Music: its always there; if you choose to listen.
  Whether through the radio, on your mobile device, car or home stereo, music is one of those things that makes or marks your time on this earth. Music adds colour and vitality to your life. It keeps you company when you are solemn or sad, can lift your spirits, or take the party to the next level.
  There is nothing else you can do, actively or passively, the same way as you can listen to recorded music. It can play while you read, or cook, or do housework or study. You can’t do that with the television.
  I grew up in a household where music was always playing; my mother made sure of that. The radio was always on. My first record was Alice Cooper’s Killer and I played it a lot (it’s what you do when you only have one record). As my collection expanded, so to did my musical taste(s). I like to think I only listen to good music; that my time spent listening was well wasted.
  I have, for nearly five decades, regularly, faithfully and passionately listened to music. It became more than a reason to spend my allowance or cash earned mowing lawns, washing dishes, or setting pins at the bowling alley.
  Absorbed in music and pop culture, I’d read about it in the pages of Rolling Stone as a teenager. Later I’d write about it myself in a weekly column in a daily newspaper for three years.
  I collected albums, and I still do
  I began to wonder (one of those things I often do) how much music I have listened to in my lifetime. Further; I wondered how much music I listen to in a single year.
  Last year I decided I’d keep track.
  I began keeping a list(s) of all the albums I would place on a turntable, slap into the CD player, or play on my iPod or mobile device. I tracked only albums I would play completely. If I skipped past one of those songs that I simply never liked (Mother on The Police’s Synchronicity immediately comes to mind), the album did not make it on my list. If I didn’t listen to the whole album while driving from there to here, or if I nodded off part way through, I also did not make the list.
  In total, I listened to 1,063 albums in 2019.
  I’m still not sure if that is a lot, or just average. Even if there were couple of albums I didn’t write down, it’s not even three albums a day. I do know there were days I listened to far more than that, and a few days I listened to no music at all, so I can’t be sure if last year was an average year. I do know none of it was average music.

We listen.
We speak.
We talk.
We exchange knowledge
and information.
We wait for a response.
We listen closely (most of the time)
to what others say, often
we feel the words.
We don’t, as often as we should,
say what we should.
We wait to hear recognition or acknowledgement
about who we are or what we have done, but
have we done all that we need to do, or all that
we could, to find the understanding
required of us?
We wait for answers to questions that come
without notice, without reason, without thought,
and still we want a thoughtful response.
We continue waiting.
What do we require?
We know not all questions have answers;
we have heard the silence. We know it well.
What do we need to hear, and know,
to feel whole, or present, or loved?
What do we do when the words don’t come?
What can we say to show we are there to talk, and
to listen. How should we respond when
we know we don’t always say what we mean?
We don’t say it like we mean it.
We speak.
We talk.
We listen.

© 2020 j.g. lewis

by Jennifer Hillman

We gather in this month for the beginning of this new year and the new decade, to find our footing in this new timeline of potentials and possibilities. Finding space to dream bigger and better for oneself and humanity, this month is one of clearing up from the holidays, the past decade, and now any mental or emotional blocks that will get in the way of this new storyline we are creating.

It is interesting how we create ways of clearing things up. For me, I created cleaning up through a type of shamanic death: Valley Fever. There were weeks of deep sleep and strange dreams while creating a new world of dreams.

The other part of this is Earth herself will be changing and moving into her evolution self. The fire in Australia, glaciers breaking up and the oceans rising, along with more earthquakes and the funky weather patterns; some of this may be man-created, but our Mother Earth is showing us her thoughts on the conditions and her plans with all of this change.

It is time to create that plan for the new dreams and finding our footing towards them. It is all possible without limitations. The planets throughout 2020 will be showing us the ways and giving us hints on our progress. Situations and issues that have kept our dreams at bay will surface for a deeper understanding of who we truly are. Our brilliance, hidden below the surface, is wanting to come through.

2020 is the year of Capricorn, an earth sign that grounds new realities for us. Saturn and Pluto lead the way, with Mercury, Jupiter also in this sign. Capricorn is Saturn’s home space, meaning structure, tasks, and success. Think of its symbol; the mountain goat who finds its way up the mountain with stable footing and skillful maneuvering. . . one step at a time.

At one time or another, the personal planets will come and go through Capricorn; Grounding the stability to continue in the right direction with careful thoughts. Pluto meets up with Saturn for the first time in more than 150 years; the last time was the year of the US revolutionary war. They will meet up a few times this year. Pluto is the planet of death, rebirth, and evolution. Out of this death, comes a new level of stability and personal growth. Chaos may occur during the process. I suggest we focus on the positive and see the blessings in all situations this year. From the darkness, light is born once again.

2020 is all about this transformation and progress for the world, nature, individuals, and groups of humanity. What we focus on this year is building our new storyline and a chapter for all of us. Truly, take a little time and focus with your heart in mind and ask yourself a simple question to manifest this new life: What would I love? Answer this in the coming weeks and allow it to unfold by listening to the whispers of your inner voice.

Lessons will be learned along the way to redefine and solidify your dreams. Continue to breathe in the beauty within and about you and see the love in all. We are all in this together and this year is showing us the ways to do it for the betterment of this fragile world.

Jennifer Hillman is an intuitive life coach/healer, podcast host, published writer and poet. Her books, Embracing Souls, are available on Jennifer Hillman.com, where she is available for coaching sessions.

