Tag: authenticity

Salina

by yankeefran, posted in Uncategorized

Some mornings I wake up hearing songs for no particular reason. I know there’s always a message in these songs, and it eats away at me until I can find the connection. Salina by the Avett Brothers is another one of those songs. But unlike other songs, the connection came to me fairly quickly this morning. I remember when I first heard this song I didn’t think too much of it. Maybe it was because it was clearly not a love song or a spiritually enlightened song like so many of the other AB tunes that I loved. But the more it came up on my iPhone shuffle, the more the simple melody and lyrics called out to me. Out of all the songs I’ve written about, the meaning of this one is the most straight forward: it is about places that the band has travelled to on its many tours:

From town to town and state to state
There’s people everywhere that try to capture us
We stole the cash and left our names
And almost slipped in Indianapolis
The rain it fell, the story went on
The rain it fell, and we got gone

Poughkeepsie hang up the telephone
I won’t answer your phone calls no more
New York, quit calling, New York leave me be

Salina, Kansas and Cleveland, Ohio are also mentioned as places to which the band has travelled.There doesn’t seem to be a particular reason why these places are mentioned. I think the randomness was purposeful; the places didn’t matter but the reason for the visits did. Upon listening to the whole song, we are left feeling like touring is the part of their career that is the most challenging. This seems to be a common complaint from musicians. The constant travel is the hard part of being a musician. I have read that artists like Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, and Bono live for the the 2+ hours on stage but hate the other 22 hours of the touring day. It certainly would make sense that Scott and Seth’s longing for North Carolina (which is their home state) is tied to the amount of time they have to spend away from family and friends.

Carolina, one day I’ll, someday I’ll come home
Carolina, one day I’ll, someday I’ll come home
Home
Home

This need to travel for their music to get out there and their personal need for the calmness and support of home life reminded me of the constant tensions felt whenever you try to follow a dream. There is the positivity of doing what you feel like you are born to do grating up against the hard work that you have to do to become successful. I think any career or pursuit involves things you hate to do in order to become successful. For instance, one part of teaching that I hate to deal with is the seemingly never-ending line of assessments that are required by either my state or my district. While some assessments can give me information I need to make my next moves in designing my instruction, there are too many others that are done mainly to check a box. I would rather spend the hour giving those kinds of assessments doing what I was born to do: working with children. I’m sure you can find a list of things that you “have” to do in your job that take away time from what drew you to this particular job in the first place. This seems to be part of the message of “Salina”. There are some hard things you have to do in order to get to the benefits,

This song also led me to think about the challenges that can be found in expressing your feelings for another person. In order to be in a fulfilling relationship you have to be open and honest about how you are feeling. I have had several instances in the past where telling someone how I felt about him placed me in the precarious spot of having to confront some difficult truths about love. Just as touring is the downside to being a musician, these byproducts of admitting your true feelings for someone are the downside to being authentic.

Vulnerability– Once you take the plunge and tell someone how you feel about them there is no turning back. You have exposed your heart to another which requires you to drop your defenses. You give that person the power to either elate you or destroy you with just a few words or even an unconscious facial expression. The time it takes for the other person to respond may only be seconds but your vulnerable state makes it feel like hours. The opposite can also be true. I remember telling a boy over the phone how I felt, and his first words were “Let me tell you a story…” . This was all it took for me to know that the feeling wasn’t reciprocated. As he droned on minute after minute about another friend who was dating a younger girl (at the time he was in college and I was in high school), the meaning instantly pierced my young heart. I immediately felt the keen pain and regret felt by someone who has set themselves up for a fall. Being vulnerable is an unavoidable side effect of telling someone the truth about your feelings.

Judgment- Even when your feelings are reciprocated by the other person, there are painful experiences just waiting to pounce. When you make your feelings for another person known to others, you lay yourself open for judgment from the peanut gallery (i.e. his friends, your friends, complete strangers). You may find yourself having to justify your love. The reasons behind the judgment are varied: you’re too young, too old, not his type, not good enough for him, too good for him, the wrong color, the wrong religion, not wealthy enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough and on and on. Judgment can come from people who care for you, people who care for him, and especially from yourself. Your own judgments can be the most damaging. Unless you are at a point in your life where you are confident enough to disregard the opinions of others, these self-doubts and verdicts of others can destroy the potential of any relationship.

