Make Your Soul Sing
The idea for this article came from one of my regular commenters, J.D. Meier at Sources of Insight. He always writes something short but status quo challenging. Recently, he said on my blog, “I think one of the greatest challenges more folks will have to face is finding their intrinsic happiness and what makes their souls sing.”
His words mesh nicely with the Thoreau quote on the front of my direct mail piece, “Most people live lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
Making our souls sing of course led me to the way we raise our young. How often do we talk to them about their souls or making them sing? I tried to recall even one conversation with any adult or teacher during my entire 19 years of schooling or boss during my 13 years of conventional work.
The only conversation that touched the topic of souls and singing took place many years into adulthood when a new employee took over the desk next to mine, a woman a good ten years older than me. Her wise words on spirituality opened up a whole new world for me, a world that involved finding real intrinsic happiness and a soul that sings like J.D. mentioned.
Prior to that conversation, I’d been so spiritually muffled by the system that I didn’t understand another way existed or that I even had a soul.
Now with all the mandatory testing and creativity deprivation in the schools, I can only imagine it’s gotten worse. Yet it makes no sense.
I swear many of us suffer from a deadly case of GroupThink, a coin termed by Irving Janis.
Here’s how Wikipedia defines groupthink: “Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within groups of people. It is the mode of thinking that happens when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints… the primary socially negative cost of groupthink is the loss of individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking.”
From my own experiences and observations, I can say without hesitation that groupthink needs to be eradicated from the planet if we want folks to have souls that sing. If I were visiting from another planet, I’d find a lot of our culture downright insane.
- imprisoning the young behind desks for twelve+ years.
- deriving self worth from job titles.
- muffling our voices at town meetings.
- starting wars for pre-emptive reasons.
- designing our lives to fit the resume format.
- going through body scanners in the name of safety.
- letting others walk all over us to be seen as “nice.”
- taking other folks definition of success as our own.
- fitting people into job descriptions instead of vice versa
- believing that life’s a bitch and then you die.
So, how does someone find a way to let his or her soul sing? Best to get off the groupthink beaten path.
- Understand, that it will take a lot of courage to reverse thought engines and people may get mad at you for stepping off.
- Understand, that you will want to turn around and climb back down onto the beaten path, that it will appear to seem easier, that it will appear to seem less lonely. These are just mirages. It’s harder and lonelier on the beaten path.
- Understand, that leaving the beaten path takes time and many baby steps.
- Understand, that you can do it, that you alone can make the choice to find intrinsic happiness and let your soul sing.
Love to hear your ideas below for making our souls sing. What have you done?
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Love this, of course. I’d add one more point to the “understand” list, something to be careful of as we stretch our vocal chords, so to speak, or “sing” as the case may be.
Anyway, the point is this: The flip side of Groupthink is the echo chamber, and it’s just as dangerous to “freethinkers” as it is to people who are still happy trundling along the beaten path. The danger lies in our desire for community, and the tendency, as we start thinking outside the box, to start looking for others that are thinking outside the box like we are. If we aren’t careful, we end up being surrounded by those ideas that we find most appealing, and that leads to groupthink, just on a different but probably still somewhat beaten path.
I guess I’m saying that it’s really important to seek contrast, constantly, so that we don’t stagnate. It might make us continually uncomfortable a bit, but that’s part of what stepping off of the beaten path is all about.
Hi Michael,
Excellent point about finding contrast. One can step off one beaten path and land on another. I agree with your point to surround ourselves with different peoples and opinions. It’s easy to sing to the choir.
I often feel that Twitter as become an echo chamber. So many posts about the same thing.
Thanks! G.
You raise many insightful points here.
The thing that really popped for me is how people need to know that not only is it OK to be uniquely them … but that’s EXACTLY how they will thrive.
Businesses don’t win by competing on sameness. They compete on differences, and differentiation is the name of the game. The best businesses find ways to create value where there is no competition, by using their unique talents.
People can absolutely do the same. We win by spending more time in our strengths, less time in our weaknesses, and finding the beautiful blend of passion, purpose, and potential.
We can learn a lot about life, if we borrow from proven practices for business. The lessons are all around us (the good, the bad, and the downright ugly 😉
You rock, JD.
Thanks J.D. Another great quote of yours.
“We win by spending more time in our strengths, less time in our weaknesses, and finding the beautiful blend of passion, purpose, and potential.”
So true!
I had a hard time believing in my own business until I stepped up into my own difference – the inspirational and branding rebel – then I felt PROUD of it.
It feels almost criminal to try and force people to go against their own grain.
Appreciate it! G.
I resonate with much of your list, although I don’t consider myself a rebel in (many of) the rules of society. Think airport scanners and school. But when it comes to perceptions and what people “think” about who we should be and become, I say kick down the walls.
This week, I wrote a post about bringing more quality into my life and not succumbing to the giant black hole “rules” of social media which seem to state we have to let a bunch of noise into our lives. I think there’s a way to maintain quality connections and nurture friendships, while expanding our audience at the same time. I’m all about balance. But the fact that I said it out loud made at least a couple people mad. And for a second I let their reactions alter how I felt about myself.
And then I got it together, and remembered I know who I am. We have to be brave and consciously surround ourselves with people who add light to our lives, not shadows.
Thanks for JD and G for being light in my life.
Hi Angie,
Your comment reads like an inspirational blog post! I love this, “We have to be brave and consciously surround ourselves with people who add light to our lives, not shadows.” It really is about bravery in the face of conformist insanity.
I’m going to read your post on the black hole rules of social media. When you make people mad it means you’ve said something worth saying.
Social media can be such a farce. I often think of starting a site where we have 100 influencers and that’s it. Get to know those 100. I’ve got 825 “followers” on Twitter – not that much by today’s high numbers games – yet, even that amount feels like it dilutes getting to know anyone really well.
thanks! G.
I think that’s why some people are enjoying Google+ right now. It’s still in it’s baby stages and most people really know others in their “circles.”
But you’re right, we place a lot of emphasis on social media (quantity over quality) and if we’re not careful, we’ll be nothing more than a bunch of guinea pigs in a giant social experiment.
I am reminded of the schooling system in my country when you spoke about the concept of groupthink and listed the ways we can live dull and uninteresting lives. Our system in Singapore and I guess many other systems around the world are not meant to teach us how to find happiness but rather information to fit into a predetermined society. Like you, my enlightenment only came when I reach 37. It was certainly a good waste of 20 plus years. How much more could we have achieved if we have this time to build something and seek true happiness.
My addition to your list to make our soul sing would be:
1) Be crazy and do what makes you feel happy.
2) Hitch yourself to something bigger than you think. You will probably surprise yourself and exceed that.
3) Drag others with you. Chances are you will find the same like minded people that will want to go where you are going. Its the law of attraction isn’t it.
Cheers
Hi Jimmy!
I love your three additions, especially be crazy and do what makes you happy. As you say, it’s to fit into a predetermined (read dull) world that makes us all disposable.
Your point about the Singapore schools hits home because in the U.S. we hear endlessly about the fall of our math and science rankings and how that will impact our ability to *I guess* be #1. (#1 in what? I keep wondering.)
They never even discuss happiness. And few challenge it. People just get all bent out of shape that the scores are too low. It’s the score, like that even matters.
thx, g.
quite an inspiring list of advice
thank you for this post Giulietta:)
Thanks Farouk! G.