Don’t Die With Your Music Still in You
By Bob Sima
I had been working in a corporate job for close to 20 years, a job that I scarcely enjoyed and from which I rarely felt any sense of purpose. I was juggling it for all those years with my true passion (my music.) I kept the music as a hobby, because I didn’t truly embrace my gift and didn’t see it as anything other than a tool for selling CD’s, playing concerts and making people smile. I had been encouraged over and over and over to pursue it as my life’s work, and I just didn’t have the capacity to take in and receive the words of encouragement of those around me. Many would even react with shock that I had a “day job,” and even these strong reactions didn’t get me to make the shift. I continued working a job that wasn’t fulfilling me and was clearly not my purpose.
I was told by so many that I have a profoundly powerful gift, but I really didn’t believe it, and I certainly wasn’t honoring it. I was told that I needed to “trust the universe” and that I could make a living pursuing this work. I had heard that cliché so many times before, but for some reason, the words always fell short and my fears won the debate. I told myself: “The finances won’t be there, the bills will pile up, the music will then feel like ‘work,’ and the joy will be taken out of it. A most likely I will go crawling back to my ‘old life.'” Looking back now, I see that this is where most people recoil from using their gifts (following their dreams)– not realizing that if your dream has a higher purpose, it simply cannot fail, it’s a divine mission.
I wasn’t seeing it from God’s perspective. I was looking at it from my own perspective. I wasn’t recognizing that the Universe (God) had given me this gift and my gift back was to use it! I wasn’t willing to follow the advice of my own song Don’t Die With Your Music In You, which was inspired by my spiritual teacher and hero, Wayne Dyer. It was one of my most popular songs, and brought the house down every time. But I wasn’t following the advice at all. I innately knew that all of my songs were profoundly useful spiritual teachings and that they create profound transformations in the listeners, because I wrote them as therapy for myself. I was completely devoted to the work of spiritual discovery, personal transformation, and healing–absolutely on fire writing song after song with no training or musical education whatsoever. But none of this stood as evidence that I could make this my life’s work. I plodded on, letting my dream and my gift sit on the sidelines.
This all shifted dramatically with one conversation. I had been volunteering once a month at a local Wellness Center that served holistic treatments/services and therapies to cancer patients and their families. My service was a song healing circle for the members. It was always a wonderful experience to share songs with the guests at the center, many of whom had just come from chemo or other medical treatments and needed something more relaxing and nurturing. I always felt that they enjoyed the songs, and got some inspiration, but assumed that is about where it ended. Or so I thought.
I had no idea what an impact this music was having until I was approached by Susan. She had come to nearly every song circle, one of the regulars, and had also been out to some of my local concerts. She approached me to share her story of how the music had changed her life, literally. She shared with me that she was ready to give up. She had been ready to tell her loved ones that she felt she lived a good life, done what she had needed to do, had suffered through this illness now, and was ready to go. She basically said in no-uncertain terms, that she was ready to die. And it wasn’t even a negative decision in her mind; she just felt it was time.
This was until she heard my music. She said it reawakened her, gave her a new inspiration to live, and she made a conscious decision to keep on going! She said this to me with conviction, clarity and a sense of urgency, as if to tell me, this music needs to get out to more people.
I was stunned, and humbled, and felt a sense of clarity like I had never experienced before. I saw that this was so far beyond the CD’s and the concerts and the events, this was about touching people’s lives in the deepest most sacred way. And this wasn’t about me; this was about the gift I had been given. This isn’t my music; it’s God’s music. And we all have “music” in us, the thing we came here to do. God speaks through us, and it is done through our unique gifts, our talents and our passions and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is to be filled with God inside. When we fully express our gifts, we are fulfilling our mission here on earth and it is so much larger than ourselves. We realize that we are the messengers of the divine, and there is no greater vocation that that.
Several months later after this encounter, I finally made the leap to becoming a full-time musician and spiritual teacher. On the next visit to the center, I couldn’t wait to share this news with Susan. As I entered the center, I was quite surprised when I saw her sitting behind the desk, answering phones. She was now a volunteer at the center. She smiled knowingly at me; she had found the music of her next chapter.
Keep singing, you never know who is listening. Don’t die with your “music” in you.
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About the Author
Bob Sima is The Transformational Troubadour, award-winning singer-songwriter and spiritual teacher who weaves a soul-filling inspired message into each song. Sima, who has shared stages with Marianne Williamson, Gay Hendricks, Jack Kornfield, Peter Russell and many other luminaries, has been called “Eckhart Tolle with a guitar.” Sima has a gift for creating 21st century songs infused with universal truths of ancient wisdom and modern spiritual teachers and his newest album, putalittlemoreloveintheworld is earning rave reviews. He performs concerts throughout the U.S, events that change people’s lives. For more, check out Bob’s AcousticEpiphany: A SongBlog (www.bobsima.com/blog) his uniquely inspiring, musically-infused blog or visit his website, www.bobsima.com.