Threat of abandonment– If you put your heart on the line and are honest with the one you love, then you face the very real threat of losing that person all together. Once you let the cat out of the bag, it is hard to get it back in (anyone who has tried to get a cat to do anything can attest to that!). You risk the person not only rejecting your love but also ending your friendship altogether. This can be due to his own uncomfortable feelings or because he already has someone that he feels the need to be loyal to. Continuing the friendship with you can be seen as being disloyal so you not only don’t get a partner but you also lose a friend. I don’t know if there is a feeling more devastating than abandonment. Perhaps it is because it is a rejection of such a basic need, the need to be loved. But when you feel the rejection of abandonment, it can trigger all sorts of fears and anxieties of not being lovable at all. This side effect can reverberate in your life for years.

Powerlessness- I wasn’t quite sure this was a word before looking it up, but it is truly descriptive of a negative side effect of expressing love to another person. You are literally giving that person the power to break your heart. Once you express your feelings, you have given up any pretense or any possibility of having the upper hand. This sounds so conniving but let me explain. When you are falling in love with someone, you try to do things to show your love and hope that he/she gets the message. You also try to protect yourself from giving away too much for fear of being rejected. But once you actually take the courageous step of saying how you feel out loud to your partner, your power is gone. Now he/she has command of the relationship. Your partner is now the one who will determine what happens next. Will you hear the words you hope to hear? Will you be feeling regret and self-recriminations? Will your relationship move forward? It is all out of your hands. When you say those words for the first time, you give up any control you may have had and must wait for the reaction of the other person.

With all of these drawbacks, it is incredible that anyone ever says those 3 little words to anyone else. So why do we do it at all? We do it because love can be a miracle in your life. When you say those words to the right person, they have the potential to change your life completely. Just as the Avett Brothers were born to write, compose, and sing their incredible music and lyrics, we were all created to feel the magic of love. Romantic love can be a risky venture, but the benefits far outweigh the pitfalls. And that’s a trade-off I’m willing to take.

Live and Die

by yankeefran, posted in Uncategorized

I have started another blog which focuses on some of the spiritual insights that I have discovered for myself since last summer. One of the posts I was working on dealt with the choice to move from a viewpoint of fear to one of love. I first read about this in Gabrielle Bernstein’s best seller, The Universe Has Your Back. I have started and deleted the post about 4 times now because I couldn’t think of how to write about it without a) committing direct plagiarism and b) sounding like a granola eating snob. Then this morning this lovely song came on my iPhone, and that wonderful thing called synchronicity happened. It turns out that this song actually has some parallels to this topic. So you lucky readers get to hear about fear and love instead.

Fear like a habit, 
run like a rabbit out and away.
Through the screen door 
to the unknown.

I really like how the Avett Brothers describe fear in this part of the song. The habit of making decisions from fear leads to the first discovery I made this past summer. 1. Approaching life from an attitude of fear can be so addicting. People let fear take control when they think the worst of others and about the situations in which they find themselves. It becomes an automatic response which can take over your life if it isn’t pointed out to you. When I used to “choose fear” as Gabby calls it, I would always think about the worst possible outcomes instead of showing more trust in the Universe. Isolation is a common feeling when you live by fear. Preparing for the worst may have protected me from getting hurt but it also made me stuff down my dreams in the hopes of avoiding disappointment (newsflash: I still was disappointed).

2. Anxiety and the need to control everything are byproducts of living a life in fear. Anyone who has ever experienced a panic attack can attest to how your thoughts can scamper from one possible disaster to another as quickly as any rabbit hopping away. This feeling of being out of control is what anxiety felt like to me. It turns out always trying to control outcomes isn’t what we’re meant to do in life. Our human brains can only take so much until this need to be in control ends up breaking us to the point of not being able to do the simplest tasks. When I was in the midst of a panic attack, I couldn’t even hold a conversation. I shook and fidgeted on the sofa as my family would try to soothe me. Something as simple as drinking a sip of water was a monumental task. Nonstop fearful thoughts can actually lead to a total loss of control.

