Wednesday 15 January 2014

I produced an opera - I can do ANYTHING!

So the title of this blog post is also my mantra for the new year. Yes, like many of you, I make and break many resolutions--although I usually manage to stick with at least one new goal/resolution.

This year I want to do something DIFFERENT. Something BOLD. Something NEW TO ME. That is where the above mantra came.

The goal for 2014 is to listen to and respect my song.

If I have learned anything in this journey of life, love, opera, music, motherhood (the list goes on!!) is that the first point of failure happens in the moment of self doubt--when we stop listening to OUR SONG.

As it happens, the universe reminded me of this when a good friend posted this article on Facebook.

"Here is a tribe in Africa where the birth date of a child is counted not from when they were born, nor from when they are conceived but from the day that the child was a thought in its mother’s mind. And when a woman decides that she will have a child, she goes off and sits under a tree, by herself, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child that wants to come. And after she’s heard the song of this child, she comes back to the man who will be the child’s father, and teaches it to him. And then, when they make love to physically conceive the child, some of that time they sing the song of the child, as a way to invite it...

And then, when the mother is pregnant, the mother teaches that child’s song to the midwives and the old women of the village, so that when the child is born, the old women and the people around her sing the child’s song to welcome it. And then, as the child grows up, the other villagers are taught the child’s song. If the child falls, or hurts its knee, someone picks it up and sings its song to it. Or perhaps the child does something wonderful, or goes through the rites of puberty, then as a way of honoring this person, the people of the village sing his or her song.

You may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you at crucial life transitions, but life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn’t. In the end, we shall all recognize our song and sing it well. You may feel a little warbly at the moment, but so have all the great singers. Just keep singing and you’ll find your way home. - See more at: http://the-truths.com/2014/01/14/tribe-africa-birth-date-child-counted-born/#sthash.0rCSfjCm.dpuf

That little opera, "Hansel and Gretel" is symbolic of my song. It represents so much of what I value and what I love. This year, that simple statement is going to remind me of my song.

Can you hear your song?

Sing out LOUD!

Until next time,
Anastasia