The soundtrack of a rainy day in the contryside…

At 6:30 am my alarm goes off with Nathalie Cole´s “Smile”, I look out the window and everything is grey, foggy, it’s raining. A part of me wants to stay in bed, another still wants to go out jogging, and then, in a fraction of a second, I don’t know how, I’m dressed ready to walk out the door with my running shoes. To get some more motivation I listen to Ennio Morricone, -usually, at this time I always see an amazing morning sky filled with colors, the sun announces it’s arrival with a beautiful color symphony-; today, all is grey, but somehow this song makes my body feel alive again, the right insight comes straight to me. It’s only up to me to have a great grey day. A grey day is all there is today, so I might as well embrace it with the same joy I embrace every colorful morning and every ray of sunlight.

At these moments I always remember my sister and the unique capacity she has to enjoy a foggy day with a cup of vin chaud listening to Coco Rosie; the perfect opportunity to listen to all of her rainy day music… the art of enjoying melancholic forms of expression. I love it, she has taught me to love rainy days.

But now I’m out there, standing in the middle of the fields, literally in the middle of nowhere, about to commit a rainy day’s musical crime, but my soul is longing for it, so nevertheless all the lessons I have learnt from my dearest sister, I choose Cuban salsa for my morning walk. I speed walk for two kilometers until I reach a place where absolutely no cars can spot me and with a grin on my face I play Orisha´s Dirty Dancing song, “Represent, Cuba” and let my body move freely, dance and sing. There I am, completely alone, feeling absolute freedom, full of my own presence, completely connected with nature. Defeating the fait of a rainy day by my gracious movements under the rain, my body feels renewed again, full of energy to start a new day. As I walk back home, a song about Cuban people trying to go up north makes my heart shiver, it was quite wired, I felt so connected to the suffering of the Cuban people my eyes just bursted into tears, for one moment I could feel exactly what Orishas were probably feeling when they wrote that song. Pain made poetry, made music, a message that travels beyond frontiers, beyond time and space, notes containing the claim and the tears of a trapped but always hopeful country. The clamor of the “guajiras”, this vivid, flaming hearts, avid for dancing, feeding our Mother Earth, all this greatness remains at the core of every Cuban heart… all of that in one song… uff.

I get home, make myself a delicious cup of green tea, take my usual tiny green stool to the garden and sit under the doorframe sheltering from the rain. Strauss´ “Roses of the South” plays on my ipod, it’s as if the rain, the leaves of every tree, dripping with crystals of fresh water, the clouds and the birds were creating a perfect concert, a couple of crows approach us and joyfully join the most beautiful rainy symphony… The soothing movement of the rain falling down from the sky, the warmth of a cup of tea between my hands, perfect music, perfect day!

My lovely cup of tea

-It is only through true acceptance of every moment that
joy may enter our lives-