3. Living in fear of life never takes you closer to your soul purpose. You may reach a goal but it probably won’t be as amazing as it could be because of your fear of reaching for more. You can’t reach for the stars when you are metaphorically afraid of heights. Digging deep to find and carry out your life purpose can be the scariest thing you ever attempt to do. But the rewards of giving up the fear can’t be overstated. One of the hundreds of self-improvement books that I have read is called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. Such a brilliant title for the act of deciding to go after what you really want in life. I have surprised myself through the years when I have taken that deep breath and just did what feared me most. It has led to a wonderful career, some great relationships, and great destinations like London and Toronto. I believe your soul purpose can evolve as mine has. Circumstances led me to reluctantly let go of my original soul purpose of raising a family, However, because I now look at my life through a lens of love I instead am grateful for the children I have seen grow up both in my family and in my 28 year career as an educator. Looking with love lets you see the blessings all around you instead of the regrets of what is missing.

4. Past fears can be so insidious that future decisions are tainted by them. Gabby explains that fear from the past can infect you in the present and the future. Even when facing my fear and opening my heart led to it being broken, looking back at it through a loving lens helps me realize that expressing my feelings was brave and brought me closer to who I want to be every day. The Avett Brothers talk about this great leap forward later on in the song.

Left like a pharaoh, 
sing like a sparrow anyway.
Even if there is no land or
love in sight.

We bloom like roses, 
leave like Moses out and away.
Through the bitter crowd 
to the daylight

Living in the present moment is singing like a sparrow even though things may not be as perfect as you would like. In this moment, we are alive. We can choose to change our thoughts from fearful and anxious ones to peaceful ones in an instant. When you can finally live in the present moment and not let the past or the future invade its peace, it is like walking towards the daylight and blooming into our true selves. This is something I try to do moment by moment, and I admit I fail at it as often as I get it right. But it’s the choice not to let past losses that keeps me hopeful for more love in the future.

5. Choosing love over fear means living an authentic life. Living authentically is impossible to do when you decide to let fear keep you quiet or to present yourself in a manner you think will be acceptable to most people. The last lines of this song reflect the advantage of choosing love over fear.

You and I, we’re the same.
Hear my voice, know my name,
you and I, you and I.

Living life from a perspective of love doesn’t mean wearing rose-colored glasses. It means being brave enough to let the world see you for who you really are. It means being willing to let your voice be heard even if it is in direct contrast to what others are saying. It also levels the playing field as far as the people in your life go. You could love someone with your whole heart but if you think that person is “better” than you, then you are missing the point. We are all part of the same great being that created us. The labels for this creator are different (i.e. God, the Universe, the Divine) but the truth imparted is identical: we are all equal because we are part of the same creator, and we are all worthy of great love. We can lead good lives if we make choices with this small sentence but big idea in mind. You are worthy because you are you. Social status, money, looks…none of that matters when you have a mindset of love. Your truth needs to come out in order to have peace in your life. While not always easy to do, the results you will see will bring a sweet serenity for having tried. Whenever you can in the future, remember this peppy little song that holds a whole lot of truths. Choose love over fear.

Slight Figure of Speech

by yankeefran, posted in Uncategorized

This is a distinctive favorite song for me. The reason it’s distinctive? It’s not a love song. I admit, I’m a hopeless romantic who could spend hours listening to the tortured lyrics and harmonies of the Brothers and be perfectly happy (well, actually broody but that’s beyond the point). “Speech” is a completely different kind of song whose meaning I’m still unraveling. However, one of the clear messages I get from the song is the importance of being yourself and not doing what the “others” (i.e. fans, media) say.

They said “I hope that you will never change”
I went and cut my hair
They say “Don’t take your business to the big time”
I bought us tickets there

This antagonistic attitude that Scott seems to spit out with each word is one that I admire in others. I‘m such a rule follower that I sometimes bore myself. Of course, rules are there for a reason., but sometimes the reason just isn’t good enough. When I see other people going against the norm in order to express their true selves, it is so attractive. I never liked cliques in school but often found myself in a few not because I had so much in common with the other members but because I let myself be transformed by their expectations. The people I showed my true self to are some of the friendships I still maintain today. I love the courage and self-belief that goes along with making such a public statement of self. I admire free spirits even if I don’t always hold the same beliefs that they do.

Being a free spirit who is a musician seems to go hand in hand. The chorus of this song carries a common message of the struggle between the public and private sides of being popular musicians.

A slight figure of speech
I cut my chest wide open
They come and watch us bleed
Is it art like I was hoping now?

