Retrospective
Freedom, circa 2021
Love always finds a way.
If you have read any of my stories or listened to the songs I have covered from February 2021 to September 2021, you'll know I believe in the power of love. I also believe in the transformational power of music.
I know this because there was a time in my life when I needed to feel the love, and my perception was that there was none to be found. So I went looking for it in the music of my life.
What did I find? A whole lotta love. And then some.
I dig reflective practices.
When we take into consideration our thoughts, feelings, patterns, actions and experiences, we gift ourselves the opportunity to learn and understand ourselves more deeply. With that knowledge we are presented with opportunities to improve and progress on our life path.
One can use reflection as a step to becoming more self-aware.
Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand ourselves, and our effect on others. When we raise our self-awareness, we can see ourselves more clearly, we can be in a position to make better decisions, build better relationships and better communicate our needs, wants and desires.
The relationship we have with ourselves is sacred and has its own unique rhythm. Part of the fun on this journey called life is finding our rhythm. And, part of the struggle is sustaining it.
Once upon a time I had grown despondent. I felt a deep sense of disconnect. I yearned to feel safe, seen, heard and valued. I was desperate for experiences with meaning and authentic connection with those closest to me. I had no creative outlets or activities for self-expression. I had no sense of spirituality. The relationship I had with myself was thin and fading fast, and I didn’t know how to overcome my internal unease so I told myself to bury it and endure. I then realized I had become everything I didn't want to see in the world - busy, fearful, distant, stressed, tired, apathetic and negative.
This was the start of my own personal transformation as an adult.
In the times that followed, I made a series of the bravest decisions of my life. I shifted ways of thinking, feeling and being. I unpacked pieces of a life that didn’t align with me anymore, and with a blank page, I began to write into existence a new life that I could love and be proud of as a woman and as a mother.
What we don’t change, we choose.
I believe deeply in the capacity of the human spirit to endure all things and one of my mantras is ‘hope more, not less’. It’s true, I always seek to find the good. As an eternal optimist and someone who is confident in her convictions, my wide-eyed abandon for believing in myself and others has been called unrealistic.
And, Noam Chomsky said, “If you assume there is no hope, you guarantee there is no hope. If you assume there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there’s a possibility to contribute to making a better world.”
I’m grateful for the life experiences that triggered such discomfort within me that it propelled me forward to heal, learn, evolve and grow.
Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, I had the power all along. I just needed to learn it for myself.
When one steps into their power with the desire to live their best life, it brings change, both in ripples and sometimes in waves. I had to make friends with change. I had to trust the processes that were unfolding within me and around me. I see change as an opportunity for growth and the expansion of what’s possible. And, change can still create a deep ache as previous ways of being, thinking, feeling and living are shed.
People can choose to take control of their narrative. It’s possible to courageously step into being one’s true self at any given moment.
We choose what’s comfortable, safe and known to us until we don’t. To choose differently requires we go against what we are used to being pulled towards, while at the same time making choices and moving in the direction of our true desires. With warmth, compassion and unconditional love, it is possible to swim through life’s endless waves of transformation. Because in the end, what is resisted is withheld.
Personal growth requires courage and trust in ourselves and our inner knowing or intuition. Intuition is like a guide, and we use it to light the way forward towards our goals and dreams. It doesn’t mean that we always achieve what we set out to but when we choose to believe in our ourselves, whichever way we look at it, it can be a win.
In the book A Return to Love by author Marianne Williamson, she says, “It takes courage...to endure the sharp pains of self discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.”
Each of us is responsible for our own evolution. The magic is truly found in the journey. It’s about attunement, not atonement.
Attunement is a continuous rhythmic process, one of connection, separation and rebalance. Think of it like a dance, an unchained melody, one that is meant to ebb and flow so it may lead our head, heart, hands and being into alignment.
In the film Eat Pray Love, Julia Roberts’ character sits alone amongst the crumbled buildings of ancient Italy and she reflects on the concept of ruin. She says, “Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.”
We are all in various stages of ruin and we all have the power to transform and transmute our life experiences into something good. We can either let a story of sadness, hurt and trauma own us, or we can make use of it to heal ourselves and help others.
Some people eat, pray and love on their journey of self-discovery. I like a good remix so I love, pray and eat. I also write, rock and give. It’s in my nature, it’s part of my unique rhythm.
Sometimes we're not meant to know why things end. And, endings are always new beginnings if we have the courage to think of them that way. From the ashes of my former self, I am rising like a phoenix, transformed by the fires of change. And, like that great cosmic bird I am now ready to fly.
In the movie The Truman Show, Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a lovable adventurer who comes to literally break out of his shell to find a girl he perceives he has lost, and to experience something more, somewhere out there, in the great beyond.
Dreams can haunt and taunt us. And, dreams can give us a glimpse at something beautiful. I dare to dream, because I believe that dreams really do come true.
In case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.
Want more? If you enjoyed this story series, request a private listening link to the audiobook. Contact me.
