I've been travelling now for one year today. For a long time I've been planning to write the story of my journey and share it, and finally I am.
To begin, I would like to dedicate this story. One important person that I came to this side of the world to visit, and how glad I was to make it just in time to see her, was my dear cousin Janet. She is an inspiration to me and I feel her encouragement helping me forward when I need it. So I would like to dedicate this story to her, by sharing her song.
The first line of this song came to me on the wind at Loch Craobh (Loughcrew), an ancient sacred site in County Meath, Ireland, when I asked for a blessing for Janet, after walking three times around the mound, on my way to Dublin to visit her. "You will find whatever you need dear hearts," were the words that came into my mind. The next line came as I sat with Janet over night at her wake, minding her until the morning with my mother, Janet's aunt. I decided to write for Janet and I began with the first line from Loch Craobh, and I wondered what came next. And the next line felt like it came from her. Because she loved us all for being ourselves and she wanted us all to really be ourselves. I don't know whether somehow she sent the words to me from some place else where she was in spirit, whether some energy of her was there to share this with me, whether I just knew somehow it's what she would say, or what, but the words are from her anyway… This I know. They weren't my words, they were hers: "By deeply being just who you are."
This message was for all Janet's family and friends. But it is also for everyone. Important words. This is what we all need most, to be ourselves, and for everyone to be themselves, truly, really, deeply. And giving this to ourselves also means giving the best we can to the whole world. Because there's nothing more you can give, than to really be yourself, truly in your deepest way. This is what makes the world ring with joy, with love, with energy, with light. It's not a loss to anyone, it's nothing forced, nothing given in a way that means it's gone, it's just given in that way that makes the whole more than the sum of the parts; it's shared, you still have it, and the world does too, even if you're alone in your room, singing your heart out, dancing to the rhythm of your heart beat; if you're being truly you, the energy is shared with the Universe. It's never hard once you find the way, it's so easy, you never have to do anything you don't want to do, you never need to give yourself away, you just are, you are just you, the easiest and most wonderful thing in the world, once you only just know how.
So for Janet, for you, for me, for all the world; be yourself, deeply, be just exactly who you really truly are. You will not be sorry. And the world will thank you too. And if you don't quite know how yet, that's ok too. Maybe something in this story might help you find the way. Many things that I will share in this story helped me find my way, even when I was so lost that I didn't even know I was lost…
So to finish the story of the song, Janet's song… The rest of the words came that night, from Janet, from me, from the Universe, from the love of family and friends being together, loving Janet, being loved by Janet… And by the morning the song was written, the words, but not yet a melody, rhythm, tune… And after it was written, Janet's mother, my aunt Katherine, and her sisters and brother, came to mind Janet and I went to my nearby uncle and aunt's house where I'd been staying, to sleep, and then some hours later I woke to go to Janet's funeral mass, at the church at the school where she and some of my other Dublin cousins went together as children, and then that morning I was asked to sing at Janet's grave. And then I knew that if I could finish this song right then, right there, write a melody and accompaniment on my ukulele, then I could sing Janet her song, not just any song. And not knowing how, not knowing I could, I did this, I made the song a song, right then, right there. And I sang it for her by her grave, I sang it for her, and for all her family and friends. She's a beautiful dear woman, and I hope that hearing this song you can know her a little bit too, if you didn't have the chance on this earthly plane on which we usually experience our existence…
Janet's song
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