Sometimes exposing yourself in your art comes at a very high price. It’s clear once you listen to more than 2 or 3 songs that the Avett Brothers write highly personal songs. I’m sure when they started out they were thrilled when people started asking questions about their songs and their meanings. However, as they became more popular perhaps the idea of nightly exposing on stage their deepest emotional scars got to be a bit cumbersome. While writing the songs may be therapeutic, I can easily see that having to rehash them when speaking to reporters or fans could do more damage than good . There is also the balance of the record “business” side of their music and the “artistic” side that can become uneven especially when you throw their young families into the mix. To me this resonates because I have often blurred the lines between my career and my personal life. Although many people view teaching as a “skill” to be honed, I view it more as an art. When I can blend the right elements together, the learning that takes place can be considered a masterpiece or even a miracle. But sometimes my dedication to the profession has led me to neglect other areas of my life. In order to continue in this profession, I have had to balance out the amount of time and of money (for supplies, new books, materials not provided by the district) that I dedicated to it. I’m sure others have had to balance out their work and home lives because of their young families as well. Whenever you are trying to find a middle ground between two constants, I think there is always questioning of it being a 50-50 split and even if it should be.

The theme of expressing yourself no matter the opposition continues in what I call the “rap section” of the song. It sounds like this style of music as Scott rattles off a list of ideals that are nonnegotiable to him.

What did you expect
And what did you forget
That to live you must let go of me with each step
It becomes a progression I won’t let regret manifest
To aggression
Are you to assess what I’ve been? What I am? Or become?
Did you stop to accept how pathetically dumb
It can be to
Attack those around ’cause you’re
True to color, a town, a time, or a place?
It’s not you, it’s not mine
And besides it is gone
And you never will find it again
But I don’t want to fight
I just ask let me be
I won’t give the chance to be my enemy
So go home
Think it through

I believe that part of what Scott is singing about has to do with how people change as they age. He is telling us that we can’t expect him to write the same song over and over again. Because the band is a living structure, it is going to change whether fans and critics like it or not. The same can be said for all of us. If we are truly living our authentic lives, then change becomes a constant. I know I am not the same woman I was 5 years ago or even 5 months ago. As we break out of our different cocoons, we transform (hopefully) into new and improved versions of ourselves. When others around us don’t appreciate this, conflict occurs. Not letting “…regret manifest to aggression” means not saying no to the chances that life gives you to transform despite what others may think. The people who remain stuck in the past and in the way things have always been done are the people who don’t support growth in others. These are the people that Scott is calling out to in this song. While it’s fine to have a preference for a certain time period in the Avett Brothers catalogue, the artistic side of the band is asking to give the new music a chance because it is a reflection of who they are now. By the same token, when you love someone you have to let them be free to change and grow even if you are afraid to let the old version of them go. When you can do that, you know you are in a truly balanced and healthy relationship. We need to do this not only in romantic relationships, but also with platonic ones and familial ones. Everyone deserves the right to change and grow with the support of those who love him/her.

So the English teacher in me can’t let the title go without a little analysis. A figure of speech is defined as a non-literal interpretation of a word or phrase for a vivid or rhetorical effect. I wonder if this title was chosen because the band doesn’t want to be pigeon holed into one category of music. If you’re willing to be the kind of fan that the Avett Brothers want, you won’t think of one specific kind of music when you hear a new album is coming out. Instead, you will get excited to hear what their latest creations are like. Nobody wants to feel like a round peg in a square hole, but maybe it’s okay to not to fit in with the crowd. Maybe it’s about creating your own round shape into which you can rest before time brings about more changes. I hope you all find your own comfortable niche without having to lose your authentic self or the quality people in your life.

Silly video…the song starts around 2:17

The Ballad of Love and Hate

by yankeefran, posted in Uncategorized

This song is another narrative seemingly about a relationship between the two emotions. However, if these emotions were real people this would be one fucked up (pardon my french) dysfunctional relationship. I should know because I have been Love in a few relationships and let the negativity within my partner poison my peace of mind. It’s sweet that in this musical ballad Love wins over Hate in the end, but take it from me, there’s no way this is happening in real life. There has to be the open-hearted nature of Love on both sides to have a shot at a decent relationship.

When looking at these two emotions, I have looked at them as two ends of extremes: either you have an open heart or a closed one. This Avett Brothers’ song gives a great guide to how to approach much more than a relationship. It really gives a detailed list of ways to either enjoy your life in an authentic way or to just rotely go through the motions of life.

