Jill Augustine Carter was born in Chicago and as of this year has spent the other half of her life in Los Angeles, CA. Teen model, actor, fine art consultant, ghost-writer, Realtor, and insurance agent, her most exciting vocation so far has been her recent work with Peace Warrior Brigitte Secard, author of SoulFire-The Birth of Wild Aliveness (http//:generationinstantgratification.com). She is also working on a project near and dear to her heart, CampaignforCivilDriving.org (currently under contruction) as well writing her new blog : www.Channel941blog.blogspot.com. She is honored to have been asked by Amy to contribute to “Life Art Healing”.

Sing Your Song

Lately, I have taken to watching Channel 941 on Time-Warner cable. Actually, ‘listening to’, is more accurate, as it is a music station; “Light Classical”, to be exact. I like the fact that the music is continuous; never interrupted by a spoken word. Once in a while, if I walk past the television in the living room, a fact about the composer or musician currently playing will be at the top of the screen. Here’s an example: “Chopin finally succumbed to tuberculosis while living in Paris. He was only 39 years old.”

There are several things about Chopin that I find particularly interesting. Not the least of which being, I used to detest his music. I didn’t get it. It struck me as treacle and overly romanticized. I hated the flourishes and aimless meandering all of his pieces seemed to include; so fussy compared to my favorite classical composer, J.S. Bach. Then, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum… On December 5^th, 2008, nineteen days after turning 49, I was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. Within days, I was relieved of about 1/3^rd of my colon. It was a sudden and shocking turn of events.

And one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.

My favorite line of that New Year was that I was “new and improved and 1/3^rd less full of shit!” I thought I was making light, but the reality is, somewhere inside myself, I knew those words were actually true. What before may have seemed important became trivial; what before had been important became imperative.

Like singing my song.

What IS my song? I have spent a lifetime humming various melodies in search of it. I have hung in there with some of the tunes for years and years, only to decide that the chorus has become monotonous or that the through-line is no longer pleasing to my ear. My ear… Wait. Let’s get specific: MY SOUL and what it wants, what it hears and what it hungers to hear, reveals itself more and more to me with each passing day. It is a mandate I am joyfully learning to fulfill.

Chopin is delicious to me now.

His melodic meandering is like the path of life itself. The sweet, aching, melancholia, balanced by occasional outbursts of exquisite trills can be seen as a musical narrative of the human heart. Thank God Chopin sang his song before he died. And thank God I lived long enough to appreciate it.

So it is time to sing. Even if my song is not perfect. Or it changes. Or it even grates, occasionally. The voice may wobble or occasionally falter, but if sung with conviction, the song cannot help but be beautiful. Regardless, it is my turn now. No time to waste.

Steve Garrison, a single dad and a student of personal development study, has summarized his 20 years of learning into five secrets to truly transform. Steve works as a motivational speaker, personal coach and author to help others find their inner light. With his passion, energy and enthusiasm, he shares his profound knowledge of these secrets with people who are ready to make a change in their lives. A native Bostonian, Steve now lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his three children.

Now recently endorsed by the prestigious Cleveland Clinic as a powerful book who help patients to cope with surgery and to recover with the most optimal attitude and mindset. The Clinic will begin medical trials in 2011 using “The Five Secrets from Oz” as a guide to help patients heal after surgery. www.thefivesecretsfromoz.com

Waterskiing 101: Rule #1: Let go of the rope!

I like to think of myself as a very good athlete. One of the sports that I have a little fear of is waterskiing. I think it is because I had a traumatic event when I was 10 trying to get up and out of the water and failing time after time. When I finally got up I proceeded to fall. Now the normal person would let go of the rope. This by the way is the number one rule in waterskiing when you feel like you are falling or about to wipe out. So, not me…not Mr. “I don’t listen to instructions” (typical male right). Anyway, I was dragged what seemed like a mile (actually it was 50 feet or so) before I actually let go. Now, here I am, 28 years later and on a boat with my two nephews, both great athletes in their own right. As my nephew David was driving the boat, he looked at me and said, “Uncle Steve, here is the life jacket, do you want to ski!”

Now I had a choice to make and I know what most of you are thinking. “Oh, what a great story, after all these years he got right back up…awe…good for Steve!” Well, I wish I could have told you a Rudy or Karate Kid story with a happy ending, but alas, I chickened out. I am not sure if it was because I was having a flashback of when I was ten or if it was because I was terrified of looking like a complete idiot in front of my two nephews?

What does this all mean you ask? Sometimes in life, we need to just have faith to let go of the rope. We as adults are constantly getting in our own way, just like I did when I chickened out from waterskiing. We make excuses as to why we can’t do something. We convince ourselves to not let our new boyfriend/girlfriend see our feelings for fear of being hurt. We make excuses as to why we can’t start a business or tell someone we love them for the first time for fear of rejection. We are forever letting our past dictate our present reality because we can’t let go.

No matter what ropes are dragging you through the water, remember the first lesson of waterskiing. Don’t be afraid to let go. Understand that you have a life vest and it will keep you from drowning so just let go. Many of us think it is acceptable to allow ourselves to be dragged through the water. That is not O.K. and it will only keep you from getting back in the water of life.

As for me, I have decided that next summer when I am at my family lake cabin in Maine that I will put on the water-skis and enjoy the ride. Now that I realize that it is O.K. to let go and to get out of my own way!

Remember. The past is HISTORY so finally let it go, the future is a MYSTERY, but today is the PRESENT. That is why they call it a GIFT.

Happy skiing!

-Steve Garrison  March 1st, 2010  www.thefivesecretsfromoz.com

Their voices drifted as I entered the woods. The grey-brown trees dark from the moisture of the snowstorm last night, the branches covered with a thick layer of snow, like the whole world had been frosted for some king’s birthday. How quickly I had left witnessing such a tense situation to seeing such peace and beauty. So, I thought, why did I see that today? I believe that everything that happens in our experience is a chance to learn, so what would I have to learn from these two men arguing over a traffic stop?

As I noticed deer and squirrel tracks in the new snow, I thought about the conflict and the two main characters. The police officer believed he was right. The man believed he was right. The truth, I believe, is they were both right, at least to themselves. The police officer would report that my neighbor did the wrong thing. The man would tell his friends about the crazy cop who pulled him over.

A woodpecker high up in a dead tree pecked away for his winter meal. I was circling back home, when I realized the lesson in what I had observed. As Aimee Mann, one of my favorite singer-songwriter’s, lyrics say “perspective is everything”. In every conflict, there is a truth to both sides of each story, a truth so strong that we will raise our voices, slam doors, turn to addictive behaviors, isolate and even cut ourselves completely off from each other. I was able to have a neutral perspective on the cop and my neighbor, I could see both truths.

So, perhaps from this perspective I had today, the next time I am in disagreement with someone, I will be open to not only my truth, but have compassion for their truth and to quote myself from my painting titled pure truth, “The truth exists pure somewhere…”. -Amy Roemer 2-22-10

Pure Truth by Amy Roemer

To view more paintings by Amy Roemer, visit www.amyroemer.com

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=view_from_the_bay/everything_else&id=7021110