TOPIC: Inviting wellness
Uncharted Territory Part 2: The Journey Forward
| "The Days of Your Opening" - Free Download |
AUTHOR'S NOTES, 5/7/17: INSERT
Note 1: This song, "Days of Your Opening," is "Part 2" to a previous song and write-up about uncharted territory (a cancer journey): "From the Inside."
Note 2: In December of 2016, sadly, Marie Pechet passed on. At her request, I performed this song as the closing send-off number at her funeral. I was lucky enough to perform it many times with her present in the audience, as she outlived doctor's expectations for her own life expectancy by a good eight years. And I continue to perform and share it on honor of her memory and the way she touched so many lives.
Note 1: This song, "Days of Your Opening," is "Part 2" to a previous song and write-up about uncharted territory (a cancer journey): "From the Inside."
Note 2: In December of 2016, sadly, Marie Pechet passed on. At her request, I performed this song as the closing send-off number at her funeral. I was lucky enough to perform it many times with her present in the audience, as she outlived doctor's expectations for her own life expectancy by a good eight years. And I continue to perform and share it on honor of her memory and the way she touched so many lives.
A SURPRISE SECOND SONG
Last month I shared the story of Marie, a wife and mom of two young boys who was struggling with cancer and all the fears and sense of overwhelm that can come with it. She was working hard to navigate her way through it, and longing for a song that would help. We spent several hours in her song interview, and I spent many, many more over the ensuing weeks, working to coax her song forward. When I had finally (finally) (FINALLY) found my way to a song that seemed to deeply capture the essence of her experience, I discovered, to my surprise, that a second song was lurking, basically ready-written in my mind, right behind it. The first song took five weeks. The second song took five minutes. The first song was all about what it can actually feel like to find yourself struggling to, well, FIND YOURSELF, center yourself, hold yourself, and speak your truth, in the middle of a vastly uncharted territory. That song, featured last month, called, SONG 1: "From the Inside" is a song I am deeply proud to have been able to compose and bring to life. The second song was like a gift. It is uplifting, promising, encouraging, powerful (I played it live recently to a room of rapt women, many of whom threw up their arms in joy and asked for a copy of the lyrics afterward). Something about it promises strength, and invites each of us, I think, to fall deeply into who we really are. If cancer opens the door to one's ability to do that, fine, says the song. If some other inner choice allows you get there, that's just fine too, it seems to say. That song, SONG 2: "The Days of Your Opening" did seem to come "out of nowhere." Or maybe a better way to say it is, that song seemed to come "out of everywhere". Or maybe even better still, it came out of that place that is always out ahead of us, just an arm's-length away, reminding us we are capable of anything we choose to put ourselves, truly and deeply, inside of.
Last month I shared the story of Marie, a wife and mom of two young boys who was struggling with cancer and all the fears and sense of overwhelm that can come with it. She was working hard to navigate her way through it, and longing for a song that would help. We spent several hours in her song interview, and I spent many, many more over the ensuing weeks, working to coax her song forward. When I had finally (finally) (FINALLY) found my way to a song that seemed to deeply capture the essence of her experience, I discovered, to my surprise, that a second song was lurking, basically ready-written in my mind, right behind it. The first song took five weeks. The second song took five minutes. The first song was all about what it can actually feel like to find yourself struggling to, well, FIND YOURSELF, center yourself, hold yourself, and speak your truth, in the middle of a vastly uncharted territory. That song, featured last month, called, SONG 1: "From the Inside" is a song I am deeply proud to have been able to compose and bring to life. The second song was like a gift. It is uplifting, promising, encouraging, powerful (I played it live recently to a room of rapt women, many of whom threw up their arms in joy and asked for a copy of the lyrics afterward). Something about it promises strength, and invites each of us, I think, to fall deeply into who we really are. If cancer opens the door to one's ability to do that, fine, says the song. If some other inner choice allows you get there, that's just fine too, it seems to say. That song, SONG 2: "The Days of Your Opening" did seem to come "out of nowhere." Or maybe a better way to say it is, that song seemed to come "out of everywhere". Or maybe even better still, it came out of that place that is always out ahead of us, just an arm's-length away, reminding us we are capable of anything we choose to put ourselves, truly and deeply, inside of.
