THE JOKE

 

Music is a healer. It is many things to many people. The poetry of music sings in our souls. It’s our prayer, our guidance, our hope. Brandi Carlile’s “The Joke” is such a song. It’s been called an anthem of NOW! I listen to it nightly as my prayer to the future. There’s a link to it at the bottom of the page…and the words of the refrain that I carry in my heart, below. It moves me deeply every time I hear it, with tears in my eyes. Listen to the words, beautifully profound, second verse above. The music is what brings the words to life.

“I have been to the movies, and I’ve seen how it ends…..and the joke’s on them.”

Healer’s too, come in many forms and languages. Sometimes it means making “good trouble” by showing up for the marginalized. Disrupt the social norms, use your life skills for something greater than yourself.  Use your laughter and warmth to displace uncertainties. Use your voices in songs of freedoms. Music brings people together. NOW! Validation is now.

Archaeology for the Woman’s Soul 

If you ever felt called to be a healer, a teacher, a salve for the people, NOW is your time to come forward.

If you are a word weaver or a light worker or a lender of ears, NOW is your time to come forward.

If you have been hiding medicine in your pockets, behind your eyes, beneath your tongue, waiting for the “right” time to share it, NOW is your time to come forward.

If you have been waiting for approval, for validation, for vindication before sharing your most precious gifts, NOW is your time to come forward.

If you are waiting for the perfect time, the perfect mentor, the perfect plan, NOW is your time to come forward.

If you can bring laughter, comfort and warmth to the most solemn spaces, NOW is your time to come forward.

If you have ever been called to use your life for something greater than yourself, NOW is your time to come forward.

Yes, you might be terrified.

Yes, you might be unpopular.

Yes, you might disrupt the social norm.

But the world needs you.

NOW.

Come forward.

Imperfect.

Broken.

Uncertain.

Raw.

Willing.

Open.

Lend your gifts to the greater good. Help make the world a better place so we might all be free.

~L’erin Alta~

Photo: Painting by Douglas Manry

Archaeology for the Woman’s Soul

Behind the History and Meaning of the Song “The Joke” by Brandi Carlile