by Reena Daruwalla, guest writer for Nancy Hayssen.com

For one or another reason, I had been feeling a bit down in the past few days and was looking for a way to break out of the down turn that my usually sunny spirits had taken. I usually find by solace in books etc., but this time my usual favorites failed to bring cheer.

I then decided to make a survey of an old box of music CDs that remained packed and unopened in a corner of the house, since we shifted here almost a year ago. I had not seen or heard them literally in years. They were my classical music collections, which I seemed not to have found time for in recent times what with how crazy busy life has been in the recent past.

I opened that box and rediscovered a veritable treasure trove of much beloved music inside. I then made some time for myself and virtually closeted myself to listen to some of the khayals (the word means thoughts or imagination, this is what Indian classical music compositions are generally known as) that have been intimately known to me for so long. In a few minutes I was fully immersed in the sounds of the music that washed over me, into me and into my soul.

The rich, mellifluous baritone of Pandit Jasraj uplifted and delighted me to an extent that (I am a little hesitant to mention) tears rolled down my cheeks at the sheer beauty of the music. The familiar, sonorous intonations of a well beloved Pandit Bhimsen Joshi composition restored not only my sunny spirits, it revitalized me! I felt at once delighted and at peace. I tried to find a good representative piece of the kind of music that I find so very uplifting: this is a devotional composition in Sanskrit by Pandit Jasraj.

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When I emerged from my short self imposed exile, I had a lot of vim, vigor and was full of new ideas and energy!

I think that each of us has that one thing in our life that never fails to delight, to uplift, to energize. We can learn to identify it and learn to tap into it, it is a sort of instant pick me up for life in times of difficulty or stress.