11:11 Waves Blog 4: Harmony

Every Monday, I share 1 question for you to contemplate, 1 idea from me, 1 quote from others, and 1 inspiration for us.

Today’s topic is: Harmony.

When I was in high school, I taught myself how to play the guitar. At the time, I was very passionate about this instrument, I practiced every day and I even founded an unnamed band with a classmate and played at the local pub. While my guitar followed me in all my relocations and always ended up displayed in the living room, I no longer play regularly and months can pass by with it sitting in a corner collecting dust. Last week, as I decided to amuse myself and learn how to play my “January’s soundtrack”, I picked up my guitar again. My high expectations to create a wonderful melody were quickly shattered as my guitar was completely out of tune. Before I could create musical harmony, I had to spend time tuning my instrument.

One Question for you

Any guitar player, beginner or prodigy, will appear novice if their instrument is out of tune.

Discuss the question here.

One Idea from me

Music can be considered a metaphor of life. Here are three tips on how you can re-tune your inner guitar and achieve harmony in your life:

1. Reflecting helps you stay in tune with yourself: over time, a guitar inevitably goes out of tune – it’s only natural. The key to maintaining a guitar in tune is to notice when it is out of tune and continually re-tune it. Life is the same: reaching harmony involves a series of small tunings and re-tunings. Try to do a tune check once a day to assess how in tune or out of tune you are. Have you spent any time today getting in synch with your values and goals?

2. Playing in harmony: Each guitar string can be viewed as an individual, a role, a conversation, a situation in life. Playing in harmony does not mean to make each chord sound the same. It means allowing each chord to express itself, acknowledging their contribution to complete an arrangement and collaborating to create a beautiful tune together. How does your true self play in harmony with others?

3. Environment matters: temperature and humidity can have a significant impact on guitars staying in tune. The same goes for human beings: the right conditions are essential to be able to grow, develop and be in harmony. Are you in the right environment? How can you create the environment that keeps you in tune?

One Quote from others

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony”. Mahatma Gandhi

One Inspiration for us

Enjoy the extraordinary harmonies of Antonio Vivaldi and the last mesmerizing scene of the film Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Director Céline Sciamma (winner of the 2019 Festival of Cannes prize for best screenplay).