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Creativity
You Are Enough
Personal Perspective: Finding the personal and vocal sweet spot in life.
Posted September 19, 2022 Reviewed by Davia Sills
If we’re lucky, we’ve found something in life that we perceive to be our calling. Our mission.
What we were born to do.
Yet this sense of purpose, while powerful, is not who we are. It is a choice we made once upon a time… to create, to dance, or to write.
What’s more, the choice was not exclusively our own. We may love being an artist, an architect, or an actor. But we exist in a culture that suggests that to be of value in this world, we must tether ourselves to something that not only has meaning for us but that makes us meaningful.
A Different Perspective
In the Marshall Islands, when a child is born, there is a celebration. “You have arrived!” it is said. “You are a Marshallese child, and by virtue of your birth, you have already succeeded. There is nothing more that you need to do.” And the culture is a reflection of this view; the rest of the child’s life is encouraged to be an exploration. A discovery of Earth, sea, and sky… of relationships and family. Of interests, of intellect.
To arrive merely by being born… For many of us in the West, this is an unfathomable concept. How can one be successful merely by being? With nothing to prove? Nothing to achieve?
No certain amount of money to make or specific college to get into? No competition to win or career ladder to climb?
Foreign as this idea may be to many of us, this way of seeing ourselves and the world in which we live results in a life of true personal contentedness, power, and peace.
The Vocal Sweet Spot
In the singing voice, there is a similar “sweet spot “… a place of natural equilibrium that results in ease and agility. Yet when we move out of that space—whether for fear, lack of trust, or in an effort to push and achieve—progress begins to slow. Tension and confusion creep in, breaking the innate and perfect balance. We push, or we hesitate, fall from grace and out of our support, and land in frustration, stagnation, and dis-ease.
To return, we need only to remember that singing is not inherently a challenging, exclusive skill to master. It is the birthright of everyone. Our bodies, breathing, and voices have functioned perfectly since the day we were born, and they receive ample practice every day of our lives. Vocal development begins with allowing our instruments to do what they already know how to do, trusting them, and following their lead in the course of training.
The Great Paradox
In order to allow this ease, however, we must also wrestle with a culturally unusual idea: that singing well does not make us important. It does not make us unique or special.
Like the Marshallese, our most important accomplishment happened on the day we were born. The rest of our endeavors—singing and beyond—are meant to fulfill our curiosity, bring us joy, and allow us to learn, explore, and stretch ourselves in new ways.
What a radical shift of perspective! That the less attached we are to a cherished talent or goal, the better the chance we have of enjoying it… as well as of being successful.
Embracing Vocal and Personal Freedom
Indeed, allowing for space and light between ourselves and our passions grants us the freedom and perspective necessary for creativity. Unhinging our value and worth from our ambitions allows us to commit to whatever interests us as a matter of play. And in that meaningless, meaningful play—as with singing—accomplishment becomes inevitable.
My Marshallese friends live different and varied lives. They have striven for and achieved many things, in large part because they have never forgotten that they already succeeded on the day they were born… by virtue of being.
They know that they have always been enough and have nothing at all to prove. Except for what they choose to prove for passion, for purpose, and for play.
Look at your own life, at the people you admire and appreciate, and you’ll find that many have a similar mindset. They walk through the world with humility and lightness yet are simultaneously powerful and effective.
This power, freedom, and joy await us all when we realize that we, too, are perfect and successful… by virtue of being here.
By virtue of being.
