#1 - WHAT IS THE ONE ALBUM (OR EP OR SONG) THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE VERY NEXT MUSICAL THING THAT EVERYONE PRESSES PLAY ON THE NEXT TIME THEY FIND THEMSELVES THINKING “WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NOW”?

Pretty much anything by Andrew Bird. His last studio album (comically titled) 'My Finest Work Yet' is great. It was recorded pretty much live apart from a few overdubs and on tracks like 'Bloodless' and 'Don the Struggle' you can really hear how well they've captured his and the band's playing.

His back catalogue is littered with brilliant songs and he's even better live. Check out his Instagram for lots of videos of him playing at home during lockdown.

#2 - WHAT IS THE ONE MOVIE OR TV SHOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE NEXT IN EVERYBODY’S NETFLIX QUEUE (OK, DOESN’T HAVE TO BE NETFLIX, WE’RE ALL INTERNET ADULTS HERE AND KNOW HOW TO FIND ANYTHING ONLINE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)?

I'm sure most people have seen it by now but The Last Dance, about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls during the 90s, was fantastic. I was a big basketball fan as a kid during that era so it was great to be transported back there, but whether you've ever been into basketball or not doesn't really matter.

It's a great insight into how focused we have to be as people in order to achieve great things. Overcoming adversity and challenging yourself to do difficult things is what it's all about.

#3. I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE LOCAL BOOK STORE (OK, MAYBE THE LOCAL LIBRARY FIRST) TO FIND THE VERY NEXT BOOK THAT I WILL BE PUTTING SOME EXTREMELY VALUABLE ‘ME-TIME' ASIDE FOR. WHICH BOOK WOULD YOU GET, IF YOU WERE ME (AND, I SUPPOSE, YOU HADN’T ALREADY READ WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO SUGGEST)?

Anything by Billy Collins. He's a contemporary poet from New York and was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. Just the mention of the word 'poetry' can often make people wince for one reason or another but Billy Collins is the antidote to that.

He's really accessible and yet delivers such wit and wisdom through simple language. He's also fantastic at reading his poems, here's a good example:

#4 - WHAT IS THE ONE WEBSITE (OR JUST ANY OLD INTERNET THING: APP, GIF, SERVICE, WHATEVER) THAT YOU WOULD GET REALLY DOWN IN THE DUMPS ABOUT IF IT WERE TO SUDDENLY GO AWAY?

Bob Mortimer's 'Train Guy'. He's a British comedian and he developed this character on his podcast 'Athletico Mince'. The character refers to those people that like to sit on trains and talk really loudly on the phone about their business achievements using terrible business jargon and awful 'banter'. He started posting them on his twitter account originally but I think most of them are now available on YouTube, so I'll go with YouTube as being the one website I can't live without.

Here's a good introduction to 'Train Guy':

#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITTING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.

Meditation. It's a cliche these days which is a shame as it can teach you so much about yourself and how you think and react to things. We're all told how much we should look after our bodies by exercising, yet very little is (or was at least) said about how to look after our minds.

Everything is always in motion, coming and going, be it what we see, hear, smell, taste or feel, and our thoughts are the same. Learning to let them come and go and not identifying with them so much has been hugely beneficial to me and to many other people before me. There are lots of different ways to do it. Try them all and find the way that works for you and make it a habit, you won't regret it.

OK folks, there you have it. Things that Tim Wilds thinks you should consider incorporating into your day/life. Before you log off and go do some meditating, make sure to follow Tim on the Instagram and then also give ‘Yellow Under Black’ a listen below…

…and if you like what you’re hearing, go do some further tim-wilds-flavoured audio exploring over on the Bandcamp / Spotify.