A Cry for Peace :: It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

It doesn't happen to be my personal belief that those who've gone before us become angels, but yesterday, when I was practicing this song and working out an original chorus for it; I couldn't help but imagine the school children who died in the shooting in Connecticut. I couldn't help but envision them like angels singing to us a song of peace. They certainly showed to us our interconnectedness: what happens to one, matters to us all.

Perhaps they also drew out of us a song of peace that we all share, a deep cry within the flesh and bones and fibers and souls of each of us, a hope and a longing for true, lasting peace that transcends political opinions or anything material.

I believe this is what I witnessed when I saw everyone grieving, praying, trying to make sense of an unexplainable horror. I know I felt as though my gut was wrenched and my heart had sunken into my bowels. I wept...and longed for that kind of healing and whole, all-encompassing peace for grieving individuals and families, for the reconciliation of our nation and the whole earth.

May a song of such peace resonate deeply within us. May we live and move and have our being in tune to that song, in time to it's tempo. May that song permeate our thoughts, drip from our lips in the words we speak and may that song be shared through our open hands ready to embrace and serve and carry one another. May you and I BE Light, Love and some manner of Comfort to all suffering in violence.

A candle is lit for them.

Deep & True Peace to You and Yours.

Love,

Heatherlyn

 

HeatherlynMusic.com

 

My Neighbor's Christmas Lights :: Gifts of Memory Making

Every evening our neighbor across the way turns on her outdoor Christmas lights and her Christmas tree in the big picture window for just a couple hours, sometime after the sun has fully set and, I imagine, before they go to bed.

Some might see such a colorful display as frivolous commercialization or evidence of a meaningful holiday overrun by consumerism. You might even know someone who's put their lights up with more of a competitive spirit or obligatory spirit rather than a jovial, Christmas spirit. As with many things, the what doesn't seem to matter quite as much as the how or the why.

When I look out my window and I see her home aglow, (yeah, this gets cheesy for a second) my heart swells a little bit. I fell my facial muscles relax and my countenance open. I experience gratitude within myself because these lights are like a spotlight on a happy childhood memory. I remember getting all bundled up and my aunt and uncle taking me out in their pickup truck in snowy Down East Maine when I was still so small, I'd have to be lifted up onto one of their laps to help look for the houses with the most lights. I don't quite recall if we brought hot cocoa along, but it adds a nice aroma to the memory. 

To me, the lights represents a season in my childhood when I most experienced a sense of abundance even though we were materially poor and much of the rest of the year was often characterized more by fear and scarcity. These little lights symbolize Light in the darkness to me; light literally shining in the longer hours of the night as the windows of day become smaller until the winter solstice; and not just light, but festive and colorful lights; lights that tell stories. Some tell fairytales. Some are expressions of faith. And they remind me of my story, experiencing the gift of presence, of quality time and playfulness with loved ones -- of people who loved me as a smaller, more vulnerable version of myself and who still care about me and I, them.

Every child is a little person who is collecting such memories to carry into life. We all need these treasures to store away into our hearts and mind's eye. These are the gifts to cherish our whole lives and what a brilliant thing that I'll recall this gift of love every year for the whole month of December as long as the neighbor is putting up her luminous work of art all over her house and yard.

What's a memory of an immaterial gift given to you that continues to give your inner being nourishment and peace today? What symbols of the season remind you of this part of your story?

 

Tonight: Celebrating Voice + Community with Sample Night LIVE

Words can't express how glad and grateful I am this morning. It was almost exactly a year ago that I lost my voice and entered a turbulent, trying time of uncertainty and fear about my life as a singer, something I've been my entire life and I had good reason to wonder if this was all about to change. 

This time last year, I was "calling in sick" to the 4th annual Audience Favorites show for Sample Night LIVE, a show (the 5th annual) that I'm so delighted and honored to be a part of tonight! Thanks to the SNL audience for having me back!!

Friends, it's been quite a year and I keep thinking I should right a more extensive update for all of you relating some of the journey of healing as a whole human being, a journey of rediscovery and redefining my voice, a journey of even realizing more of who I am and how I need to live with a different 

rhythm that I was to be an artist and create and write and sing and ultimately share that with all of you. 

