“Words are the voice of the heart” ~Confucius
Do you ever feel frustrated after having engaged in a conversation with another because you don't feel like you've been heard? Have you listened to others so long and with such intensity that you feel like you've lost yourself? Is there a nagging suspicion resonating deep within that you need to find your voice? Do you ever wonder what all the hype is around "finding your voice"?
Years ago a very talented Brazilian Author by the name of Paulo Coelho published a book titled, "The Alchemist". The core of the book was based on the philosophy that "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." In summary ("spoiler" to follow), the book is about a young Andalusian boy who sets out on a courageous journey to find his "dream". What the young boy, Santiago, discovers on his adventure is "truth lies where your heart belongs"...deep within each of us.
Finding one's voice is much like Santiago's journey. One searches the world over for material possessions - the "right job", the "best house", the "coolest car"... intellectual knowledge - the "most prestigous schools" and hungers for love from "lovers", "friends", "fans"...only to wake up one day feeling empty and exhausted.
Or perhaps your experience has been somewhat opposite of that "journey". You ran away from the acquisition of material possessions, you shunned the pursuit of intellectual knowledge but in a similar fashion still looked outside of yourself for love - with the result being the same...you wake up one day feeling empty and exhausted!
The latter of the two experiences would be where I'd place my personal journey until a devastating mid-life crisis - one so intense that it rocked my world to its very core. What I discovered through much treasure hunting/soul searching and believe me when I say ...I left no stone unturned in the pursuit, is that when you find your heart you find your voice.
It doesn't look like what I thought it would..."drastic understatement". If you had asked me four years ago I would have said, "finding your voice is about becoming a powerhouse with words and knowledge, you speak loud and with authority demanding attention and people will listen"....WRONG! I went through years of feeling like the "Who" in "Whoville" in the book "Horton Hears a Who." And to be honest, the residue of that feeling still lingers strong in the air around me even after I found my voice ...on a mountain top in the wee hours of the night (http://kimberlyhicks.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-voice.html). It's a wonderful journey, one I treasure today...it's filled with love and laughter, a true dark night of the soul and it has come to rest, if only for a brief moment... in an awareness that ones voice resonates the strongest when it's spoken with the conviction of the heart of the individual!
Meditation gives us many gifts, physical, mental and spiritual. Today, I am grateful for the gift of my voice!
