Leaning Toward Wisdom

Chasing Happiness & Sharing Pain (LTW5035)


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Two documentaries about musicians prompted today's show. The artists are very different. One, I'm a big, big fan. The other, not a fan at all. I couldn't give you the title of a single album or song. But I'm happy I watched the documentary. And it was a far better-produced documentary than the one on the artist who I love.

I saw them on the same day, but I watched them in the order of today's title. The first, a documentary about The Jonas Brothers entitled, Chasing Happiness. The second, a documentary about Adele entitled, Adele - The Only Way Is Up. Both are available on Amazon Prime.

If I gave them a star rating I'd give Chasing Happiness 4.5 stars and I'd give Adele - The Only Way Is Up no more than 3 stars. I'm favorably biased toward Adele and her music. I was unfavorably biased against The Jonas Brothers. This just proves how dangerous it can be to fill in the gaps of our ignorance with our own biases. I don't mean biases that are the subjective nature of music. We like what we like. Both artists are labeled POP, but I'm not a big fan of POP. Certainly not the bubblegum pop that I associated with The Jonas Brothers.

Can an artist or group truly know why they experience a breakthrough? Both of these artists broke through with reasonable speed. Neither of them languished playing small out of the way venues for years before getting a break. Both of them found fast stardom.

The documentary provided evidence that The Jonas Brothers resonated with all the young girls (their dominate audience, especially early on) because they performed with such happiness. During the documentary, the brothers state that the audience wanted to see them having a good time. At some point during their heyday, they stopped having fun and the success suffered.

By contrast, Adele found an audience that could easily relate to her struggles and pain. Her songs were autobiographical, raw and honest. Anything but happy.

One artist - The Jonas Brothers - representing what we all most want. To be happy. To smile. To laugh. To have a good time.

The other artist - Adele - representing what we all fully understand. Struggle. Pain. Suffering. Heartbreak.

Both amassed tremendous audiences and found enormous success. Both went their own way. One, The Jonas Brothers, sorta lost their way and are now on the road back to doing what they love. They're currently on a tour, Happiness Begins.

Adele is reportedly working on a 4th studio album due out December 2019.

Two gigantic musical acts who approached their music from completely different viewpoints. And found quick success because people could relate to them, their songs, their persona and their talent. It all matters. So did their timing.

Lately I've been focused on how to best make people feel safe. Well, actually it's been a lifelong fascination with unsafe people. They puzzle me. Always have.

Emotional safety has been a lifelong pursuit. And I do mean pursuit. Both in trying to become increasingly more safe myself and in finding people with whom I can be safe.

No, I've not found it very often, but to be fair - I'm cautious and have always limited the number of people in my inner circle. I'm not overly guarded I don't think, but I may be. It mostly stems from my introversion and the fact that my personality is seriously drained by being around too many people. Sometimes it's more difficult than at other times.

You've heard me say it before - if given the option between two rooms to enter, where I could spend the next 3 hours - one filled with hundreds of interesting people and one filled with just six ordinary people - I'm dashing into the room with 6 people. I can't fully explain it. It just is what it is. And I don't judge anybody who would choose the other door.
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Leaning Toward WisdomBy Randy Cantrell

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