The Grateful Review Volume I. April 2024.
This is the first Grateful Review I am sharing and I feel this will be a really helpful way for me to share the wonders of the world that I engage with throughout my year. I imagine this will be a helpful journal to remind me of the things I am grateful for and hopefully to inspire you to seek out anything that interests you. So to begin a few things I discovered in April…
LISTEN
‘Benedictus’, from Sir Karl Jenkins’ work The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace, 1999 by Welsh Composer Sir Karl Jenkins is simply other worldy and embodies for me what it is to feel the experiences of this journey of life and death.
I first heard this piece of music on the radio a few weeks ago and it completely stopped me in my tracks. I had to just stand still in the kitchen listening fully and completely. I then dashed for a pen and paper to make a note of the piece as I knew I needed to listen to it many times more. I’m so grateful this piece of music is in the world and is impacting so many people. The link above shows you a live performance of the piece. I quite like it that you hear someone coughing at the start to remind you of the huge audience who are sitting mesmerised by the piece.The comments under this YouTube post are also a powerful reflection of how much this piece of music has impacted people.
When I first heard it the presenter on the radio said they felt this piece of music should be played to any one who says they don’t like classical music. I feel this piece of music should be played to anyone and to everyone. I’ve cried several times listening to it and it is a visceral experience for me and I always come away feeling richer and more grounded in my life and relations. How is it that 1 piece of music can have such a profound impact on someone ? The healing power of the arts
I urge you to listen. To fully stop and fully engage in the experience.
READ
Set in a rural polish village, this book is a page turner from the start. I love to read and have always been a book worm but as I get older I have found I will put a book down mid way through if it doesn’t have me hooked as there are so many books to read and when I am engrossed in a story fully its a wonderful experience. Finding writers who make me think, who fill me with gratitude after I read their words is a joy.
Good writers are poets and I am fill with awe when I read their words and that’s the experience I am going for more and more as I get older. Some of my favourite writers at the moment are Elizabeth Strout, Haruki Murakami, and the incredible Elena Ferrante. This book did just that for me. Based around an old lady living by herself in a rural village during the cold winter months discover a body alongside some of her male neighbours. The story of this elderly lady and her personality shines through in her narrative voice which is witty, wise and outspoken. What a fantastic writer. Such an engrossing and thought provoking book to read.
The Guardian newspaper reviewed it as-
An astonishing amalgam of murder mystery, dark feminist comedy and paean to William Blake from the Polish winner of the 2018 International Man Booker prize
It isn’t just a murder mystery and that’s what makes it such a fantastic read, dealing with topics such as animal rights, feminism, wealth, death and isolation. I cared about this character and liked her immensely. She’s a strong older woman, brave and fully aware of the life she has left to live. Lines such as ‘sometimes I think only the sick are truly healthy.’
If you like the sound of it then go get yourself a copy. Its highlighted as one of the books to read in Waterstones at the moment.
WATCH
From the German director who brought us the classic Wings of Desire. This is Wim Wenders new film about the beauty in the every day life. Perfect Days stayed with me for weeks after. I felt inspired to rise in the morning and look out my window feeling grateful to be alive. What makes a perfect day ? How we view it and how we engage in it. The soundtrack works perfectly with the film and has some of my favourites including Van Morrison, Ottis Reading and Nina Simone.
Each morning the protagonist, Hirayama wakes to the sound of someone sweeping the street outside his apartment and he rises to follow the same routine getting ready for work and then steps out of his house looking to the morning sky with a smile and a grateful breathe. We follow him continuing his routine day after day. Its a truly meditative, beautiful piece of filmmaking about gratitude and finding beauty in nature, music, books, silence, solitude and of course food. I truly loved this film. It reminds me of Zen Buddhism, I used to spend time with Zen monks and carry out daily routines on meditation retreats and finding joy in the present moment tasks however mundane the activity seems to be is a mindful, grateful way to live each moment. This characters job for example is cleaning toilets, yet he does it with care, respect, total focus and a smile.
Side note - The director was asked to visit Japan to look at the toilets as they are extremely beautiful and a group of artists in Japan knew Wim Wenders loved Japan and so after the pandemic he visited and then decided to create this film.
Not sure when it will be streaming but I recommend keeping an eye out for it. And if you haven’t watched his earlier classic Wings of Desire about an angel who can hear peoples inner thoughts then what are you waiting for?
DO
An activity I have been doing during the month of April is listening to morning call of the birds now that it is spring and when dry enough sitting and grounding myself to the earth with my shoes and socks off in the garden.
I have been opening my back door every morning to look at the morning light whilst listening to bird songs as I know my circadian rhythm is regulated by light exposure and I feel grateful its light in the mornings now to do this.
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And so that’s it for April, I hope you enjoyed this first month review and I look forward to sharing more with you end of May.
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