A Playlist To Help You Remember What You May Have Forgotten

*author’s note - for the full and intended experience, play the playlist lightly in the background while reading. I’ve calibrated this story to the playlist so you can truly embody the state of being I move into while listening. I hope you find a piece of yourself while engaging.

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Sharing a playlist is a vulnerable act, for what you listen to is an extension of well...you. For this reason, I am more than grateful to share this playlist, because I want you to know the parts of me that are present when I press play.

I’ve compartmentalized much of my life. <pieces of me here>|<parts of me there>|<never all of myself>

It wasn’t my intention...just what I was taught by the world around me. It was normal for me to be one way when I was home and then a watered-down version of him while at work. Eventually this posturing became a load too heavy for me to carry. It’s as if my soul was breaking through the invisible casing I placed him in...and he was ready to metamorphose. You see, much like yourself, I’m multifaceted. Ever-changing. I’m dynamic and maybe even a bit unpredictable. These were all traits I used to attempt to suppress, because they were “too much...too emotional” for the structures I found myself supporting. These structures had no ill intention, rather, they were merely not built for something as dynamic as a human being. When the pandemic hit full swing, the industry I worked for crashed, and instead of turning to anxiety, stress or worry, I tuned in to that part of me who was ready to fully express. I allowed the structures that once held me back to fall by my feet, and I have not looked back since.

I have officially made my transition from the corporate, 9-5 world to a full time creator, express’er’ and human being. Now this is where the concept of ‘zen’ comes into my life. I have always been in touch with my spiritual self, but before this past year, I never made the time (due of working 40+ hours/week) to literally sit with myself...get to know myself...heal and restore myself. To use zen solely as an adjective to describe a garden or say, a buddha statue, would be diluting its full potential. Zen is more powerful than that; it’s a state of being.

Zen is all-encompassing. Zen allows space for you. All of you.

& this is why I joyfully share this playlist with you. Because all of me can be found in the melodies filling this compilation of sweet sounds. These songs have brought me back to whole...no more splintering parts of my personality to appease those around me. When I feel doubtful, I turn to this playlist and am reminded that my doubt is welcomed. My doubt, my joy, my fear, my excitement ALL welcomed in this playlist.

This playlist is a microcosm of my heart and my hope is that it reminds you of what you may have forgotten.

You are made perfectly. You have experienced hard times and somehow overcome every single one of them. Why? Because you are resilient. The sun wakes up in the morning to support your first steps; the moon shines at night to guide you in the dark. The trees are here to anchor us to earth; the stars there to invite our minds to expand.

We were each given a set of circumstances which make up our life's canvas. We were each given natural abilities, inclinations and passions which equip us with paint and a brush. Our role is to paint the life we want with our canvas and unique colors. We paint our futures one stroke at a time. All colors, textures, and styles are welcomed. Some strokes may dim the portrait, but future strokes will help pull it all together.

You are a creative blessing to this world my friend. You are a unique texture on the fabric that creates this reality, and humanity needs your zen. We need you to remember you.

With love, I hope this playlist reminds you of something you may have forgotten. You have all you need right here and right now. You are all that you need. You are a blessing to us all.

-ricky _______ find me @realrickysanchez | feelbetter newsletter