Music Love // September 2016

Hello, lovelies!

Happy Fall, first of all! This is an exciting time of the year. There is actually a chill in the air, which just started on Sunday. I can finally start wearing boots and flannels and sipping hot drinks!

Today, I'm going to share some music that I've recently been loving. I won't say much about it. I'll just let it speak for itself :) Tell me what you think!

- Maddie

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Put Yourself Down

I've been noticing a lot lately (I feel like I should have just named this blog that - What Maddie Noticed and/or Has Been Thinking About; Updated Bi-weekly) that people I care about have not been giving themselves enough credit for their talents or for their virtues. In fact, they sometimes say that they're really bad at something when I see that they are actually really good at it. And I just have one question:

Why?

I know we're supposed to be humble, but in my opinion, there is a certain distinction between what is humility and what is taking it too far. God doesn't want us to put ourselves down. Of course, we shouldn't go around bragging and always talking and acting in a way that says, "Look at how great I am at this!", either. On the other hand, I don't believe that we should always bring up the subject of how bad we are at something, or how everyone else is better than we are at it.

Here's why.


1) It makes your friends sad that you never accept what they say.They're trying to be nice and tell you what they love about you, and you are constantly shooting their compliments down with your own reasons of why they shouldn't feel that way. It's not nice to your friends or to yourself.

2) It makes you look like you want people to counter your statement.When you say, "I know I'm a really selfish person," even though people are always telling you that they think you have a gift for being unselfish, it makes the person you are talking to think, "Gosh, here he/she goes again. I've already told him/her that I've seen him/her be a very unselfish person, and that he's/she's a great example of it to me, so what more can I say? On the other hand, if I don't say anything, he'll/she'll think that I agree with him/her, and that's not true..." It makes the other person uncomfortable. It makes them struggle.

“Mary Jane she set at the head of the table, with Susan alongside of her, and said how bad the biscuits was, and how mean the preserves was, and how ornery and tough the fried chickens was—and all that kind of rot, the way women always do for to force out compliments; and the people all knowed everything was tiptop, and said so—said 'How do you get biscuits to brown so nice?' and 'Where, for the land's sake, did you get these amaz'n pickles?' and all that kind of humbug talky-talk, just the way people always does at a supper, you know.” - Huckleberry Finn

3) It's not going to make you feel more humble. If you're doing it because you're proud, and you want to deny compliments because you think it'll make you feel more humble, you need to stop and go about it a different way. I remember a homily from a priest a very long time ago about what true humility is. He said that instead of saying, "Not me, not me, not me," when people give you praise or pay you a compliment, you should simply say, "Thank you," and nothing more. If you are constantly arguing that what they are telling you isn't true, they are going to keep repeating themselves over and over. And you are going to keep hearing it, and it will actually boost your pride instead of lessening it. Has anyone ever paid you a compliment only to accept when you say it's not true because X Y & Z?

"You have a beautiful singing voice."

"Oh, thanks, but I think it's pretty terrible."

"Really? Okay, then."

Has that conversation ever occurred? I can't imagine it has.

Or instead, you can direct the Praise to God. I can't find the exact quote, and I can't even be sure if St Francis De Sales is the particular saint who said it, but I'm pretty sure it was he who said that if you WANT people to praise you, and want to STOP feeling that way because you know it's not right, you should direct the praise to God every time you receive praise, and the actual humility will eventually rub off on you. For instance, you play the piano really well at church one morning and you really want people to come and compliment you on your talent. When they do come to tell you how great you were, even though you wanted the praise, you can say something like, "God gave me the talent." Or, "Thank you. I'm very thankful that God has given me this gift." After practice of this, it will get easier and easier to see that everything you do comes from God and you will want to give him the praise.

4) It gives you a lower image of yourself. Which is not to say that that is all the way bad. A lot of us are too prideful and need to learn to see that we're not as great of a person as we think we are. But we don't want so low of an idea of ourselves where we think that we don't have anything to offer to the world. If we don't love ourselves or appreciate us, how are we going to love and appreciate others?


5) It makes you less likely to share your gift with others. If you keep telling yourself you don't have a certain talent, there's not as great of a chance that you are going to exercise it, and therefore help or inspire others with it. It's kind of like if you have money that God has blessed you with, and you could use it to bless other people. But you've donated to certain causes before and haven't seen a physical impact that your money has made. So you say, "The money coming from me must not be worth very much. It's not making a difference, so why embarrass myself by donating when I'm sure the people I'm giving to roll their eyes when they see that the money is  coming from me? I don't know what else to do with it, but I'm not gonna take a risk by looking foolish." Isn't that ridiculous? Whether you actually see the impact or not, you should know that your money isn't going to waste because it can't be worth less than other people's. The same applies to your talents/gifts.

So there you have it: 5 reasons why it isn't okay to put yourself down. 



