TOPIC: Navigating Through Pain into Self-Discovery

There is magic all OVER the story of this song.

When Rose approached me at the end of a yoga class where I had been playing interpretive guitar, neither of us could have imagined the journey we were about to take, together and separately, in the bringing to life of this song. Rose says, "It feels so good to FEEL again," with an acknowledgement that this song helped that to happen in her life. There have been 4 (!!) magical things that have occurred already (!!) regarding this song and its short life. And probably more to come, we if keep our eyes open, now that it is "out there" and ready to meet the world...

TOPIC: WAKING UP INSIDE YOURSELF

This week I completed the 200th song I've written and recorded in the studio! And I wanted to share with you that I've discovered that the one song I listen to the most of all, out of all of those two hundred--the one I am moved by, on a regular basis, is one I created just last year, entitled, "Of Grace and Gratitude."

BREATHE
Every element of this month's "performance piece for meditation" is specifically, intentionally, very carefully calibrated to assist with one singular process: the shift, in you, from your everyday sense of being, into

THAT PLACE

WITHIN YOU

That place of loving, and knowing, and certainty, and flow;

That place through which you are deeply connected to yourself, and the Universe.

THE STORY
Lisa's brother Steve died unexpectedly at the age of 36. In attending to her grief she did two astonishing things--one which made the papers in St. Louis where she lives, and one which helped her grieving father to finally cry with her.  I want to tell you briefly about both of those things, because it will give you an idea of what an inspired and inspiring person Lisa is, and it will provide the back-story out of which this month's featured song, The Connection, grew. When Lisa's brother Steve died, he left behind a life-dream of refinishing, to very exact plans, a once-fine, run-down house he had purchased many years earlier, in downtown St. Louis. He died before he was able to raise the funds for his vision. Lisa transformed her grief into a miracle, gathering  the funds and completing the house, along with her extended family, as a labor of love. As the project came to completion, she had a second transformative idea when she learned about what I do: She commissioned a song for Father's Day, for her dad, in the voice of Steve. Steve and his dad had not had an easy relationship, and when Lisa shared that song, which was called Regained, with her dad, father and daughter were able to cry together for the first time since Steve's death. (That song, incidentally, was featured on the Brave Records website in May of last year for Father's Day and created a phenomenal  spike in their website visits as people across the country and around the world shared the song on Fathers Day.) 

TOPIC: Last Days of Life
A Mother on her Deathbed Says Goodbye to a Loyal Son

THE STORY
Jen commissioned me to write this song as a gift for her husband Tony in the days leading up to his mother's death. Jen's goal was to honor Tony's mom and to create a focal opportunity for Tony to grieve, when the time came. In an unexpected twist, Tony’s mother died after I had sent Jen a rough cassette of the song and before I had recorded it in the studio. So Jen, a singer herself, got her father to quickly learn a guitar part, and he accompanied Jen while she sang this song, live, at Tony’s mom’s memorial service. A few weeks later, the finished studio version arrived, and provided a powerful and timely opportunity for Jen and Tony to grieve together…

AUTHOR'S NOTES, 5/17/17 INSERT
Note 1: This song, "From the Inside," is "Part 1" and relates to a follow-up song about the wonder of more fully experiencing the world around you, even--or perhaps especially--in a time of challenge (a cancer journey): "The Days of Your Opening."

Note 2: In December of 2016, sadly, Marie Pechet passed on. At her request, I performed this song as a centerpiece performance at her funeral. I had never performed it live before. It had been composed, at her request, nearly a decade earlier, when doctors had given her only a year or so to live. She outlived all prognoses and expectations, was a featured panel guest on NPR's series' about Living Exuberantly with Cancer, and began a blog that became increasingly popular over the course of her lifetime called "Adventures in Spiritual Living."  She will be missed. 

LEARNING HOW NOT TO "BE" WITH CANCER
Marie called me out of the blue one day a few months ago asking me to write a song to help her navigate her overwhelming experience with cancer. The story she told me was very inspirational. This was Marie's second experience with the disease, and this time felt very, very different to her from the first time. She explained that several years ago, she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. From the moment of diagnosis until it was all over, she was worried but still felt she would get through this, like it would just be a short visit to the land of cancer. She did not want to join support groups. She did not want to say the word "cancer." She wanted to get through it and return to life as it had been. And, that is what happened. Quick surgery, and no chemo required. But then, several years and two adopted children later, Marie and her husband found themselves with two young sons whose mother faced a core-shaking diagnosis: stage III colon cancer.

TOPIC: Making peace with the past