Bruce, Barack and Lots of Quiet Time

The Forrest Four-Cast: January 20, 2017

I am not very good at relationships — but I am much much worse at breakups. I obsess, I brood, I obsess, I brood and I obsess some more. Repeat this destructive pattern for much much too long. The last time I lost a love, listening to lots of Bruce Springsteen helped get me through this intense pain. At that time, it was Disk 3 of “Tracks.” When I hear that CD now, I am instantly re-transported to that sad time and place.

In the context of those memories, reading that the Boss played a two-hour private acoustic show on Thursday for longtime White House staffers gave me a little bit of a smile. Perhaps I’m not the only one who has found solace via the music of this particular artist.

January 20 brings a new era in America. Like many in this country (and around the world), this new era has me very very worried about our future. But, I am heartened by the final words of Barak Obama in his final press conference earlier this week: “We’ll be OK.”

I’m also heartened by remembering how I survived that last horrible breakup so many years ago. Along with listening to lots of Bruce, I slowly learned how to meditate. This skill helped me to develop more focus — which eventually helped me develop a much better life. Over the next four years, I’m going to double-down on this meditation practice in hopes of creating new skills that will help create a better world.

Hugh Forrest tries to write four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts generally cover technology-related trends. When not attempting to wordsmith, he serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW in Austin.