Yesterday I started a new collage notebook which means I actually finished my first book, something I didn’t think I’d be able to do. I have a tendency to start things and, well, never finish them. I have plenty of half filled notebooks around the house and when I started to feel the pull to buy a new one for collaging, I decided to make sure I finished the original notebook first.
Last night I started page one and decided to use a lyric that’s been bouncing around in my head a lot right now. I’m walking for exercise again, each day putting in around 2-3 miles depending on the time available. Working from home has freed up these little pockets of time where I can get away from my uncomfortable kitchen table office set up and get outside and get moving.
One of the songs on rotation during these walks is Lauryn Hill’s Doo Wop (That Thing), which has the wonderful line, “How you gonna win, when you ain’t right within?”. I decided to try and include it in the first collage in my new notebook.
I think that one line, repeated three times in the song, says a lot about the idea of needing to take care of ourselves before we can conquer things in the world. I don’t know this is completely true, as we see politicians and businessmen take advantage of others to secure more power and money for themselves. But I can’t control those people’s actions, only my own. Therefore, let me focus on getting right within first, then going out and trying to win.
Below is the video for the song…
I have a few other ideas on including song lyrics in future collages. I look forward to starting on those soon.
Aaron Hartley 