Our world, our lives, continues to change.
  Even if you don’t pay attention, there is change, but if you pay attention you can more easily adapt to the results and ramifications.
  I make a point of trying to track changes as I see and feel them. I write it all down, as it happens, in my journal. Journaling has become a habit, or necessity, for the past couple of decades. Writing it out help me make sense of it all.
  I write, pretty much, every day. I have consistently, certainly for the past 21 days, addressed what is happening with me; that’s what my journal is all about ME and everything and everyone around me, as WE go through this life; and especially this brand new decade.
  Twenty-one days has been enough to refresh, or reinvigorate, this habit of mine, and it has become a practice for a lot of other people as well.
  I just finished up soulalk’s VISION 2020, an online guided journaling workshop. I offer these workshops off and on, and this time was supremely impressed with the participation and input from participants. It is both interesting and inspiring to see and read what people are thinking about.
  There was a great deal of soul searching and support. The time together was important. I am thankful for the experience.
  I probably wrote more than I usually do over the three weeks. I began the month, the year (the decade), with five brand new pencils and now a few are little more than stumps. In addition to the daily prompts, I wrote about the changes I, and the rest of the world, was experiencing.
  I wrote every day about everything that seemed important at the time. That is what a journal does, or allows you to do. It keeps a running record of where you are on this journey called life. You write it out.
  With a journal, it matters not so much what you write, but only that you do.
  Write.
  Write every damn day.
  Sometimes it is only a sentence. Other times it is simply a word. A day.
  You write.
  Maybe you only write the date, but you should always write the date, because if that is all you write — if that is all you could write — you will know, looking back, that you were alive on that date.
  On that day, you know you had the courage to write it down, even if that date is the only thing you wrote.
  Maybe nothing happened that day, or maybe, on that day, you did not want to write down all that was happening. Maybe you didn’t have the time, or perhaps you didn’t have the courage or the will, but you knew what date it was (some dates are like that).
  Some days it is only a sentence.
  Some days that sentence is a word. Some words are like that.
  Some days are like that.
  Some days you are not feeling it, or you feel too much, so you just write down the date; it may lead to something else.
  Every day, every word, is a part of something bigger and you are greater than all of that, even if you don’t write it down.
  But you should always write down the date.
  A date will remind you that you are alive; after that nothing else matters, but everything counts.
  Write it down when you can, when it matters.
  Make it matter.
  A journal is always there for you.

© 2020 j.g. lewis

by Kayla Harrison

I stand in front of my students and ask them if they want the world to change. I watch as hands go up across the classroom. I ask if they think they can change the world as they are now: this age, this stage of life, this classroom. Now. I get a hand or two, but the room is still. Students look down at their desks and twiddle their thumbs, they laugh, some get red in the face. A student says, “Not yet, anyway.”

I say, “Raise your hand if you think you must wait until you get a degree.” Hands go up before I finish the statement.

There’s something worth noting here: the fact that this society has trained us to think a certain way. It has shifted our mindsets, enslaved us to one way of thinking. We must change that.

One of my favorite sayings by Margaret Atwood is this: “A word after a word after a word is power.” I read this to my students frequently. We have the power, as writers, as communicators, as humans, to shape this world with words. Our words.

Imagine being able to say something or write something and it comes to fruition. All acts start with communication: letters, whispers, text messages, social media posts, videos, podcasts, books, scribbles on a napkin, internal thoughts, phone calls, etc. Our words hold power. But we have to learn how to first listen, then learn how to get our message across in the most effective, meaningful way.

It frightens me that my students are growing up in this world, in the state that it’s in. It worries me that every time they walk out of the classroom they face things that I can’t control, that I can’t protect them from. But what I can do is teach them how to use their voices, how to stand up, how to communicate effectively.

“Your words matter. You matter.” I write this on my students’ papers as a reminder that what they have to say is important, just as all of the authors we read in class are important. Each person’s writing offers a different worldview, and each of my students can only offer their unique perspective on life.

I encourage them to be vulnerable in their writing, to offer their opinions, to challenge others. I attempt to teach them how to listen to other sides of an issue before making their stance. I attempt to teach them how to put different writings into a conversation and how to add themselves in.

My hope is that they will learn to listen before they act, but also learn that they have the power right now to do something.

They can put themselves into the mix of others talking about worldly issues through their everyday conversations, social media posts, group chats, etc. There are so many platforms available for them to take advantage of, and I have hope that they will impact the world on some level. I have hope that at least one will begin speaking out and beginning to make a change.

Though the world is not in a state that I particularly love, I have hope that it can change starting in 2020. I can’t necessarily change the world as a whole, but I can start by teaching my students to own their voices, to use them, and to go out into the world. I can care for them, I can change the environment in the classroom. I can start small in hopes that it will ripple forward into the future.

My goal is to foster an environment where students feel safe to explore their questions and their struggles, an environment where students can learn what their voices sound like and see the result when they are used to communicate in a larger conversation outside the classroom. I’ve seen the impact it has on some students – I can see their confidence and their essays growing stronger as they begin to realize they can create change. Some have already changed the way I view the world, which is one step forward.

I’ll keep teaching and caring and listening so long as they are willing to open themselves up to possibility.

© 2020 Kayla Harrison

Kayla Harrison is a Writing Arts graduate student, freelance writer, and graduate instructor. To Kayla, reading is a way of discovering the world, and writing a way of making sense of it all. You can read more of Kayla’s writing at insearchofthewritedirection.com