Do you agree with me? Does this make sense, or am I just PUTTING YOU DOWN by telling you NOT to put yourself down, in which case, you're going to feel 2 times as put down as you would have before??? Did this post come across as harsh? If it did, then Oh my friends, my friends forgive me! (Yeah, I did just quote Marius Pontmercy. I've been listening to Les Mis, guys).

If you agree and don't feel offended by this post, would you add any more to the list? How often do you find you putting yourself down? Can you name why you do this to yourself? Let us discuss these and related things (or unrelated. It's all cool) in the comments! (And if you need help finding said comments, they're at the bottom of this post). 

-Maddie

The Life We Get

I've been thinking a lot lately about how we're alive. I mean think about it. If you are reading this you are alive. It probably sounds obvious and silly to you that I'm saying it, but when you really think about it, can you imagine not living? Not just can you imagine dying someday. Can you imagine what the world would be like if you never existed?

Now I'm starting to sound like Gabriel from It's a Wonderful Life. 

via GIPHY

No one's life is perfect. People get depressed and think that because their life isn't like someone else's, there's no point in them living. But it's silly. Everyone has some kind of difficulty in their life that they have to live through. Maybe one person who wants to lose weight looks at a thin person and gets discouraged because they don't have their body. Maybe that person they think has such a nice form actually wants to gain weight. A supermodel can have bad eyesight. An artist can be bad at poetry.

I don't believe that there has ever been anyone in history who hasn't suffered some kind of hurt, whether physical or spiritual or mental. I don't think anyone looks at their life and thinks that there is nothing that they would change about themselves or their circumstances or abilities. Not one person has ever been good at everything that you can think of. We all have different quirks and shortcomings. We're all good at something, if not many things, but we know that there are also some things that we just do not have the ability to do.

I want you to read this next part, and think about what you would say about yourself.


i'm a normal person. but no one ever has had my exact life.
i can't see clearly without placing little plastic lens in my eyes.
i can't eat bread without breaking out in a rash.
i don't usually trip and fall, but there's hardly a week that goes by without me spilling a drink or knocking over my cereal bowl.
i cry when i'm angry more than when i'm sad.
i can do many things, but i do not possess the artsy or crafty skills that i would like.
i had an infection when i was little that put me through the most pain i've ever had.
i've seen loved ones and friends pass away. some of them live with chronic pain or illnesses.


See? You probably never would have guessed most of that about me. And yet it's true. My life isn't "perfect". I'm not perfect. I can't do everything I would like to. Sometimes I do things that I don't want to do. I can't see like other people can without looking through a lens of some kind. And not because I'm not trying hard enough. Sometimes you just can't. I think we need to learn to be okay with that. Because in our present world, you will hear people tell you from the time that you're 4 years old that you can "Be whatever you want to be." But what if you can't? What if you really can't, and it's not your fault? Can any little girl who wants to grow up and become a princess do so? Can you really become a professional artist if you can't sing to save your life, even if singing is what you love most? No, you can't. Because that's not the life you were given.

via GIPHY
I feel something inside. It's like... the opposite of HAPPINESS!

I'm not trying to crush your hopes and dreams. I'm not trying to say that my life sucks, or that my troubles equal the difficulty of yours. I'm not trying to make you angry like Princess Unikitty up there. What I am trying to do is make you take a look at what you can do. Maybe your whole life you've gone around thinking that you're not good at anything. That is simply not true. You were put on this earth for a reason. And it was for more of a reason than to simply go around doing weird little everyday human things just to end up back in the earth when your life is over. I'm happy with my life, and I hope you are happy with yours. I promise you that you are talented at something and that only you can touch someone else's life with it the way that you know how. In other words, if you don't use your talents to touch someone else, no one else can do it for you. Because God gave that job to you.

So what are your talents? What are some things that you had/have no control over in your life? Do you wear glasses? Braces? Are you clumsy? Do you have any allergies? Go ahead and share! I won't laugh. My life is full of imperfections, too.

auf wiedersehen, darling

-Maddie

Honest Music

Happy New Year, everyone! How is your 2016 going so far? You guys have resolutions, or are you not into that kind of thing? I have a few that I've set for myself. Some are for this blog. Like, I've not used a single gif this whole time I've been posting (which has been about 6 months). So, I'm gonna try to use gifs this year. *scrolls around on Pinterest and can't find many that fit in this post* Another of my goals is to write more about things that I have an opinion on... "At least 3" is what I wrote in my journal. And the last goal is to post about spiritual things. I haven't done a single one that involves faith yet, and I really want to post one soon. Any topic ideas for that one?

But today, this post is not all about my New Year's Resolutions.

A while back when I did The Song Tag I talked about doing a post about "honest music", and explaining to you guys what that means in my opinion. This is going to be my first post where I actually express my opinion throughout the whole thing on just one topic, so bear with me.

First, we have to start at what true talent means. For me, using your talent in a way you love and not just what you know everyone else will love is the way to truly effect people. I look around at famous creative people (artists, actors, writers etc.) and think, "This is great, but I know you don't mean it. I know you aren't putting your whole heart into it, and thus, the effect it could have on me isn't as great as it could be. Why don't you show us what you truly love or are truly feeling, and you will be a lot happier along with the people who connect with you on it?"

