Trump Election – A Suggested Coping Mechanism

So, we are more than a month removed from the national election.  Donald Trump is president-elect. For some it was a victory. For others, this writer included, it was a profoundly sorrowful moment.  The scenes from Clinton’s post-election “party” definitely told the tale. Seldom have I seen such sad faces. The sad truth is that this sorrow we feel will not easily go away because there are four years ahead of us.  A coping mechanism is so necessary.  For some it is as simple as no longer watching the news.  Others are actually emigrating to Canada and other countries.  My own method of coping is wrapped up in the divine Tina Turner.

Several days after the election, while watching one of the several Obama slideshow collections that are making the rounds on Facebook,  I started humming the Tina Turner song “Simply the Best” and did a quick search on Spotify for the song. There I  found a wonderful, previously unheard, recording of a live Tina concert in Arnhem, Holland.  I cranked it up and Donald Trump faded away.  Soon Tina was filling the house with music on a regular basis.  I would sing along, get up and dance, play a little air guitar and, generally, feel good.  I recommend it to everyone.

But Tina, as we know, is hardly a one-facet lady.  So, after listening to the rock-and-roll Tina for several days I then turned to a recording entitled “Beyond”. This particular Tina Turner album is not as well known as her rockers but it has transported me to other dimensions on many occasions.  It is a collection of Buddhist and Christian Prayers sung by Tina, Dechen Shak Dagsay and Regula Curti.  There is also commentary by Tina, complete with her Southern dialect, in which she talks about the ability of singing to “take us beyond.”  It’s a beautifully soothing recording and Turner’s urging to “Start every day singing like the birds/Singing takes you beyond” is advice that I try to take to heart.  Music connects us to a higher level of consciousness and puts our life in perspective.

So, if The Donald is still getting you down, crank up some music that you love and just let it go, my friends.  Bobby Kennedy once said, “Like it or not, we live in interesting times.”  Such is our fate. ❧