TOPIC: WAKING UP INSIDE YOURSELF
A Journey Into a Deeper Place of Gratitude From Within
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."
| "Of Grace and Gratitude" - Free Download |
HOW THIS SONG WOKE ME UP
This is a song that explores the experience of waking up inside yourself, opening your eyes, and seeing the world all around you from a newly softened place: a place of deep, clear, un-conflicted gratitude. Every once in awhile, someone ends up commissioning a song with me that lines up so directly with a shift I myself am in the process of making, that I discover, upon hearing the finished product, that the journey was every bit as much for myself as it was for the one who came to me in search of just this song. Such, it seems, was the case with "Of Grace and Gratitude." One day, not so very long after I had recorded it, I found myself out on an early morning, post-storm run, and this song popped up in my iPod. I felt it move through me, and transport me to a place within myself that somehow allowed me to see the staggering beauty (broken branches, lines down, wet, empty streets, leaves blown everywhere) that was all around me, and to deeply sense and experience the beauty that lives and stirs inside myself.
ANITA'S STORY
I have known Anita for many years. "Of Grace and Gratitude" is, in fact, the third song she has commissioned with me. But this one came from a particularly deep place within her. She recently had the chance to pursue the dream of a lifetime. And in the process of rising up to meet that dream, she discovered significantly more challenges than anticipated. In working them through, she had a series of revelations in which she found herself slowing down, slower and slower, deeper and deeper within, until the pacing within her reached a soft, gentle place that she experienced as truly exquisite. This pacing allowed her to open her eyes in a new way to the world around her, to the faces around her, and to the presence of a connection that she began to feel, with all that was around her.
This is a song that explores the experience of waking up inside yourself, opening your eyes, and seeing the world all around you from a newly softened place: a place of deep, clear, un-conflicted gratitude. Every once in awhile, someone ends up commissioning a song with me that lines up so directly with a shift I myself am in the process of making, that I discover, upon hearing the finished product, that the journey was every bit as much for myself as it was for the one who came to me in search of just this song. Such, it seems, was the case with "Of Grace and Gratitude." One day, not so very long after I had recorded it, I found myself out on an early morning, post-storm run, and this song popped up in my iPod. I felt it move through me, and transport me to a place within myself that somehow allowed me to see the staggering beauty (broken branches, lines down, wet, empty streets, leaves blown everywhere) that was all around me, and to deeply sense and experience the beauty that lives and stirs inside myself.
ANITA'S STORY
I have known Anita for many years. "Of Grace and Gratitude" is, in fact, the third song she has commissioned with me. But this one came from a particularly deep place within her. She recently had the chance to pursue the dream of a lifetime. And in the process of rising up to meet that dream, she discovered significantly more challenges than anticipated. In working them through, she had a series of revelations in which she found herself slowing down, slower and slower, deeper and deeper within, until the pacing within her reached a soft, gentle place that she experienced as truly exquisite. This pacing allowed her to open her eyes in a new way to the world around her, to the faces around her, and to the presence of a connection that she began to feel, with all that was around her.
And, too, rising up from within that feeling was a deeply profound sense of gratitude. Anita shared with me that what seemed to have preceded this shift, this new pacing, and this awareness, was a choice she had made to begin using, once again, a Buddhist breathing technique she had learned, long ago. Breathing in the pain, breathing out the good, and then inviting that good to spread all around.
And so it was that, upon completing my conversation with Anita about her own journey, I simply sat, very, very still. (Not running to the guitar to dive right in, as I so often do). I sat in the quiet, and the stillness, of all she had shared with me. And then I took one very deep breath in, and held it, and then, as I breathed out, invited all the good that was within me to begin to "spread all around." The song that came forward is here. And the invitation to find the good in it, and in yourself, and to spread it all around, is one I extend to you, directly, just now-- in this sacred essential moment, now.
And so it was that, upon completing my conversation with Anita about her own journey, I simply sat, very, very still. (Not running to the guitar to dive right in, as I so often do). I sat in the quiet, and the stillness, of all she had shared with me. And then I took one very deep breath in, and held it, and then, as I breathed out, invited all the good that was within me to begin to "spread all around." The song that came forward is here. And the invitation to find the good in it, and in yourself, and to spread it all around, is one I extend to you, directly, just now-- in this sacred essential moment, now.
OF GRACE AND GRATITUDE
Anna Huckabee Tull
There’s something in me now, profound
And it’s coming through in fits and starts
There’s something in me now, quietly astounding,
Unbound
There’s something in me now: no longer in my own way
Something says that some things never really mattered
As much as I thought they did anyway
Something in me now, quietly astounding
Something in me now, opening, grounding
Breathe it in,
Begin, begin
Breathe it out
Spread the good all around
And in
Sitting on a step, gazing into
Unknown brown eyes,
I could feel beyond myself, and I could see
I could see inside
And I just felt alive
And you, you are such a part of why
Glimpses, increments
All the little strands of me that are beginning now to connect
And you
From here I see you
Simply see you, with gratitude
Breathe it in, (thank you)
Begin, begin
Breathe it out (all my gratitude)
Spread the good all around
And in, (thank you)
I can begin again and again (thank you)
To thank you
(c) 2012 Anna Huckabee Tull, CustomCraftedSongs.com
In closing, I extend my own gratitude, to Anita and so many others like her who have entrusted me with the essence of their stories. I feel so honored, each time my phone rings or my email lights up with yet someone else who is willing to bring their story to me with open hands, so that we can journey together into the world of turning it into a musical vibration, to share with others. Thank you to each of you who have done that, and all of you to come, who will.
With love,
Anna
With love,
Anna
 | Listen (below) to Anita's Song "THE SKIES OF BAMBERG" About Her Husband and Young Son |  | Listen to Anita and Norbert's Song "UNCOUNTABLE YEARS" To Mark Their 30th Anniversary |
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