Introduction
“To hide behind a mask is to die.” – Stein Torleif Bjella
I grew up with joy and yet, sorrow is the first feeling I remember having. It was not deep sorrow but the experience of tears running down my face. I was only a few years old. My dad was playing the guitar in a minor key – the sorrowful scale of music. That was all it took. My tears kept running and they still do. For a long time, I believed that there was something wrong with me for crying that easily. My solution was to gradually build a shield of armor around my mind and heart. I built this armor during my university years at the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen, and at the reporter position I held at the Aftenposten newspaper; I armored myself for morning meetings and for press conferences. It kept me protected during work related events and even family get-togethers. This armor worked by creating distance through irony, quoting facts, sarcasm and assertiveness. I thought I was doing great. For a long time I was admired both socially and in my line of work, until one day I could not take it anymore. I became exhausted and I felt lonely. I became insensitive and began to hurt people without even noticing it. I became tough and arrogant, and gradually lost myself. The little girl who once cried when her daddy played in minor a key was all abandoned, somewhere inside this armor, and I missed her. This book is about emotions. It is about the life beyond the armor and the freedom that comes with it. The immense amount of longing and vulnerability we humans are capable of feeling through music, art and literature, astounds me. Would you dare to carry these emoti
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