Sunday Contemplation # 27 What Makes You Cry

Our Heart Rules If We Let It

Jacob Collier - In concert (A screenshot from YouTube)

• This Week’s Quote

• This Sunday’s Contemplation

• A Guided Meditation

• Grateful For

• This Week’s Community Chat

• Upcoming Activities

This Week’s Quote

It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This Sunday’s Contemplation

What Makes You Cry

Good morning everyone.

I hope that you are doing well this week. My heart goes out to the people of LA and all who have been impacted by the tragic fires. To all people around the world struggling right now, we wish you peace.

Today’s topic and approach is pretty unusual for me, but I was so touched that I just needed to share my heart with you.

You know, one of my hats is that of teacher and mentor, and in a course I built called My Wisdom Within, the first unit asks participants the question…what makes you cry? The question of course is designed to move people to find what is most important within them, and to understand what really makes them tick, what really moves them. Only from that place can we begin to fashion our purpose, and fashion a life that aligns with that essential centre, that purpose.

My kids have two things they accuse me of (well there are more than two, but we will stick with these two🙂) ….dad you cry at commercials!…and…dad, you make people cry. Guilty on both counts I am afraid. It was not always the case, but as I got closer to understanding who I really am, I just found more and more in life, and in the nature of others, that touched me. Along with that I lost the fear of showing it when I was touched.

So…….this week I had yet another such moment. I was introduced via a YouTube algorithm to the music and performances of Jacob Collier. For those of you who already know of him you are probably wondering what rock I must have been living under 😜. For those of you who have not heard of him I put here two links as a starter.

Jacob singing Fix You…live with Chris Martin

Jacob singing his own song Little Blue

There are lots and lots of things that move me about Jacob and his music. I won’t bore you with all of them, because I am sure you have, or will have, your own. But the one thing that moves me the most was watching him conduct his own audiences. There is a love to it, an innocence. A faith, an expectation, that something beautiful will arise. And it does. How does this large group of people, likely mostly singing only in the shower folks, sound so so beautiful?

If you have read any of my posts, you know where I am going with this. There is a divine, sacred, infinitely magical thing that happens when we humans do things for someone else and for each other. When we work together in aligned purpose, something synergistic, beyond the measure of the parts, appears. It is magical.

For me hearing these audiences sing together affirms what I know to be true about the wonders that can occur if we trust each other, surrender our own small ideas of who we are, and be together. Something essential in our nature is released, liberated, attuned by our surrender.

So yes…I cried, and continue to cry as I listen to Jacob Collier’s work. Not only because of the beauty of the music, but because of what he is able to bring out of those who come to listen to him. It is the very thing we must find ways to show with each other in everything else we do.

So to end, I will affirm what I know our youngest daughter will say about this….”Dad, I bet you wrote a poem about it! Of course you did!”

A Bow To Jacob

To love some
There is a peering required
Through the darkness
And sometimes sludge
To discern the light
Reaching out
Reaching through

And then there is a Jacob

A crystal vessel
A shining transparency
Creativity as Love
Music cascading
Overflowing
Quenching our thirst

His elfin body
Clothed in colours
Unmatched
Yet
A little bit perfect

Raised arms
The wiggling fingers
Plucking the strings
Of our voices
Our hearts
Joining crowd thronged 
Into beautiful
Beautiful
Harmony

The angels sing
And it is us

How do we
Of shower only voices
Sound so beautiful
Together

We are the One voice
Of Love
Conducted from us
Gifted to us
By the raised arms
Inviting surrender
Preparing the place
Where surrender 
Settles
As if it is home
Received
By the Voice
In us

I bow to you Jacob
A gift

Thank you for reading this. See you next week I hope.

I wish you peace.

A Guided Meditation

I have received quite a bit of feedback that a guided meditation connected to the topic of these contemplations has been appreciated. When appropriate I will provide one each week. This week’s guided meditation is called Joining Together

Grateful For

I include this section because I found that when I read or hear about what others are grateful for, I tend to think more about what I am grateful for. Feel free to share what you are grateful for in the comments. I think it is a beautiful service to others.

In line with the theme today, I am particularly grateful this week for music, and those who make beautiful music. It is a gift that can, at its best, take us to a place of sacred quiet or soaring hope, or so many other magical places. Two of our children make their living at making music. I am grateful for them and the music that flows in them.

This Week’s Community Chat

The theme in the chat this week is:

What music most moves you? Where does it take you within?

Of course, if there is anything else in your heart you would like to share, please feel free to do that also.

Thank you.

Upcoming Activities

My friend Sally Avison and I have been hosting Wise Hearts Circles. We are still on a break. I will let you know when we are back up and running.

Should you want to message me directly, please feel free to do so.