A little-known John Denver song entitled “All This Joy” says:

“All this joy
All this sorrow
All this promise
All this pain.

“Such is life
Such is being
Such is spirit
Such is love.”

Aren’t these lyrics beautiful? The song’s next verse says: “City of joy, City of sorrow,” etc., then “World of joy, World of sorrow.”

I love singing this song for I’m always reminded that everything is in divine order and as it should be. The coronavirus and fires in the western USA, the floods, and the Olympics. Everything has a reason, a season, and a time. There is always joy and sorrow, and the trick is to know this and to be at inner peace no matter what the outer circumstances are.

Recently, I was asked to perform for a 99-year-old artist’s birthday party. The daughter wanted me to play piano, autoharp, and to sing popular and classical arias. The piano and autoharp weren’t a problem. My voice was another story. Since the pandemic, I haven’t had many opportunities to perform, and I must say, my vocal cords were a little rusty. Like an Olympic champion, I needed to vocalize (stretch my vocal cords) every day.

Being that my concentration (during the pandemic) has been on writing blogs and appearing on podcasts, my focus has been elsewhere. Now, I had to work hard to get my vocal mechanism back to where I was eighteen months earlier. Try as I might, I couldn’t get my upper range back in time for the gig.

Since I’m all about speaking my truth, willing to face feelings, and being vulnerable, I must say that I was devastated by this sudden unforeseen turn of events. For my entire life, I’ve sung opera arias and other soprano repertoires. I cried tears over the loss of me ever singing again the beautiful melodies that I love so much, like Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma”. Besides this, I made a commitment to the host that I’d perform these genres for them, and now I had to break that promise. By necessity, I was forced to change course mid-stream, persevere, and move forward to play only piano and autoharp. What else could I do? They were expecting me to be a professional, and I had to give my best to them.

We all have stuff! Every day we are faced with change and circumstances that we didn’t expect. The challenge is to Acknowledge, Accept, Align, be Authentic, take a positive Attitude, and then take Action. Nothing is going to be Accomplished by wallowing in yesterday’s has-beens. We all need to be in the moment and Be who we are now! Yesterday was then, today is now, and tomorrow will be tomorrow. And in that light, perhaps with more diligent practice, I’ll get my range back!

All this joy, all this sorrow, all this promise, and all this pain. Such is Being, such is Spirit, and such is Life. I challenge you to let go of the past and live in the now. Don’t be a victim of your circumstances. Go with the flow, breathe, accept what is, and go from there. In this way, and only in this way, can you live an unstoppable, unforgettable, and absolutely unbelievable life!