Oft I am tossed about the vitriolic sea of life. The tempest’s encompassing fury batters and seeks my sanity. The dark, the wind, the waves — in concert surmount their tireless sieges against my mind and toil to shatter my vessel. If I could get a moment’s solace from the relentless onslaught, I might regain bearing and better concentrate on the treacherous navigation ahead.

Music provides the ultimate refuge, but the sea is so persistent; it often dilutes the potency of music in my mind. I need first to block out the storm. Thank the good Lord and Nathaniel Baldwin for the advent of headphones. The technology is so fine that now I may cancel the cacophony encircling and retreat into the harbor of melody.

The quality of the music improves the ability to focus. Personal and intimate: allowing myself to be completely absorbed into the melody and lyric. To allow the words and rhythms to refocus, redirect, and repose my restless soul. My being seems to blend, depend, and transcend as I regain composure. I am renewed, recharged, resilient.

I retake a firm grasp of the helm, having harbored in my headphones, and steer fast in contention of the waves — forward toward shore.