{"id":2572,"date":"2022-06-30T18:18:50","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T22:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deborahblackwell.com\/?p=2572"},"modified":"2022-07-11T14:10:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T18:10:07","slug":"%ef%bf%bcour-little-secret-to-raising-our-vibe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deborahblackwell.com\/?p=2572","title":{"rendered":"Our Little Secret to Raising Our Vibe"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

By Deborah Blackwell<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Every June on or near his birthday, my middle son attends a music festival called
Electric Forest<\/a><\/u>. It\u2019s a four-day electronic dance music event that takes place in a magical forest in Michigan. Yes, magical. It\u2019s set up to look like a larger-than-life enchanted fairy tale in Sherwood Forest and is beautifully done. When he first told us about it years ago, I was sad that he would be missing his birthday with his family for this hippie-esque celebration. We thought it was a passing phase.<\/p>\n

Then something happened. Sir Husband and I listened to the music and well\u2026it was all over.<\/p>\n

Turn off the jazz, folks. We\u2019re coming out. Sir Husband and I are closet
electronic<\/a> dance music<\/a><\/u>\u2026or for the old-school crowd\u2014dubstep\u2014hippies. We just love the vibe. And we can often be found in our living room, or even in our kitchen, with the Bose turned up, dancing to dubstep.\u00a0But what we didn\u2019t know? The right vibe can cure what ails.<\/span><\/p>\n

Life has been hard lately. Not just the state of the world, although that\u2019s more than enough. Sir Husband had a medical scare, that thankfully resolved. I had three complicated back-to-back root canals on top of the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome I still endure. And the most debilitating stressor? My mother\u2019s dance with death. She clings to every life-saving intervention possible to keep her physical body going when it\u2019s been trying so hard to go. Along with her doctors, we have turned ourselves inside out, offering infinite compassion, dignity and grace, to help her end-of-life experience be meaningful, safe, and comfortable\u2014a situation many must navigate and endure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sometimes there are no solutions. Whatever we face\u2014from simple to catastrophic\u2014no matter how hard we try, there are times life just doesn\u2019t budge. And that sucks. So, I wondered, do we live with the discomfort, consumed by the strain? That\u2019s not healthy for the body or mind. Fake it \u2019til we make it? Pretending our way to peace doesn\u2019t work long term. Let go and move on? Let\u2019s be realistic, that\u2019s not so easy. And surrendering feels like defeat. I struggled feeling it\u2014what does surrender even mean?
I needed something more concrete.<\/p>\n

\n

Then I had a revelation. In my desperate quest for relief, I realized it\u2019s not seeking the solution that works, or even surrendering. It\u2019s the actions we put behind our choices that matter.<\/em> The actions we take every day that hold up our morals, our principles, our values, and beliefs. The actions that inspire us, fulfill us, and feel good. The actions we choose that put us back in the equation. Dancing. Creating. Doing something fun. My middle son knows this well.<\/p>\n

So, last night I turned on some electronic dance music while I was doing the dishes. I fell right in\u2014eyes half-closed, moving and grooving at the sink. Sir Husband came over and joined. We weren\u2019t lost in the enchanted forest in Michigan, but in the experience feeling the vibe. No stress. No bullshit. Just music. Nothing else mattered in that moment. Even when my youngest son came into the kitchen and said, \u201cUgh, what\u2019s happening in here?\u201d Duh, dude. Dancing with your true inner vibe releases dopamine, increases serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin. It\u2019s scientifically proven. It\u2019s also free. Freeing. And, well, it\u2019s magical.
Happy Birthday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

*Photos by Mitchell Tewksbury<\/em><\/h6>\n

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