So, this morning, I'm celebrating recovery and healing and hope for the on-going journey. I celebrate all of you who have partnered with us this year and supported us in ways that have allowed me to heal and grow. You all know who you are and words can't say how much we're grateful for you, who you are, your generosity and graciousness in our lives.

If you're able to come out tonight to celebrate with us at the History Theater in St. Paul, check out the rest of the Sample Night LIVE line-up (all audience favorites from the previous monthly shows of 2012). Get info and buy tickets here: SampleNightLIVE.com

Also, I just posted more photos on my Facebook Music Page along with the Sample Night LIVE Event Page/Invite.

Cheers! Peace and Gratitude from my heart.

~Heatherlyn

www.heatherlynmusic.com

 

New Song // Rough Cut :: My Hope Is...

Just some things I've been thinking about... Shared this song, for the 1st time, with a handful of young people last night. They had some interesting insights. There are many things that matter - really really matter - and yet, none of them are ultimately the source of my hope. Yes, I'll pay attention, be engaged, make the best choices I can, according to my conscious, but when I don't place all my hope in the outcomes, I can act without fear as well, as I seek to walk through this life true and free, in love and light.... Peace + Gratitude for listening to this song's first take, Friends.

♥ heatherlyn

www.heatherlynmusic.com

Sunday Matinee with Heatherlyn :: The Historic Mabel Tainter Theater!!

Tickets are available now at MabelTainter.org! The show is at 2pm. We're so excited to share this experience with you!!

This gorgeous old theater is right off 94 in Menomonie, WI, right near the UW Stout campus. Plan a nice Sunday drive from the Cities or wherever you and yours are coming from. Menomonie has some lovely locally based cafes, coffee shops and restaurants as well.

MAP and search directions on Google maps.

Interview About The Music Video + A New Poem from Heatherlyn

Hey! You might have heard, Home With You Continues, the music video, is out! Today, I had a fun time chatting with Doug Pagitt and his sidekick Victoria Lin about how the video came together. In the USTREAM recordings below, I also share a new poem, play songs LIVE on the ukulele and we talk about the poetry writing process. 

Enjoy The Doug Pagitt Radio Show with Heatherlyn here!!

And here's the new music video!! Enjoy and thanks so much for all the sharing, keeping the goodness flowing outward from the heart to others. 

 

May all that's good and true and beautiful be abundantly present to you and yours.

Love,

Heatherlyn

 

When I Get Frustrated...I Still Believe in Love...

Sometimes, when I get frustrated, I have to remind myself that judging those I perceive to be judgmental will not effect positive change; intolerance of the intolerant will not bear the fruit of equality; nor will withholding love from those I perceive to be unloving convince anyone to love.

Compassion is always the way to healing - compassion toward my own anger and fear, compassion toward those I perceive to be working against values I hold dear.

Reconciliation is the full, the ultimate, the final, complete consummation of justice.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in Strength to Love said it this way along with many other marvelous thoughts on the transformative power of love: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."

Some say love is overrated. But I still believe in Love - in kindness and in forgiveness - and I believe we have only begun to unlock the possibility and power held within these. We are given plentiful opportunities to practice persistent patience. Over time, that's what will create indelible impressions on a stone cold heart in the same way soft, steady streams carve hard, rocky mountains. 

It seems, sometimes, I'm wasting energy on my determination to be right over even the very principles and virtues about which I believe I'm right. Surely, much more will be accomplished with humility, focusing energy and intentions on being a presence of love, a channel of peace, a hopeful, healing movement; rather than recklessly pouring energy onto the ever-consuming flame of my own ego. Focusing on desired outcomes, facing and moving toward what I'm *for* rather than looking and pushing back what I'm *against* seems like a more productive way to expend my energies and resources.

These are some of the simple thoughts I'm contemplating this afternoon, some things I'm thinking about as I consider life and as I song-write.

May Peace embrace us all as we embrace each other. May Hope keep us strong as we stand with each other. May Grace be our song as we dance with each other.

~ Heatherlyn

www.heatherlynmusic.com