Love writes a letter and sends it to Hate
“My vacation’s ending, I’m coming home late
The weather was fine and the ocean was great
And I can’t wait to see you again”

  1. When your heart is open, you are more likely to live life authentically. Communication is such a large part of living an authentic life. Without clear communication, you aren’t able to be fully understood by others. The downside of this is that you most likely will be judged by others once you let your thoughts be known. Even people who are shy or introverted need to find ways to let their inner truth or purpose be known to the outside world. In a relationship, expressing your feelings is essential, of course, but also holds with it the risk of rejection. Love has no worries about being rejected or judged. She makes it clear to Hate that although her vacation has been great, she is eager to come back home. Living life with an open heart requires you to risk rejection.

Hate reads the letter and throws it away
“No one here cares if you go or you stay
I barely even noticed that you were away
I’ll see you or I won’t, whatever”

2. When your heart is closed, talk is cheap. The indifference feigned by Hate shows that he feels that Love’s words have no value. A closed heart is usually one that has been deceived in the past by the words from another. If you allow your heart to remain closed, you may not risk rejection, but you also discount any attempt at connection. Going through life distrusting what others say is a sure way to isolate yourself. Hate’s indifference to Love’s letter reminds me of the famous Shakespearean line: “The lady doth protest too much”. But when your heart is closed your only concern is that no one penetrate your tough exterior.

Love sings a song as she sails through the sky
The water looks bluer through her pretty eyes
And everyone knows it whenever she flies
And also when she comes down

3. When you live life with an open heart, everything you experience becomes enriched by your positive attitude. If you want to live authentically, you notice the gifts of nature, life, and abundance all around you. It’s hard not to notice someone who has an open heart because you may often find yourself shocked by their viewpoint on the same situation. For example, if your heart is open you can appreciate rain because of the lovely sound it makes on the roof or you are grateful because the grass is getting the water it needs. For someone who is disconnected from his surroundings, rain means a sloppy walk or cancelled outdoor events. When you adjust your mindset to one that appreciates all the little things that we can take for granted, your life becomes more peaceful.

Hate keeps his head up and walks through these streets
Every stranger and drifter he greets
And shakes hands with every loner he meets
With a serious look on his face

4. When you live life with a closed heart, you are always ready for a fight. Hate carries his head high because he is looking for a fight. A closed heart often goes along with feeling defensive. He greets strangers because everyone is a stranger when you are unwilling to share any part of yourself. Drifters and loners are Hate’s people. They have no desire to plant roots because roots imply standing for something and growth. When your heart is closed, there is no possibility for your soul to grow and learn. Learning creates the risk of being wrong and no closed heart is willing to be proven wrong.

Love arrives safely with suitcase in tow
Carrying with her the good things we know
A reason to live and a reason to grow
To trust and to hold and to care

5. When you live life with an open heart, you are more likely to have a life purpose which includes growing your soul and your connections with others. Trust, comfort, and care are byproducts of being open to others. Love always carries these things with her, not just when she is home. She wouldn’t think of leaving home without these “things”. If you are willing to live with an open heart, then your ability to trust, to comfort, and to care or others will become second nature. (Remember, this is an extreme just as Hate is the opposite extreme. I’m NOT advocating to go out and trust everyone all the time.) If you are a person with an open heart, I’m sure you are described as trustworthy and nurturing. These qualities seem to go hand in hand.

Hate sits alone on the hood of his car
Without much regard to the moon or the stars
Lazily killing the last of a jar
Of the strongest stuff you can drink

Hate gets home lucky to still be alive
He screams over the sidewalk and into the drive

6. When you live life with a closed heart, you don’t have gratitude for the little things unless they come in a shot glass. So many addictions start off because there is pain that a person wants to avoid feeling. Our Mr. Hate is no different. Closed hearted people have to do extreme things like racing cars or other daredevil activities because that is the only way they can feel anything. All closed hearted people started off as open-hearted babies. It is this sometimes cruel world that closes hearts. Going through the motions of life is the only thing that closed hearted people are up to doing because living authentically requires a willingness to experience all that life has, and pain is definitely a part of that.

Hate stumbles forward and leans in the door
Weary head hung down, eyes to the floor
He says, “Love, I’m sorry, ” and she says, “What for?
I’m yours and that’s it, whatever
I should not have been gone for so long
I’m yours and that’s it, forever
Your mine and that’s it, forever

This is where the Avett Brothers lose me. This ending is heartwarming but just wrong on so many levels. Although I do believe that love can heal a closed-hearted person, I would never advise anyone to try and “fix” the other person (Been there, done that). But I do think understanding how having an open heart can be good for you in a variety of ways is a message you can share with your Mr. (or Ms) Hate. Keep your heart open, send good loving thoughts to Mr. Hate, and treat yourself well. The world needs more people like you.

