This week, I decided to restart something I'd always enjoyed - I rejoined my singing group.
I've been in my local singing group for nearly 9 years now, the group meets up every week and is lots for fun, but since the sudden death of my dad two years I had stopped going, as I just couldn't control my emotions every time we sang.
Anyway, after seeing a fabulous Twitter singalong posted up by the lovely @debsylee (they were all singing Abba songs) I realized how much I was missing my weekly 'feel good' session, so I made to decision to return and I'm so glad I did.
However, rather than return to sing the songs I already know, the group has a new medley of songs which I quickly need to learn in preparation for a local show and to be quite honest, they are all very new to me.
That got me thinking. I believe that learning a new song and learning to live a greener life has quite a few parallels. Not sure what I mean, well let me explain:
- You hear the tune for the first time or the message.
- You have an instinctive response to whether you can do this or not.
- If you can, you listen more intently to the rythmn/message and see how it works for you.
- Before you learn the words you hum along to the tune - you begin to understand and appreciate the message.
- You learn the chorus and start joining in at this point - you decide to make one small, but significant change to your lifestyle.
- You learn the verses and can sing the whole song - you make this small change a part of your lifestyle.
- You add expression and tone to develop your sound - you add further, regular changes into your lifestyle.
- You sing the song with passion, commitment and it makes you feel good - your daily routine has many 'green' changes incorporated in it, all of which add value and make you feel good.
As with all things in life, not everyone is at the same stage of learning the song, or even on the same song sheet. Others would love to sing, but don't think they can, some prefer to listen to other sing. That's life. But for me, I love singing, I'm not the best, but I'm having a go, because at the end of it all, I know that it will enrich my life and also, hopefully, that of others.
What are your thoughts on this, do you see green living as something that you can learn to incorporate into your daily routine, or is it instinctive to you? Is it something that could add more to your life than takes, or do you feel it's not for you, just yet? I'd really like to hear what you think...