Connecting in Sweetness: Why I love singing sacred chants with others

"All deep things are song. 

It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; 

as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls! "

~ Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

One of my greatest joys and most profound pleasures in life is singing — especially sacred chanting — especially with others.

For me, there’s nothing quite like gathering together in a safe group and diving deep into these ancient wisdom tones. As I feel the chants resonate in my body and mind, I watch my crusty, creaky, cranky parts gently break up and release. Without thinking about it much, I find myself more and more in each present moment — until, there I am, standing peaceful and joyful in my natural center, delighted to see my sweet and happy inner self. What a nurturing blessing for me and my journey!

I think that this simple practice can also offer us something even more precious — a way to enjoy happy merged energy connection with others, and, through that, help heal the larger energetic body of our communities.

All that, just because we decide to sing.

• • •

I first experienced this type of chanting years ago at a Hindu ashram. I was invited to an evening event by a friend, and really didn’t know what to expect. But I was curious and so I went.

The Daily Creative: Inspiring Myself to Get Started

One of the notable challenges that I can experience in being creatively self-employed is just getting started in taking action — in a day, on a task, with a project. Once I get started, I can usually go a long distance. It’s often just the initial spark that’s missing.

So why does this happen and what can I do about it?

Over the years, it’s been helpful for me to see that one reason is that I don't have many of the external structures and prompts that folks can have in official office settings. Yes, sometimes my day will be structured by client meetings, phone calls, article deadlines, and public events.

But must of time it's up to me to initiate, organize, prioritize, and go final on my projects and tasks.

I think that this self-management is especially challenging in creative work, because we face an amorphous blank page with literally infinite ways that we can express ourselves in final form. There are a ridiculous number of choices we need to make as we seek to find approaches that will both fulfill our urges and meet the needs of our audiences and clients.

For me, the difficulty rating becomes even further amplified because of the scale of my goals, as I seek to deeply serve people and our culture in overcoming our current crises and emerging as even more the beautiful essences that we are.

Yeah, being a writer/artist, seeking to save the world — what was I thinking?