… or the importance of being pleasantly surprised!
Since Apple introduced the ingenious Shuffle button, enabling mp3 players to mix up tracks from your downloaded choice of music, rather than following an obvious pattern such as listening to the whole album, or many songs by the same artist, or the same genre, my experience of listening to music has been revolutionized. I love hitting that double-loop button and waiting to hear what comes next… so a yoga chant may be followed by a movement from a piano concerto, followed by Rufus Wainwright, followed by Muse, followed by Ute Lemper (it works best if you have eclectic tastes)!
I then started thinking how I could put my life on shuffle: open myself up to new experiences – or new combinations of experiences that I’ve previously enjoyed – without knowing where the journey will take me next. Or how or when it will end… (the equivallent of pressing the Stop or Pause button)
It was easier – and with more delightful consequences – than I could’ve imagined. All it requires is an openness to experience, a full presence in the moment, and the ability to observe what – and who – is around me…
The only difficult thing about Life on shuffle (unlike the iPod shuffle) is choosing which random experience, thought or person to go with… but that only serves to refine my decision-making capabilities, knowing what – and who – is worth abandoning the previous ‘download’ for!
