I used to think creativity was a cure for sadness, like taking an aspirin for a headache. Later, I would think of creativity as an escape or distraction. Like working the strings on a puppet, a way of putting myself in control of something. Even if I wasn’t able to control the thing that was upsetting me at least I could control this parallel world that I had created.

By stepping back and greeting each moment, happy or sad, like a knock at the door I feel better equipped to decide on what to let inside. Sometimes, I have to tell a moment that it has the wrong address or maybe to come back later. Other times, I’ll let a moment in for a coffee and then send it on it’s way. Still, other times I’ll allow a moment stay with me for a while. I’ll let it crash on the couch. If things are working out I may even let it sublet a room for a while. Maybe that moment becomes part of my home and inspire love and compassion… or maybe one day I start feeling like that moment is not pulling its weight around the house. It’s leaving a lot of dirty dishes in the sink. It’s constantly late with the rent. It brings over a lot of rowdy friends. They trash the house and eat all my peanut butter. That’s when I have to ask that moment to leave. Maybe it doesn’t want to leave? And that’s when I have to get creative. Eventually, the moments that stick around are the ones that inspire me to create. They’re not always good. But they always, eventually, clear a path to the important stuff.

Hopefully, some of this music will make it past your door and inspire you down a path that leads to love and compassion. – MMM

This month’s playlist includes song by: Brittany Howard, Broken Heart Syndrome, Kim Gordon, Jeffery Lewis, Leonard Cohen, 39 Clocks, Cate le Bon & Bradford Cox, Zooboy, Pauline Oliveros, Ananda Shankar, The Burning Hell, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Leonard Cohen, Lucy Dacus and more…

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