A personal growth lesson from a song from the 80s (played at 6:43 am).
"Everyone thinks about changing the world, but nobody thinks about changing himself."
Leo Tolstoy.
6:43 in the morning. The air of Milan is pungent, but luckily it is not yet impregnated with the acrid smell of the exhaust pipes. Along the sidewalks you can see only a few daredevils who, with their heads stuck in oversized scarves, hurry up to reach the warm belly of the metro.
I am in front of the entrance of my condominium: it is one of those mornings when I chose to run first for myself and then for others. The numb fingers quickly touch the smartphone in search of that "dirty little secret" that I have been using for years to devour those interesting books, but that I would not have time to read even in two lifetimes.
Then I think about it.
This dawn is too cold to hear an aseptic narrator. I need music, of that enveloping fluid of notes and words that go up the copper wires of the earphones to warm your soul. I have neither a genre nor an artist in mind, I let chance decide (or rather, some algorithm developed in Cupertino): I click "Random", put the smartphone in the pocket of my running jacket and start running ...
Running at dawn with "The King of Pop"
Apple must particularly like “The King of Pop”. Michael Jackson.
It's 6:45 am and MJ accompanies me along the semi-deserted streets of a still sleeping Milan, the first song of the random playback is a piece from 1987: "Man in The Mirror”- The man in the mirror.
(To better enjoy this article, I suggest you start the video and continue reading, perhaps with the volume at a minimum).
I've always liked Michael Jackson (the singer). Michael Jackson (the man) definitely less. But despite a troubled and at times "troubled" life, his songs have been able to inspire millions of people.
So, between one stride and the next, I begin to listen carefully to the text of that song written when I was just 5 years old. I realize that I have heard that song dozens of times and at the same time that I have never really listened to it.
Mind you, Michael Jackson is not Dante and "Man in the Mirror" is not the Divine Comedy, but this morning, perhaps due to the cold air against the neurons still numb from sleep, some passages of the song remind me of excerpts from pages of my personal growth books favorites (texts such as these, in order to understand each other).
I keep running. I am impatient to finish the training. No, this time it's not because of the cold or tiredness: I have an article to share with my readers that quivers on the tips of those fingers now warmed by running and music ...
Well now you know how this post came about. Here, today I'd like you to read some excerpts from the text of that Michael Jackson song that I listened to at 6:45 in the morning, but above all I would like to share with you a simple reflection that has accompanied me for weeks since that fateful morning run.
Who knows, maybe that's what you need right now ;-)
The lyrics of "Man in The Mirror"
Below you will find the translation of some passages of MJ's song: I would like you to read them, perhaps letting the video of the song I have inserted above go in the background.
When you're done, I'll tell you the lesson I learned from this mundane 80s pop tune.
"I'm about to make a change,
for once in my life it's gotta make me feel really good,
it will make a difference, I will do the right thing.
[...] That's why I want you to know ...
…that I'll start with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his way,
and no message could be clearer.
If you want to make the world a better place,
see yourself and make a change.
[...] You have to improve things while you have time,
because when you close your heart,
your mind will continue to haunt you anyway.
[…] I will make a change
it will make me feel really good!
come on ... change too ...
Get up ... you know ...
you have to be the one to stop
always making the usual mistakes.
You have to make that change today!
You don't have to, you don't have to let yourself go ...
Yes, make the change!
You have to move forward!
You gotta get up, get up!
Yes, make the change, get up, get up now!
You have to make that change… come on!
You know! You know! You know! You know!
Make that change. "
Michael Jackson's morning class
Of course, reading the lyrics of a song (translated too) or listening to it, are two things light years away. So it was important that I let the song play in the background. Music has the ability to energize cryptic (or sometimes simply trivial) words.
Still, there are some freezing winter mornings when you go out for a run in the park and even a simple pop song leaves you something. This is the lesson that "The Man in The Mirror" left me ...
Stop doing the frignone.
You can't change what happens to you,
you can only change yourself,
the man you see in the mirror every morning.
If you want to impact this little rock lost in the universe,
it starts with having an impact on your life.
If you think you still have time: you are wrong.
Il time is now up.
You have to make that change today!
Raise the c * # o and make that change!
I know, I know: I've been tormenting you with this for years now fight against procrastination. Nothing new. But the point here is another. Although you may have understood on a rational level what are the risks of postponing your commitments, your goals and your dreams, in fact you continue to do so (calmly it's me and you: useless to make fun of us).
You entrust your hopes for change to the mystical magic of yet another January XNUMXst or XNUMXst of the month, only to fall back on time to the usual mistakes.
How long can you afford it? How much do you think is missing even before the feelings of guilt, muffled by the daily grind, turn into deafening regrets?
If you want to make the world (and your world) a better place,
it starts with the man in the mirror.
You have to improve things while you have time.
You have to make that change today!
Make that change.
I wish you a week of changes. Who knows, maybe one day you will look in the mirror, think about this article (the song by MJ) and smile at what you managed to accomplish.
