Whilst walking the Paul-dog on a beautiful, sunny Austin morning I reflected on a friend of mine who I admire very much for so many reasons. I’m grateful that today I’m capable of admiring her and celebrating her victories rather than feeling envious and less-than like I would have several years ago.

As my brain tends to do, I was thinking about my friend and her energy and how she affects people. I began trying understand who she is so that I could better understand who I am and how I come across to people. The image that came into my head was that her persona, her energy was that of a great Opera Diva, not that I have ever known an Opera Diva but more my “idea” of what an Opera Diva would be like. My friend is magnanimous, she is effervescent, she has a rich sensuous voice and she is very comfortable asking for support from the people around her. Additionally, I recalled that when my friend was in her twenties she actually was a celebrated Mezzo Soprano singer in her country of origin.

This realization helped cause a mind shift for me concerning a belief that I have that everyone has a certain special something that they can do to help and serve others through the use of their gifts. What I realized is that although my friend is not an Opera Diva today, she is using the gift of her voice to help and serve God and others through her radio interviews. And the energy that she would have no doubt exuded to audiences across the world through her singing is now being exuded through her voice using the spoken word instead of the sung word.

One of my favorite sayings is to “let go of the form” . That it is good to have an intention about something and to have a vision but it can also be limiting if we try to put all our feeling and creativity into any finite resolution. If my friend had believed that singing was the only way that she could use the gift of her voice then how limiting would that have been for us as well as her own self?

So Do that thing that you came here (Earth/Life) to do but do it from the whole spectrum of who you are (from your heart and soul) and not just from your mind…..there may be more than one way to unlock the puzzle.