Behold The Bravery In Being A Beginner

Author and therapist, Marion Woodman (1996) wrote, “In our yearning to be perfect, we have mistaken perfection for wholeness. We think we cannot love ourselves until we and others meet some external standard” (p. 66). This is one of the many illusions that we as a culture have bought into. Unfortunately many of the stories that we are fed, come from sources that have lost touch with their own authentic voice. These kinds of stories breed fear, pain, and silent voices. When we live by an external standard of beauty, success, or happiness, we imprison each other, and ourselves missing out on the rich diversity that we are as individuals, families, communities, countries, and as a planet.

One of the messages that I try to remember while songwriting and performing, as well as while coaching is the importance of allowing myself to be a beginner. It takes courage to experience the moment fresh, with new eyes, ears, and mind. Being a beginner means allowing myself to make mistakes, to fall down, to admit when I do not know. It means having an inquiring attitude about things, listening to my own voice and the voices of others in new ways, and being willing to try on or take off the various stories that I have created about what I can and can’t do, who I am, and who I'm not. Read on...

I have made many mistakes in front of hundreds of people and often those human moments have been the moments people appreciated the most. The critic is a voice that is important for the artistic process, but when it stops people from doing what they love and loving, it is not serving anyone. Whether an individual has been an artist for decades or simply a day, it takes courage to take off the mask and to speak one’s truth. Below are the lyrics of a song I wrote a few years ago about the bravery and importance in being a continual beginner in life:

Behold the bravery in being a beginner
A bloody bloom beneath the bony birdcage
Behold the bravery in walking backwards
Begging to belong to yourself
To be the beloved bell that listens
The booming bear who balances between worlds
Behold the bravery in being a beginner
Biting into one’s bizarre beaten track of their behavior
Facing the bang bang battles of blame
The trickle down of family flame
Buried birthmarks soon to burst
A bloody bloom but first
Behold the bravery in being a because for someone else
In the moment of their baffled brow
You put their blizzard on the burner of
“I believe in you” and they burst
Behold a buffet of butterflies
Blossoming into bridges
Balancing between worlds
Behold the bravery in being a beginner
Brilliant in your bewilderment
Bruised in the blush of becoming

In the practice of singing we are challenged to be brave enough to let go of the old stories we have about ourselves and others and to come into a new moment where we belong to ourselves. To be the “Beloved bell that listens” is to be able to ring fully and to know the origin of our sound, how we came to sing, speak, and silence ourselves and to have awareness regarding the story we are living and believing in.
 

References

Woodman, M. & Dickson, E. (1996). Dancing in the flames: The dark goddess in the transformation of consciousness. Boston, MA: Shambhala.