Song as Currency

When I was as a little girl, I wanted to be an actress and a singer.

I would perform for whoever would listen with my squeaky, high pitched voice and revel in the joy of the exchange.

Yet as time went on, this quality utterly disappeared. I don't know when, or how, or why.

But this preciousness that just wanted to share joy, withdrew and became distorted.

Possibly from a lack of cultivation by my elders, perhaps this is what happens in a grief filled society of people, up-rooted, barely making it- raising children alone without a village.

All I know is that my songs left me for a very, very long time.

This was incredibly painful in ways I still don't fully understand.

I believe it was the terrain of ritual- hearing songs grown out of an ancient root system- that slowly but truly returned this essential element of my (Our) birthright to me.

It started like a seed does- dormant.

You suddenly have a small desire that feels so far away, yet little by little you inch towards it. You listen to songs that fill you with joy over and over and over until their pattern is embedded in your field and you sing along with the song.

Then you start singing it in your backyard to the moon at night.

You might still be shy, but it feels so good.

You see, I don't believe in this modern idea that people go around saying all the time, "Im not a singer."

Ok, maybe your not a professional singer- trained or "talented", and that's fine, neither am I nor do I want to be.

Something has happened with the concept of fame and professionalism that is truly a disservice to what it means to be human.

To sing is to be human. I don't care what you sound like, because I find it beautiful for you to express yourself in this holy way.

The World needs to be fed by the songs dwelling in your heart.

The gods are hungry.

Humanity is longing to return to the honeyed terrain of when the people sang life into being.

So thats kind of what began to unfold for me. I was learning a few songs and I'd go to some get togethers that were so hungry for a song and no one was singing.

So I realized, Oh! this isn't about "being someone" or "being good".

There is a need here and I guess Ill be the one to offer bread to the hungry.

So it was like that, we offer what we can. And that is humility, and in my opinion it is the only way to go.

We all get tripped up sometimes, but if we keep returning to the humility of the fact that none of us actually know what we are doing or what is going on here-

BUT...

Our lives are a caliber of beauty and blessing that we can barely even grasp most of the time... and that kind of gift deserves Praise...

and what better way to praise than to sing?

This is my sense of the matter, anyway.

giving a gift

I've heard my favorite storyteller I quote all the time (and will continue to), Martin Shaw say, "every time you tell a story you give a gift."

Well, thats exactly how I feel about songs. Thats how it is.

The truth of the matter is you don't ever have to sing to another human if you don't want to.

There is a whole world of relationship out there, each thread longing to hear of your soul in the sincerity of your voice, in the reaching out of your hand in friendship, in the honoring that goes along with caring enough to talk to and sing to an elder- of the earth, spirit, ancestor, dream, longing, tree, creek, the rising sun.

I am continuing to discover after about a decade of re-discovering my LOVE and DEVOTION to carrying songs forward to breathe life unto life,

that like all things, the more you do it, the more you attune to it.

And even if this isn't exactly your thing- maybe just do it anyway sometime and see how you feel.

And if this is your thing, if this is your language or you can feel a bubble of a desire in the depths of your being, I say- Go for it!

Learn and play and trust the power of your voice and what it has to say.

Imitate songs and then start weaving little lines of your own in.

Follow the rhythms and melodies that arise spontaneously out of the mist of morning.

The golden thread is everywhere, noticeable most when we are 'paying attention like it matters'.

And the more you invest in this kind of relationship, the more you feel it and feel a part of it.

we are here to give our best

With each passing sunset and season, I pray to attune deeper and deeper to the living field of intelligence that is our earthen reality.

When I am really on point, I notice a great energy exchange that occurs- really in all we do- and very much so in the act and presence of singing our songs.

Each breath, each pause allows a little window to perceive the hues, the winds, the birds with refreshed eyes.

Your heart sinks into a peace and beauty you maybe didn't know dwelled within you.

And to express yourself, freely and truly, is really the greatest gift of all- both to yourself and to those blessed enough to have you share with them.

When I am really paying attention, I know with the greatest confidence and clarity that songs are among the most powerful forms of currency there is.

I invite you to discover the richness that is your interiority, find a song that lights you up, learn it- make it yours

and share that golden nectar with someone when you are ready.

It could be your baby, the rising golden disc of the sun, your deceased grandmother, the tree in your yard, a mountain, a lover, a lost part of your soul.

All are welcome here.

Behold your ancient heritage: your voice.

Because you are precious and the more you open up the gateway of your voice, the more you will come to find that there are many an ancient voice ready and waiting to join you in your song.

children deserve a world of song

And Im not talking about pop songs.

Praise songs, story songs.

Sing to your children, the children in your life.

Learn songs if not only for them.

I lost my songs for nearly 2 decades of my life. I won't allow that to happen to my son or any other lil friend under my wing or in my field of contact.

Because a world without songs is a deadening one.

And we are all here for so much more than that.

Lets gift the children of the world our truest songs and feed the heart of the future,

forever.

xo