The Point

What’s the point of learning to sing or play an instrument?  Better yet, what’s the point of doing anything? 

These are questions that cross my mind often, and in the last 24 hours the topic keeps popping up in conversations and articles like mad.  The difference in the last day or so is that I feel like I am getting closer to understanding something about it. 

I've started to understand what the point is not.  The point is not achievement.  Check.  The point is not self glorification.  Check.  The point is not money or stuff.  Check.  The point is not approval.  Check.  All these outward things eventually dissolve, so the point is . . . well . . .

This is where you get to figure it out for yourself.  You get to peel back the layers of thought and feeling and intention within yourself to discover your point, or where you are coming from.  So, how are you being while you sing?  Are you full of joy and radiance, or a luke warm attitude?  Are you working to get somewhere, or are you basking in the brilliance that you are right now?  Are you rejecting the sound that’s coming out of your mouth, or are you enjoying that you have a voice?  Are you cranky about your voice, or are you delighted?

Trust me, I struggle with these distinctions daily, and they are very subtle.  These kinds of questions might help us realize that the point of life is not what we do, but how we are.  What arises from our hearts infects and supports everything else in life, including the way we produce sound.  I would stand to argue that a truly free sounding and feeling voice originates in a free heart.

Next time you open your mouth to sing, ask yourself:   What's in my heart?  Why am I singing?  What motivates me to share music?  And whatever answer arises, you can love that too!  We are all on the journey to discovering a "point,” and as we get collectively closer to whatever it is, I imagine our voices will get clearer and more beautiful.  I imagine we will spill over with joy and our voices will radiate glory. To me, that’s the point.

For more inspirational reading today, check out performance coach Jennifer Hamady's article, "Lucky, Lucky Me" in Psychology Today.