The Here and Now Playlist

I consider myself to be a fairly ambitious person. I like to work hard and I’m always striving to achieve The Next Thing, whether that’s taking the next step in my career, reaching a new PR in fitness, or penning my next story for Vocal.

As soon as I reach one goal, I move right on to the next. I’ve been this way my entire adult life.

So, even before the pandemic started, I was the kind of person who spent a lot of time obsessing about the future. I’ve definitely failed to stop and smell the roses on more than one occasion. Heck, sometimes I didn’t realize the garden was even there.

Then COVID-19 happened, and my penchant for focusing on the future became even more consuming. Even this past weekend I was feeling sorry for myself because it’s the second Easter weekend in two years that I haven’t been able to spend with friends and family due to the pandemic. All I’ve been able to think about is the day when the vaccines will have done their work and we can start getting back to some semblance of a normal life.

But how does feeling this way serve me, or anyone for that matter? It doesn’t.

In fact, constant obsessing about the future, if left unchecked, will only result in a constant state of dissatisfaction.

My take on finding your “zen”

Since there isn’t anything we can do to make the future get here any faster, we have to find ways to cope. That’s why so many people these days are talking about finding their “zen”.

But what exactly does it mean to be zen? As a verb, it basically means "peaceful and calm". Or, as zenstudies.org put it, zen is:

“...a disciplined practice through which we can realize the joy of being.”

When I contemplate what this means, I believe that (for me, at least) it comes down to being more present. Because while we’re busy wishing away the months until the time when COVID-19 is behind us, life is still happening.

For example, after moping around for the past couple of days about Easter, it occurred to me that if I were to travel back in time 10 years, my 26-year-old self would be shaking my shoulders and slapping me across the face.

Because while I’m lamenting about all the things I can’t have or do, I’m taking all the good things in my life for granted.

Things that were all I ever wanted 10 years ago.

Being present is a concept I learned about years ago in Yoga class, but haven’t been very consistent at implementing it on a day-to-day basis. Yet, when I do make a conscious effort to live in the moment, it almost always yields a feeling of peace, as well as a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the things that I'm blessed and privileged to already have.

It makes that yearning for the future ache a little less.

So with the goal of making this practice a habit, I created a half-hour long playlist featuring some of my favorite artists to create a space for reflection and gratitude. I call it, the Here and Now Playlist.

There’s a mellowness in each tune that can lend some quiet to a busy mind, but it also features thought-provoking lyrics (and one instrumental interlude), that offer inspiration for living in the moment.

Here is how each of these songs is helping me embrace the present.

Foreground - Grizzly Bear

Take on another shift

Palms in the middle, hands in the middle

Work out another rift

Something is muffled, another juggle

Kicking off our contemplative musical journey is this beautiful song by Grizzly Bear, featuring a simple piano melody and the soft tones of lead singer Edward Droste. The meaning of the lyrics is definitely open to interpretation, but to me, I think of someone who is facing a tough situation and rolling up their sleeves to work through it.

Even the title, “foreground” alludes to something that’s right in front of us, needing to be addressed in the here and now. In the context of this playlist, you can think of it as preparing to quiet your mind for the next thirty minutes as you focus on being present.

Time - Pink Floyd

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you

No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

I have a soft spot for Pink Floyd because it was an album my spouse and I listened to a lot when we first started dating. I’d heard of the band but had never listened to any of their music until then, and Dark Side of the Moon, in particular, blew me away.

Time is my favorite track from the album. True, the lyrics are sobering and heavy with melancholy, but its beautiful and poignant too. I find this track helps me slow my roll when I get too fired up about things that don't really matter.

This Year - Beach Fossils

This year I told myself it'd be a better one

Try not to fall back onto the knife

By now I told myself I'd be a better friend

I'll meet you on the other side of life

Originally released in 2017, This Year seems particularly relevant to 2021. I think many of us started out the year believing it would be a lot easier than 2020, but so far, it's been just as much of a struggle.

The lyrics seem to depict someone who’s been pursuing personal betterment but perhaps hasn’t grown in the way they expected.

I don’t know about you, but I can sure relate to that.

It’s a song that gives you space to acknowledge that you’re doing the best you can under the circumstances and you’re only human.

Marching Bands of Manhattan - Death Cab for Cutie

I wish we could open our eyes

To see in all directions at the same time

Oh what a beautiful view

If you were never aware of what was around you

Our third song is a little more upbeat than the previous three and features the distinct vocals of Death Cab singer, Ben Gibbard.

On the first listen, it seems like just another love song, but if you look deeper there is a story there about someone who wants to live in the moment. (Gibbard himself confirmed as much on his record label website.)

For example, the line about being able to “see in all directions at the same time” could be interpetted as learning how to be present instead of getting hung up on the past or future.

Sleeping on the Roof - The Flaming Lips

Sleeping on the Roof is a short instrumental song near the end of The Soft Bulletin, one of The Flaming Lips' earlier albums, and it's the perfect interlude for this playlist.

Listening to it makes me imagine I’m a kid laying on a rooftop in summertime suburbia, watching comets fly by while being lulled to sleep by the comfortingly familiar sound of lawn sprinklers.

How is that for zen?

Don’t skip this track just because there are no lyrics. Self-reflection is guaranteed.

Light Years - The National

Oh, the glory of it all was lost on me

'Til I saw how hard it'd be to reach you

And I would always be light years, light years away from you

The music video for this song is a work of art. If you have a few minutes I would encourage you to watch it when you get to this song on the Playlist. It really leaves you with a sense of how the most beautiful moments in life are in everyday things.

Lyrically, Light Years is seems to be about love lost, but I think the chorus is something we can all relate to in terms of feeling isolated from the people we love during the pandemic.

Beyond that, the looping piano riff combined with Matt Beringer’s baritone voice is nothing short of mesmerizing.

Myth - Beach House

You can't keep hangin' on

To all that's dead and gone

If you built yourself a myth

You'd know just what to give

Beach House singer Victoria Legend has one of those incredible voices that makes you stop whatever you’re doing and listen intently. Myth is my favorite song from their album, Bloom, which is so hauntingly beautiful that you don't even care what the song is actually about.

But the lyrics do carry weight. The subject matter is debatable but I would say there’s definitely something there about letting go of the past and living in the moment.

Green Aisles - Real Estate

All those wasted miles

All those aimless drives through green ailes

Our careless lifestyle

It was not so unwise, no

Nearly every song on Real Estate's album Days contended for a spot on this playlist, but there’s something about Green Aisles that really speaks to the theme of being present.

The beauty of this song is the concept that we don’t always have to be running towards a certain destination for life to have meaning. The journey, no matter where it leads, is beautiful in and of itself.

After the magnitude of the earlier songs, I think ending with Green Aisles is a great way to digest your musings and end on an uplifting note.

Conclusion

Music is a powerful way to express the ineffable; that’s why it’s so useful when it comes to meditation and self-reflection. Hopefully, this playlist can help you take a few minutes to feel fully present while you unwind and relax.

Remember, we are all in the same storm and this too shall pass. In the meantime, don’t forget about the gift that is today!

Author’s Note

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