Posts: 1434
From: New Orleans, Louisiana
Registered: Feb 2002

posted April 17, 2002 04:14 PM         

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They're Playing Your Song
>
> By Alan Cohen
> author of "Living from the Heart."
>
> When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is
> pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few
> friends and together they pray and meditate until they
> hear the song of the child. They recognize that every
> soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique
> flavor and purpose. When the women attune to the song,
> they sing it out loud. Then they return to the tribe
> and teach it to everyone else.
>
> When the child is born, the community gathers and sings
> the child's song to him or her. Later, when the child
> enters education, the village gathers and chants the
> child's song. When the child passes through the
> initiation to adulthood, the people again come together
> and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his
> or her song.
>
> Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this
> world, the family and friends gather at the person's
> bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the
> person to the next life.
>
> In the African tribe there is one other occasion upon
> which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time
> during his or her life, the person commits a crime or
> aberrant social act, the individual is called to the
> center of the village and the people in the community
> form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to
> them. The tribe recognizes that the correction for
> antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and
> the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your
> own song, you have no desire or need to do anything
> that would hurt another.
>
> When I have shared this story in my lectures, a fair
> amount of people in the audience come to tears. There
> is something inside each of us that knows we have a
> song, and we wish those we love would recognize it and
> support us to sing it. In some of my seminars I ask
> people to verbalize to a partner the one phrase they
> wish their parents had said to them as a child. Then
> the partner lovingly whispers it in their ear. This
> exercise goes very deep, and many significant insights
> start to click. How we all long to be loved,
> acknowledged, and accepted for who we are! I have also
> done a workshop exercise in which everyone in the room
> is given a piece of paper with the name of a simple song
> on it, such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Twinkle,
> Twinkle, Little Star." In the whole group there are
> perhaps eight different songs, and a half-dozen people
> have the same song named on their paper. Each person
> is then asked to mill round the room while they whistle
> or hum their song. When they find someone else playing
> the same song, they stay together until they find
> everyone who is singing that song. Thus they create
> small groups that serve as touchstones for the duration
> of the program. Life is very much like this exercise.
> We attract people on a similar wavelength so we can
> support each other to sing aloud. Sometimes we attract
> people who challenge us by telling us that we cannot or
> should not sing our song in public. Yet these people
> help us too, for they stimulate us to find greater
> courage to sing it.
>
> A friend is someone who knows your song and sings it to
> you when you have forgotten it. Those who love you are
> not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you
> hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you
> feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your
> innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when
> you are confused.
>
> If you do not give your song a voice, you will feel
> lost, alone, and confused. If you express it, you will
> come to life. You may not have grown up in an African
> tribe that sings your song to you at crucial life
> transitions, but life is always reminding you when you
> are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you
> feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when
> you feel awful, it doesn't. In the end, we shall all
> recognize our song and sing it well. You may feel a little
> warbly at the moment, but so have all the great singers.
> Just keep singing and you'll find your way home.
>

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Hugs,LTD ~~The struggle keeps us young~~Daring to make mistakes and knowing there are none.~~DGM

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Posts: 214
From: The Far West
Registered: Jan 2002

posted April 17, 2002 04:36 PM         

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That is a truly wonderful story! Is that "Living From the Heart" a full book?

Hmmmm..no wonder that, since my first name is Melody, that I have always added a musical "C-Note" next to it. Perhaps I should find out what my song is....!

Heart

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Posts: 398
From: Planet Earth
Registered: Feb 2002

posted April 17, 2002 08:52 PM         

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Lovely

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Posts: 263
From:
Registered: Jul 2001

posted April 17, 2002 09:22 PM         

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just beautiful

*wiping away the tears*

love is all you need, isis

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Posts: 4747
From: Louisiana
Registered: Nov 2000

posted April 17, 2002 11:55 PM         

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LTD...how wonderful of you to share that And you are right, just reading it resonates with something in my soul. Like when you hit a tuning fork and the vibes get so low you can't hear them anymore, but you still feel them.

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@~>~~
YIVY
"Witchy Woman"

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Posts: 1434
From: New Orleans, Louisiana
Registered: Feb 2002

posted April 18, 2002 12:13 AM         

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Wouldn't it be wonderful to treat everyone this way? The world would be a truly peaceful place in which to live.
I love all of you!!!

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Hugs,LTD ~~The struggle keeps us young~~Daring to make mistakes and knowing there are none.~~DGM

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Posts: 1474
From: Toronto
Registered: Dec 2001

posted April 18, 2002 07:52 PM         

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That kind of treatment is not in the future. That kind of treatment is NOW. In order to fully evolve, we must learn to appreciate and understand the love we receive in the moment, not pine after an indefinable idyll in an equally indefinable future. We must love NOW, and not an instant otherwise, for none exists.

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Posts: 1434
From: New Orleans, Louisiana
Registered: Feb 2002

posted April 19, 2002 01:25 AM         

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No truer words have ever been spoken!

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Hugs,LTD ~~The struggle keeps us young~~Daring to make mistakes and knowing there are none.~~DGM

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Posts: 924
From: The Milky Way
Registered: Apr 2002

posted April 22, 2002 10:38 AM         

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LaTeeDa~ I *love* this story Thank you for sharing it ... it's message is sorely needed

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. * + . + * . Caileah . * + . + * . The Knowflake formerly known as Princess

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Posts: 126
From: California
Registered: Mar 2002

posted April 22, 2002 12:28 PM         

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Beautiful LaTeeDa!

~Buttercup~

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Posts: 1434
From: New Orleans, Louisiana
Registered: Feb 2002

posted April 24, 2002 02:17 AM         

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Thanks "P" Buttercup.......I am glad everyone has enjoyed this message.

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Hugs,LTD ~~The struggle keeps us young~~Daring to make mistakes and knowing there are none.~~DGM

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Posts: 1434
From: New Orleans, Louisiana
Registered: Feb 2002

posted August 04, 2002 05:25 AM         

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thought everyone might like a little lift!!!

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Hugs,LTD ~~The struggle keeps us young~~Daring to make mistakes and knowing there are none.~~DGM

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Posts: 46
From: Philipsburg,Montana-USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted August 22, 2002 01:35 PM         

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Good morning to everyone:
When the whole world sings we're going to have a awsome band. When I was a child, my mother said she always wanted to put a bucket over my head,I really didn't believe her and kept on singing. When I was a bit older,my youngest son, he was 4 at the time, we we're driving home and I was singing away, he stops me and says, "Mom you shouldn't sing!" I said "Why,God loves you to sing?" He looked at me with those big brown eyes and said,"Not you."
But I kept on singing,its a heart thing. Thanks La-Tee-Da, you encourage me.Peace to your Soul Love to your Heart
Montana Rain

I love you too, all of you

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Posts: 1434
From: New Orleans, Louisiana
Registered: Feb 2002

posted August 22, 2002 05:47 PM         

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Thank you Montana!!! My Mom always sang to us while puttering around the kitchen and she said that God didn't care what kind of voice you had. He loves all singing!!!

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Hugs,LTD ~~The struggle keeps us young~~Daring to make mistakes and knowing there are none.~~DGM

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