3 Lessons from Bob Marley That Will Improve Our Well Being
Bob Marley has to be one of the most influential artists of the musical golden age of the 1970’s and 1980’s. He and reggae music had a huge positive impact on my life. Here are 3 quotes from his lyrics which I find really useful in my life:
- You’re running and you’re running and you’re running away, You’re running and you’re running but you can’t run away from yourself, You can’t run away from yourself – Often we busy ourselves with activity so that we don’t have to face the difficult things that we already know. We flee from our aloneness or situations so that the difficult and painful things aren’t confronted; but this doesn’t make them go away. Whatever the activity, it is a coping strategy based upon running away. The least we can do is acknowledge that we are running away and know that although it may be a coping strategy it is not a sustainable one. This acknowledgement gives us permission to look for solutions. The thing to remember is that this may often be like peeling an onion, for we discover deeper and deeper layers as we unwind through our issues. Don’t be ashamed to ask for appropriate help as it is usually much better than trying to run away from yourself.
- Who the cap fit let them wear it – this one is similar to another Bob Marley lyric, ‘a throw mi corn, and mi nah call no fowl’ (I throw my corn and I don’t call any chickens). There are times when our uncomfortable truths are revealed to us. They may be things that we are doing, thinking or saying and when the often ugly truths about ourselves are revealed we become deeply uncomfortable, because the cap fits US! At this point we have a choice whether to run away from ourselves or to sit with the uncomfortable truth and do something about it. Sitting with the uncomfortable truth makes us squirm. The thing to remember is that there are things that we do and they are not us, they are just things that we do or have done. To address the uncomfortable truth we have to start changing what we do, in manageable steps. I have come to love my squirm space because it fast tracks me to dealing with big and uncomfortable issues.
- Excuse me while I light my spliff (spliff), Good God I gotta’ take a lift (lift), From reality I just can’t drift (drift), That’s why I am staying with this riff (riff) – This one really reveals the motivations behind escapism, whether it be gambling, substance abuse or any other activity with which we escape reality. We indulge in activity to escape reality because we feel that we can’t do anything about it. The thing to remember is to trust and take small steps, and to know that when we change, since we are part of the universe, then the entire universe has changed. This is just the way that Allah or God has set up the Universe. So we start addressing things and take breaks, but remember that reality is reality and that when we are finished with the escapism, the issues remain.
The thing we need to understand is that life has difficulties and they are testing. Dealing with them makes us wiser and stronger and through persistence or just turning up to deal with our stuff, it is amazing what we can achieve.
Often when dealing with a difficult situation I will use Basil and Rhodiola herbs to make tea. These herbs help to fortify our psychological and emotional resilience.
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