 I think we’d all probably agree that venturing into anything new can be a little scary, if not downright terrifying at times. Feeling the strange uneasiness in the unfamiliar seems not only understandable, but expected while the boundaries of our comfort zones are pushed and pulled.
And what happens when your journey takes you far away from an old familiar setting, but then brings you back to that place? A place where you seem to recognize everything… buildings, people, and daily routines, but now for some reason you feel like a stranger in a strange land. What had been true for you before in this place is not necessarily so anymore. That is scary, too, I find, because this time these unfamiliar feelings might not be expected or understood (or wanted) by many of the old familiar faces. It takes courage to be who you are when it might be easier on others for you to be who you were. It’s not about shame, blame, or right/wrong. It’s just that change changes things. Sounds kind of obvious, but I think that this can be a really difficult concept to handle sometimes. It can definitely be hard to talk about, especially with people who haven’t walked where you’ve walked. But I don’t think that the objective of our journey here on earth is ever to take us back to who we used to be. I think it’s about experiencing and growing, having compassion for the bravery it takes to do the best that we can each day and learning to love and accept who we are now and the choices we can make now.
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Ok... I admit it. My first big concert was... yes... John Denver. And it was awesome! Over 30 years ago now. That in and of itself seems little weird. But anyway, I loved, loved, loved his music, especially the song "Sweet Surrender." It's one of my all-time favorite songs across any genre. It's melody really spoke to me back then and has stuck with me over the years. But now at 52, the words and melody take me to a level that I could never have seen as a high-schooler. And what's so weird is that last week I just happened to flip through this old John Denver music book of mine and noticed this small section in the front with John's reflections on his most memorable songs. And sure enough, there's one on "Sweet Surrender."
The reflection's always been there, obviously, but I guess I wasn't in the right time and place to see it. I wonder how many times in our lives that happens... something's there but only becomes visible over time and accumulated experiences. Our successes and failures, pleasant and unpleasant, open us up to new perspectives, to new ways to see as we move along… We can't perfectly learn everything by reading about it “at the beginning." We all have to travel our journeys and learn along the way to have our eyes opened. Right? Again, that's just something that has really come into my greater awareness lately. It's allowing me to release the hold of judgment against myself that "I should've done it differently" and see that all of my journeying, positive and negative, has brought me to what I am and do now... and to feel the love and compassion from that release, the joy in the surrender. That is how life works. And apparently, according to my recent JD reflection discovery, that's what John was getting at in this beautiful song - the joy in that sweet surrender to what life has to offer, knowing that the journey and lessons learned are just a small part of the gift of life. The rest of the gift is in how we receive it and what we do with it. Thanks, John, for voicing this sweet insight for the rest of us. |
AuthorColleen Clement Archives
February 2021
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