THE DAYS OF YOUR OPENING
Anna Huckabee Tull
These are the days of your opening
These are the days of your opening
Farther and wilder and deeper and wider
And over and over and over and over ‘cause
These are the days of your opening
These are the days of your opening
Farther and wilder and deeper and wider
Past all of the aching parts far down inside you and
Widen who you are to encompass all the pain
Widen who you are to hold that little girl again
Widen past the borders to the brilliance of the sky
Widen to the window and then stand up
And fly
These are the days of your opening
These are the days of your opening
Farther and wilder and deeper and wider
And opening sweeter and opening brighter and
These are the days of your opening
These are the days of your opening
Burn it and clean it and break it and feel it
And watch yourself falling and feeling and meaning it
Widen who you are to see the love that surrounds you
Widen who you are until the love in you astounds you
Open to the sweetness of the feeling all around you
Drop into the depth of it; wide open
And then fly
Speak from where you are
And you can fly
© 2008 Anna Huckabee Tull, CustomCraftedSongs.com
Marie with her sons HOW THE TWO SONGS FIT TOGETHER
Marie was the one who finally "got it." When we were both scratching our heads a little but about why two songs showed up instead of one, and whether it was the first one or the second one, or both, that should get studio-produced, she said, "Oh! Maybe I needed to move through the energy of that first song, and that first part of my experience, in order to get to the kind of energy that is in the second song. I love them both. I am clearly drawn to the second song because it feels good. But I understand how important it is for me, now, to be able to hold on to what it really meant to "be inside" the experience of cancer, rather than ignore it, or hold it at arm's length, or steel myself against it. And that first song was like a passageway I had to make, to get to where I am now."
Marie was the one who finally "got it." When we were both scratching our heads a little but about why two songs showed up instead of one, and whether it was the first one or the second one, or both, that should get studio-produced, she said, "Oh! Maybe I needed to move through the energy of that first song, and that first part of my experience, in order to get to the kind of energy that is in the second song. I love them both. I am clearly drawn to the second song because it feels good. But I understand how important it is for me, now, to be able to hold on to what it really meant to "be inside" the experience of cancer, rather than ignore it, or hold it at arm's length, or steel myself against it. And that first song was like a passageway I had to make, to get to where I am now."
WHERE SHE IS NOW
Where Marie is now is...healthy and cancer free! In October she celebrated --with family and friends (and me!) at a party in her hometown of Cambridge, Mass--the joy of...the Days of Her Opening! Cancer is one of those illnesses that, even when it is gone, can leave one steeling peeks back over their shoulder to see if it is still following. But I don't see this for Marie. I see, in Marie, a woman who dared to go INSIDE--of her experience, and of herself. (See link to her blog, below). And because of that, I hear her voice, ringing out into the rest of her beautiful, open life. To all of you who have faced or are facing this or a similar struggle, take heart: we all have the power to heal the parts of ourselves that cry out for attunement and attention. And we all have the power to take all our days, as many of them a we are given, WIDE OPEN.
Enjoy the music! Enjoy the day! Enjoy the time you have been given. It is, truly, a gift!
Where Marie is now is...healthy and cancer free! In October she celebrated --with family and friends (and me!) at a party in her hometown of Cambridge, Mass--the joy of...the Days of Her Opening! Cancer is one of those illnesses that, even when it is gone, can leave one steeling peeks back over their shoulder to see if it is still following. But I don't see this for Marie. I see, in Marie, a woman who dared to go INSIDE--of her experience, and of herself. (See link to her blog, below). And because of that, I hear her voice, ringing out into the rest of her beautiful, open life. To all of you who have faced or are facing this or a similar struggle, take heart: we all have the power to heal the parts of ourselves that cry out for attunement and attention. And we all have the power to take all our days, as many of them a we are given, WIDE OPEN.
Enjoy the music! Enjoy the day! Enjoy the time you have been given. It is, truly, a gift!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Anna Huckabee Tull is an award-winning Singer-Songwriter with five national CD releases to her credit, including the recently-released "Every Day" a collection of songs exploring the relationships between parents and children, young and old. Anna is also a Psychologist and Life Coach, with a Master's Degree in Spiritual Psychology and Applied Psychology. [More about Anna]. She lives in Somerville, Mass with her family. Anna played acoustic guitar and did both sets of vocals on this song, as did Eric Kilburn, who also played bass. Larry Luddecke played piano.
Read Marie's BLOG from her cancer journey
Anna Huckabee Tull is an award-winning Singer-Songwriter with five national CD releases to her credit, including the recently-released "Every Day" a collection of songs exploring the relationships between parents and children, young and old. Anna is also a Psychologist and Life Coach, with a Master's Degree in Spiritual Psychology and Applied Psychology. [More about Anna]. She lives in Somerville, Mass with her family. Anna played acoustic guitar and did both sets of vocals on this song, as did Eric Kilburn, who also played bass. Larry Luddecke played piano.
Read Marie's BLOG from her cancer journey
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