WE ARE BORN SINGING

“Song is not a luxury, but a necessary way of being in the world.”

~ Anonymous

Somehow we have been fooled into thinking that song is entertainment, something we can do without, like dessert. But to give voice to what lives inside is what keeps all things possible. In truth, the minute we arrive we are born singing, though this is often mistaken for crying. Yet without this deep reflex, the lungs won’t work and the lifelong exchange between inner and outer can’t begin.

I remember my first day alone at home after my rib surgery. For the first time in months, everything was still, the morning light now filling the space where my rib used to be. Suddenly, finally, I began to weep, loudly, as pockets of fear and pain and exhaustion escaped. This release was a song, and what I hadn’t realized was that, once released, once the buildup of my journey was given a way out, life with its thousand energies and softness could come in.

Such a simple secret: by letting things out, we also let things in. So if you’re cut off, in pain, estranged, numb - sing, give voice to anything. It needn’t sound pretty. Simply, bravely, open despite the difficulty, and let what is in out, and what is out in. Sing, and your life will continue.

~ Center yourself and locate one pocket of pain or fear or exhaustion that is building inside you.

~ Breathe your way into that pocket. Inhale into the buildup. Exhale, letting what’s in there make its way into the world.

~ Realize that your breath is the passageway that connects your inner buildup with the air of the world.

~ Realize that the sound of your breath is the quietest of songs.

The Book of Awakening

~ Mark Nepo