hanging on, even though the calendar has ticked over to January.  I have been relying on some old favourites to help with this isolation-induced sadness, turning to classical pursuits that I know will bolster my spirits and give me hope for a kinder, gentler future: reading, writing, listening to Podcasts and classical music.  Classical music continues to move, inspire, transport, relax and invigorate. As the world continues to tilt on its rather dangerous and precarious axis, as we have seen in recent days (and months) around the wo...

  'When words leave off, music begins.'     ~Heinrich Heine Reading the classics is one way that we try to better our lives, and better our understanding of where (and who) we are in the world. Reading the great books that came before us strengthens our ability to become life long learners, helps become more curious, more empathetic and more aware of our own humility in the grand scheme of things. It keeps us humble and modest I suppose and can teach us many things about patience, appreciation and motivation.  Listening to classical music can absolutely do the same for us. It can also give us a nice, calming break in our day or our week from the inane chatter of modern music, radio or the background noise of the television. It is perfect to play first thing in the morning for a quiet start to the day (my favourite way to listen to it) or at around 3pm when you sit down for a nice afternoon tea, another classic past-time. I also like to have it playing quietly in...