The Weight of Lies

by yankeefran, posted in Uncategorized

“The Weight of Lies” by the Avett Brothers is such a great title for a song because of the evocative images it produces. When I first saw the title I thought that maybe the song was going to be about how deceiving people ends up giving you nothing but guilt and a heavy heart. But after listening to the entire song it seems it could be more about living your life authentically which means showing your “bad” side along with the “good”.

Disappear from your home town
Go and find the people that you know
Show them all of your good parts
Leave town when the bad ones start to show

I once heard the worst thing a man can do is draw a hungry crowd
Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence
But leaving out his doubts
I’m not sure I bought those words
When I was young I knew most everything
These words have never meant as much to anyone
As they now mean to me

Living my life authentically is a new journey for me and one that has led me to write this blog in spite of being a fairly private person. I have always taken tentative steps towards my true self but always ended up retreating to my default persona when things got too hard to handle. As a child and young adult, I was usually the one to listen to my parents, get the good grades, win the awards. But there were those moments when I dared to not be the “perfect” girl. Times when I insisted that what I held to be true was going to be more important than what others felt what was important. I insisted on applying to colleges in Rochester because I wanted to live there. My father was hesitant about me going, but my mother was downright against it. Neither one of them wanted me that far away when there was a perfectly good college down the street.

When I was accepted to both colleges, the decision was left to me. My mother was about to go in the hospital for surgery, and the last possible day to send the deposit for college fell on the night before she had to go in. I can still see her sitting with the checkbook in her hand, looking up at me with a sad resignation on her face. “Well?” she asked. “Who am I making this check out too?”. Shame raced through my body, and I felt a heaviness on my shoulders which I now recognize as fear and guilt. It was obvious to me that my mother didn’t want me to leave, and she was about to go into the hospital. I felt like I couldn’t say Nazareth although my heart was screaming it. With a sigh and a downcast face I replied “St. Rose”. In that moment I had allowed my “good girl” image to overrule what I felt was my true calling. When I was boarding a plane 3 years later to study abroad, my mother complained that I was the only passenger not turning to wave goodbye. However, it wasn’t out of spite or any kind of delayed payback. It was because I finally had allowed myself to make the authentic decision to study where I wanted, And let me tell you, no awards or compliments on being a good girl ever felt as good as striding up that ramp to my future.

Since my college days, I have had small ventures into living an authentic life. I have ended relationships when I realized that what I felt was not love but infatuation. When new teaching opportunities in other districts became available, I stepped into them with confidence and determination even as the fear of entering the unknown gnawed at my spirit. I have found when you are truly living an authentic life, the fears of the Ego don’t just hide away. They actually become more intense as they try to steer you off your path with self-sabotaging thoughts. But if you stand firm in what you believe is right for you, then you are able to do battle with the Ego using your higher self and your angels as your back up.

Even today I find myself striving to live more authentically in several areas. Career decisions are looming, and fate may steer me in a direction I cannot fathom at this point. Financial issues have also long overridden some dreams that I have had to put away. Searching for ways to become better aligned with those dreams is a nerve-wracking daily activity. Emotionally, I am wrestling with how to balance my deep feelings for a man whom I feel destined to be reunited with the reality of our separation. When following your authentic desires in matters of the heart means impinging on the truth felt by another person, it can become complicated. Communication lies at the heart of authenticity so prolonged periods of silence make it impossible for it to bloom for either person. Following your true path may mean making it uncomfortable not only for yourself but for the other person. This is where grace and spiritual growth has to step in and help nudge you in the right direction. Whether through prayer, meditation, music, journaling, or some other form of connection with Spirit, we have to find a way for the light to break through. That uncomfortable feeling is a sure sign that you’re leaving your comfort zone and finally living your truth. Continuing to shy away from the truth will catch up with you in the end.

The weight of lies will bring you down
And follow you to every town ’cause
Nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there
So, when you run make sure you run
To something and not away from ’cause
Lies don’t need an aeroplane to chase you anywhere

When trying to decide if you’re making choices that are responding to the truth within you, ask yourself if you are running away from or running towards something or someone. Being authentic isn’t something to hurry along, but life does go by so quickly. My wish for you is that you respond to the flow of abundance with your hearts, your minds, your eyes, and your arms wide open.