Listening to Your Life

I find it hard to imagine a world without writing, and I wonder why so many people shy away from such a simple yet powerful activity. I marvel at people who can get their words published and read by millions of people. My own writing has largely been bits and pieces of everyday life squeaking in between many other activities and projects. 

It’s about “Listening to Your Life.” That’s the title of a daily reflection book, a collection of Frederick Buechner’s thoughtful writings. Many authors write as a way of making sense of traumas or tragedies.

When my life gets confusing, I often turn to prose or  poetry, be it Haiku, classical or modern, borrowed lines woven into my own musings on the meanings of things, threads of curious rambling on human quirks, slowly finding my way through life’s twisting paths. Times of deep loss or change can be disorienting. Writing can become a beacon in those times, a way to connect again with what is truly at the heart of the matter. Like Joan Didion and Frederick Buechner, I am listening to inner voices, and to Mystery.

Sung poetry opens the heart, and music builds community. When you look at all the major world religions, you will find an abundance of hymns, sacred songs, chants, and prayers set to music. In all ancient cultures, and still today, songs and stories are a central and powerful way that people gather together as a community. In families and organizations, groups of friends or in choirs, music is an expression of a common purpose, and singing together lifts us into love and beauty and spiritual and social connections are nourished.