“It’s time to come off the road so I can fully embrace the next chapter of my life.”
~ Elton John
My blog schedule continues to be off by a couple of days, but everything happens for a reason. I now know that I was supposed to have attended Elton John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour” concert before writing this week’s post.
Elton John announced early this year that he will retire after his global farewell tour (don’t worry, the schedule is spread over three years, so you still have time to catch it somewhere in the world). I was lucky enough to be in the Washington, DC, audience last night when my sister-in-law had an extra ticket. My body is still buzzing at the cellular level from the experience.
At 71 years of age, Elton played the piano and sang with the exuberance of a 20-something. His extra girth, cheekier face, and elderly hands were inconsequential details. The voice—at least to my untrained ear—had the same range, power, and impact that it held when I was a little girl. (His first hit single, “Your Song,” came out in 1970 when I was in First Grade. Click on the image below for a few seconds of it!)
And though toned down just a tad, the signature bling was still there, along with costume changes and three different pairs of sparkly glasses. But those were just the surface flourishes. What made this concert better than any twenty-something performance was Elton John’s deep presence and true appreciation for the gift of his life and musical journey.
The concert was a thank you letter to his fans. He expressed his gratitude so authentically, with such awe and wonder, love emanating from his heart almost palpably. His utter joy in the moment was contagious. The gratitude was, of course, reflected from the sold-out crowd right back to him.
Embedding Elton John into My Brain Wiring
The timing of this concert provided a great opportunity for me to put into practice some lessons I’ve learned recently from the work of Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist and author of several books on the neuroscience of mindfulness, happiness, and resiliency.
As Hanson explained in the article “How to Trick Your Brain for Happiness”:
“Just having positive experiences is not enough to promote lasting well-being. If a person feels grateful for a few seconds, that’s nice. That’s better than feeling resentful or bitter for a few seconds. But in order to really suck that experience into the brain, we need to stay with those experiences for a longer duration of time—we need to take steps, consciously, to keep that spotlight of attention on the positive.
So, how do we actually do this? These are the three steps I recommend for taking in the good. I should note that I did not invent these steps. They are embedded in many good therapies and life practices. But I’ve tried to tease them apart and embed them in an evolutionary understanding of how the brain works.
- Let a good fact become a good experience. Often we go through life and some good thing happens—a little thing, like we checked off an item on our To Do list, we survived another day at work, the flowers are blooming, and so forth. Hey, this is an opportunity to feel good. Don’t leave money lying on the table: Recognize that this is an opportunity to let yourself truly feel good.
- Really savor this positive experience. Practice what any school teacher knows: If you want to help people learn something, make it as intense as possible—in this case, as felt in the body as possible—for as long as possible.
- Finally, as you sink into this experience, sense your intent that this experience is sinking into you. Sometimes people do this through visualization, like by perceiving a golden light coming into themselves or a soothing balm inside themselves. You might imagine a jewel going into the treasure chest in your heart—or just know that this experience is sinking into you, becoming a resource you can take with you wherever you go.”
So now you know why this concert (and this blog post) landed at exactly the right time! As Hanson recommended, I soaked in the opportunity to feel good, tuning in deeply to how the sights, sounds, and other sensory experiences landed in my body and mind. I felt the experience sink into me last night and can still feel it today. Writing about it has allowed me to savor the concert all over again. My brain’s Happiness wiring is stronger as a result!
Extending the spirit of the concert even further, let me take this opportunity to thank YOU for reading this, for your support and encouragement, and, most importantly, for showing up for your own life with presence, consciousness, and gratitude. As I’ve said here before, mindfulness is a form of community service. Thanks for doing your part to add to the global positive energy supply!
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