Let All the World Sing

[cedar_grove]

From The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.

What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters
compared to
what lies within us.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

regardless of the words or the melody, this effort to sing is a way to open passageways, between what is growing within and what is growing without.

I love to sing, and I do it a lot... singing or humming... or listening to music. I do it consciously and unconsciously... there's nothing like it. It affects mood, it affects breathing, it affects mind and body and spirit.

It's no coincidence that our ancestors celebrated moments in a day with song – a waking song, a working song, songs of thanks, of joy of sorrow. Songs and chants are within us and all around us... and too many of us don't use them.

I used to have a whole repertoire of 'pagan' songs and chants (including some from native America, from Africa and so on). I've lost many of the recordings and forgotten far too many of the ones that were inside of me. Some of them I've been able to 'find' again thanks to sites such as YouTube and so on... but it's a loss I feel greatly.

Using chant during ritual is a great way to control the flow of breath and the flow of power through one's body, but it works just as well with the progress of daily living... intent too. How many parents have sung a soothing song as a lullaby to a child resisting sleep? The so called 'negro spiritual' songs – were they not working songs, meant to help keep rhythm for work that needed it? Why don't we sing any more as a matter of course?

I remember once (and for a very short time I might add) I had a job working in the office of a recruitment consultant. It was run by two elderly ladies, and on one occasion not long before I told them it wasn't working out for me, one of them asked me to stop humming as I worked. I couldn't do it then... it made my working day miserable to not be able to express myself in that way. And yet, along with the other changes that happened to me of a sudden, I lost my 'gift of song.'

Perhaps it's a sign of my healing that I've suddenly realised I miss singing my day, singing the changes of the day, the year, and all that goes with it.

Comments

[mac-arthur-park.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy to hear that. I can't exist without music. I also sing or hum or have to have music playing in the background. Pandora and YouTube are my best friends. :)