when people ask me what makes me so happy i usually smile and say things like "sunshine" and "flowers"... but i think people ask because they think i'm a perpetually, boundlessly happy person.let me dispel this myth and then share a little secret.
life is never easy. truthfully, it's tough to appreciate happiness without comparing it to its opposite, so i'm grateful even for sadness (there's a little hint in here by the way...).
now, onto the secret!
averaged out, i grew up in a happy home. and of all the reasons, i can point to one very musical one: every morning, without fail, my dad sang. you'd hear him in the kitchen making our lunch and just singing. like no one was listening.
(thankfully he has a great voice)
in fact, when we kids were little, he and my mom would pile us into the car like kittens at the crack of dawn and the requisite sing-along would promptly begin. unless my mom was driving, you'd never hear duran duran or tears for fears in our car, no. it was always the same: we'd clear the driveway and devotional songs from the mosque would fill the crisp morning air. wishing i was still in pyjamas, nodding off like a bobblehead toy stuck to the dashboard, with voice barely there, i'd have to sing. how annoying. how uncool.
truth is, i catch myself doing it now... on my own, in the shower, in the car driving to work, without prompting. and guess what? i believe it keeps me happy. so there's the secret: sing. pick something melodic, something sweet, lovely, uplifting. sing your heart out! do it first thing in the morning. wake up with music filling you up inside so much that you just gotta let it out.
so for you dad, i'm posting some indian soundtrack-ghazal music. the best. rahat fateh ali khan, nephew of ustad nusrat fateh ali khan, legendary qawwali singers. let it warm up, because i just know you will sing along and do your finger tapping thing at the wheel!
rahat fateh ali khan - o re piya:
related:
get this at amazon.com
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