Sure, you can have a great voice, and you could write an abundance of songs that millions of people like, but why spend your time on it if you're not in love with it as well?

I see this a lot in the music industry, especially in the Christian genre. Instead of hearing people express things that sound like they mean it, I hear them singing things just because they know people will think it's a good song. What I usually want to hear in Christian music is either an artist directly praising and worshiping God, or telling about a struggle that they're going through but that they know God will help them with in the end. What I don't want to hear are songs about how great it is that nothing that we do matters because Jesus has already won the war. I'm not saying that I don't agree that He has already died for everything we will ever do. But at the end of your life when you stand before Him are you really going to want to say, "I lived my life doing whatever I wanted because I knew You already had it all covered"? Wouldn't you rather say, "I stayed away as much as I could from things that I know would hurt You"?

Sorry, I kind of got off topic. Where was I? Oh, yes, Christian music not always sounding real.

The thing is, it's not that it doesn't sound like good music when they do what I don't prefer, it's that it it doesn't sound real - like they mean it. It sounds empty - like they're just singing and hoping that they might somehow make somebody's day better. Which isn't wrong. But is that really what people want to hear, anyway? Something that doesn't say, "I'm singing what I'm feeling, and those who feel the same can join me"?

*gasp*

There it is. That's what I've been trying to say this whole time. It finally made its way out onto the page.

So now that I've got my thoughts properly expressed, do you want some examples of what I think real Christian (or actually any kind of) artists are?

I'm not going to wait for your reply, because I'm assuming that if you've made it this far by now you do want to know.

So, you ready?

Prepare for my super long list.

 

            via GIPHY

Rich Mullins

Colton Dixon

Owl City

Adam & I

And now you're probably screaming. "That's it? That's all you've got? And here I thought you actually had a valid point and were going to recommend some good stuff, but that's really all you have for me? I've never even heard/listened to half of these people before!"

This is all I've got. But I do have a few more words to say about why these artists are in my opinion "honest".

1) I can feel that they mean what they're saying, even if I don't always understand it.

2) They don't care if no one agrees with them; they say what they mean because it's their song. It's between them and God as it should be. After all, they're not singing to anyone other than Him. They're not afraid of being misunderstood or laughed at or completely ignored, because they are using their talent in a real way. 

3) They believe that as long as their true feelings are expressed, it doesn't matter if anyone finds a connection with them; God is the One who knows and they are using their talent for Him because He gave it to them in the first place.

Now before you think that these are the only artists I like and listen to, they're not the only ones. I like a lot of other artists and songs. I just don't always feel like they're being "honest" in their music. Sometimes I feel like some of their songs are, but the majority of them aren't. The ones I've listed, I feel like the majority of their songs are real.

Rich Mullins - A lot of his songs express his feelings of loneliness and his search for God's presence. It may seem dark when I say it like that, but it doesn't feel depressing when I listen to the words of his songs. I feel like I'm stepping into his mind, maybe reading just what he would write in a prayer journal. He is being honest with God. He's not having a horrible day and then coming to God and feeling like he has to push it all aside because God wouldn't want to hear it. He's taking everything to his Maker because he knows that He sees it all, already. 

Colton Dixon - Some of his songs I do feel like he is just trying to sell something that people would like, but most of them I don't. He sings some things that make me feel like his music is a mix of Rich Mullins and Owl City together - there is a certain hint of dreaminess in the same song where he is being serious. You may think that those things don't mix, but just listen to him and see if you can detect it.

Owl City - I don't like all of his songs, either, and I do sometimes feel like he's just saying something because he knows people will enjoy it. I actually feel most like that about his Christian music. But most of the time his music sounds so unique. Most guys don't sing about fairytale stuff or about things in such a poetic way, but Owl City does. I don't understand what he was thinking about when he was writing the words a lot of the time; only he could know what he is thinking. And that's what I like about it. He's being himself. 

Adam & I - This duet is probably the least known on this list. They don't write in a genre that (at least I think) is popular. They aren't big. But maybe it's because they write about the small things. They write about the things that touch and inspire them and don't worry that they'll never be widely known. They're not going to change their style or their words just so that people will know their names.


So there's my opinion. Maybe, in my own way, I'm only making an excuse as to why I feel a connection with certain artists. Maybe there are artists who I don't like but who are being real and I just don't feel the connection. Maybe none of this makes sense. I'll let you decide.

This was my first post about something being "honest", and I've been thinking that I would like to do a little series of "Honest {insert topic}". What do you guys think of that idea? If you have any suggestions for it, please comment and let me know! And don't forget my questions at the top *mentally prods everyone to scroll to the beginning and read said questions* 

And most importantly, what's your opinion? Am I completely wrong? Do you agree with me all the way? Just a little bit? Is there an artist who you think is "honest"? Comment away! I wanna hear from you guys!

auf wiedersehen, darling

- Maddie