“Make My Mind like a Cloudless sky, uninterrupted by the thoughts gone by. From deep with in the silence, I feel such peace. It’s well wishing me down to my feet. It’s kissing me right on the beat.” - Lyndol Descant

These lyrics are from the chorus from a new(ish) song, that I’m currently laying tracks for. It will be released with my upcoming album (my 3rd depo LB) entitled I Dared. Though I’ve played it with a band, I’m recording it as a solo song - piano and voice only. I think it’s because it’s a song about my long time meditation practice, which is a solo endeavor to be sure.

More and more I’m finding meditation the key to peaceful living. As the world seems to be falling apart at the seems, and New York becoming Crazy town, USA, I am amazed at the power of meditation to tap into a perspective that keeps me feeling safe and cared for.

Confession, I always had so much anxiety. It got much worse when I entered the 9-5 adulthood routine that I wasn’t at all prepared for in my early 20’s. I struggled with the weight of my depression, addictions and own lack of purpose.

So I started journalling, then painting, then picked up the piano again. (I had quit lessons in my teens) I saw music at that point as a way to deal with my overwhelming emotions and obsessive thinking. Maybe it was this obsessive thinking that kept me from being about to do more traditional meditation practices that called for one to sit and think of nothing. Think of nothing? That’s simply impossible for someone like me. The best I could do was to fall asleep after a few minutes of sitting there, breathing. And then I would wake up feeling more peaceful, and rested:) but like a meditation flunky.

But I see now that there are many, many ways to meditate. It was in my piano practice that I came to develop discipline of mind. In the early years, as an adult music student, it was just a victory to show up at the piano and spend that time there. I couldn’t help but focus my mind as I worked on certain skills, one at a time, with a metronome. It really takes such patience and my mind got conditioned after a few years. As the progress came, slowly but surely, it motivated me to do more, go deeper.

Songs allowed me to express myself. I LOVE composing originals for this reason, mainly from poetry I scribble out when in my journals to process life when it gets too intense. But even with covers, I’ve always used the music to emote the build up of stress, heartbreak, disappointment; also to connect to my hope, my dreams, my faith that I could be a better person, live a better life. Most importantly, I could give and receive love thru the notes, somehow. The more I did it, the more I wanted to do it.

20 years later…. Music has become such an important part of my life. It just grew so slowly and surely that it’s crazy to think now back to a time when music was just 30 minutes I was trying to fit in here, and there. It taught me such discipline, which is something I really enjoy now - discipline of mind.

I still have stress, I still worry, I still feel the weight of the world as I think of our children, our earth, our futures. But when I play music, when I paint, when I am in nature, when I walk, do yoga - so many activities now, it’s a living meditation state I can tap into. And it does feel like my mind is as clear as those cloudless days, when the blue above me makes my heart ache with love. I’m so thankful for this mindset that I composed the song “Cloudless Sky” to express this gratitude, as well as share the serenity I have found thru the art of meditation. Music and meditation are 2 things that I could recommend to ANYONE! You just never regret the practice you put into them.

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