3 Bob Marley lyrical thoughts that keep me energized and focused during COVID-19.
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I think we would all agree that 2020 has been the type of year where inspiration (to continue on) is needed in daily doses. The sudden, global, pervasive shifts that we all had to make in our everyday lives have been significant. During this time, I have reverted back to some of the folks who have motivated and energized my early adult life with their words; Kahlil Gibran, James Redfield, Maya Angelou, Chuck D, KRS1 and…Bob Marley. Bob has had a huge impact on my perspective on life through his reggae music and spiritual lyricism. He often sings about loving Africa, living naturally, building relationships with others and most applicable to my life — getting through tough times.
Here are three couplets from Bob that I have recently revisited and found super useful in the present COVID-19 paradigm:
“In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty.”
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Gratefulness. One of the most useful emotions that can get you out of a stressed mindset. Our present social environment seems to be filled with political battles, racial tensions, tumbling privileges and a ‘masked’ way of life. We have lots of reasons to feel scared, tired, frustrated and hard done by. I understand that these feelings are difficult to suppress and come from real-life situations. So how do we change our circumstances?
The stoic perspective of Rastafarianism embedded in Bob’s lyrics encourages and challenges us to ‘look on the bright side’, ‘see the bigger picture’… ‘count our blessings’. This may seem like a weak stance to take when dealing with crucial life issues. Yet, this search for what things are going well for us can be an exercise in creating the type of survival energy needed to solve the problems that are weighing you down. Are things really 100% hopeless? Can we start to get our minds right by identifying the positive things we have going for us at the time? As the ancient Greek storyteller, Aesop articulates so perfectly, “Gratitude turns what we have, into enough”.
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds”
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We have to unplug. Simple. The reference to mental slavery by Bob is applicable when we unpack how addicted we are to information provided to us through electronic mediums: cell phones, video game consoles, tablets, laptops, PCs, big screen TV’s, android boxes, etc. This amounts to information overload. Too much stimulus for a person to react to, in HD…available to us 24/7 at our fingertips. It’s too much! Our collective reliance on digital information equates more linguistically to a synonym of the word ‘slavery’ — ‘subjugation’: the act of bringing someone under domination or control.
Only we can make the personal decision to emancipate ourselves from this steady stream of digital influence. Go for a walk (without headphones), Jot down some reflective thoughts in a pen & paper journal, play a board game with others, listen to the analog sounds of vinyl records on a turntable. Do anything that temporarily allows you to ‘free yourself up’ from the hi-tech, digital devices you use so perpetually.
“Once a man and twice a child, and everything is just for a while.”
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I taught in Kingston, Jamaica for one year. I lived in Portmore and taught at Marcus Garvey Community College near the Spanish Town Road (Molynes & Seaward). I would teach from Monday to Friday and use the weekends to explore the more rural areas of Jamaica; Lucea, St Ann's Bay, Bull Bay and White Hall. What attracted me to these small towns and villages was the tranquillity of the pace of life in those regions. Folks seemed to methodically appreciate each minute of the day…often in tough economic conditions. The country folk I encountered in the market and rum shops had a positive outlook on life that was refreshingly contagious. They were at peace with the natural way life ebbed and flowed, the cycle of life.
So we are young, vibrant and innocent for the middle parts of our lives on earth. We are weak, in need of support and dependant twice in our lives — as toddlers and as elders. When we acknowledge this inescapable cycle of life here on earth, we widen the camera lens to see things more fully. We become less frightened and unsure as we were when our lens (perspective) was narrow. Just like horror movie camera shot techniques…you are more apt to be ‘scared out of your wits’ if the killer appears suddenly within a narrow camera shot versus seeing Jason coming from down the street with a wider camera angle. Similarly, life is much less scary when we ultimately see that it is ‘just for a while.’
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So through Bob’s inspiring lyrics (word/sound/power), I have been re-energized to celebrate the good things in my life, unplug from the outside world from time to time and enjoy every morsel of life that time blesses me with. Thanks, rasta.