Dear friend 💜,
Spring has finally sprung, even here in cold Iowa, and with it I can feel the energy — and the anxiety — of the season swirling around me. Maybe around you too.
After taking time this winter to rest and reflect, suddenly everything feels like it has come upon me all at once. I’m looking at a very full quarter ahead in April, May, and June, and I feel so fortunate that so many of the opportunities coming my way are positive and exciting. I get to perform and share my music multiple times in the coming month, teach wonderful clients in my studio, travel to Lancaster PA to perform in the Launch Music Conference, and play the role of “The Queen of the Fairies” in the big Summer Shakespeare in the Park production, which feels like such a gift.
And yet, even good things can feel overwhelming.
I had a busy but wonderful spring break trip with my family, and now there is the constant hum of life — planning educational activities, thinking ahead to summer and fall, trying to hold all the moving pieces of work and family and creativity together at once. It’s all beautiful. And it’s also… a lot.
Then as I sat down to write to you, I did what I usually don’t start the day with. I checked in with the world.
I opened BBC News. Then CNN.
And if checking the news isn’t enough to give a person a panic attack, I don’t know what is. There have always been uplifting, positive things happening in the world but those rarely make the headlines. The news seems to capitalize on the global pulse of fear.
I’ve been contemplating fear a lot lately.
I’m even beginning a hopeful collaboration with two incredible artists that is rooted, in part, in this collective fear so many of us are carrying right now — each of us in different ways, for different reasons.
And I keep asking myself: what is the antidote to fear?
I think, in many ways, it has something to do with our voices.
Fear, when left unspoken, can swallow us whole. It can keep us from asking for help when we need it. It can keep us hidden. It can isolate us. And in some cases, it can even become the thing that destroys us.
But in my own journey, it has been amazing to witness how powerful it is when I have found the courage despite the fear to use my voice — to speak up, to ask for help, to share my thoughts and feelings, to proclaim to the world that I am here and that I am worthy.
That act has been so powerful.
Not because it erased my fear. I don’t think fear is something we ever truly get rid of. I’ve had to learn how to sing through my fear and I am always slightly terrified when I share my deepest thoughts as I do now. In many ways, fear is part of being alive in a body. We have to stay alert in order to survive. There is a reason the bunny in my yard is always listening, always watching, always ready to move.
Fear itself is not the problem.
The question is what we do when fear rises to the surface.
What actions do we take? How do we articulate what is happening inside us?
Do we take that fear and reach out with our voices toward connection and listening? Toward honesty? Toward asking for help, sharing our truth, saying the hard thing, making space for each other?
Or do we let fear come out through our voices in a way that is hurtful and amplifies our division?
How do we translate fear into voice in a way that is positive, healing, and collective?
I think our voices can be one of the clearest expressions of our inner divinity. Each voice is its own sacred instrument, with its own texture, its own wisdom, and connects to the dark depths of the soul. And when I think about voice that way, I also think about how our voice is meant not only to express our individuality, but also the primary tool to bridge us to each other and to something larger than ourselves.
Maybe that is part of what collective divinity looks like.
I don’t think we are meant to have one without the other. We need our individual voices, and we need the collective voice too. We first must recognize and claim our own worth, our own dignity, and then we can remember that our worth is also bound up with one another’s.
As Americans, many of our ancestors and people today came here searching for some version of freedom — freedom to worship, freedom to live differently, freedom to decide for themselves what kind of life they wanted to create. And I think one of the greatest strengths of this country is that Americans are very good at voicing individual truth. We are filled with passionate, creative, brave people who want to use their voices to stand for what they believe.
That is a beautiful thing.
There is something magnificent in the diversity of voices here.
But now, in a world that is more connected than ever before, we are being asked to do something more. We are being asked not only to honor the individual voice, but to imagine what it might mean to become part of a collective voice — one that can actually help keep this planet alive and help humanity move forward together.
And that feels like such a profound calling to me.
What if we could begin by first seeing ourselves, and then each other, as divine light?
Not because we all agree.
Not because the differences don’t matter.
But because love has to begin somewhere.
Maybe the only way forward is to realize that our external selves no longer need to define us when we claim our inner worth. Then it will feel less like death to soften our passionate beliefs just enough to really look at one another through the lens of love — to listen, to care, to connect.
And who knows what kind of future we might create if we did?
With love and lots of courage for this day and the days to come💜🔥,
PS. I've been busy teaching, mothering, and writing this month and didn't get around to recording any new music clips but this affirmation from last summer is a truth I hope you'll embrace💜✨
Iowa Local Opportunities!
Sunday April 19th: 10am-MJ Leading Service @ Unity Church CR
Sunday April 21st: 5pm-Singing Playground Class @Studio
Sunday May 3rd: 3pm-MJ Public Concert @ Unitarian Church IC
Sunday May 3rd: 7pm-Knightingale Studio Concert @ Riverside
The last Singing Playground Class before our Spring concert will be Sunday April 21st! Sign up now to prepare for the concert!
The June calendar is set so if you would like to book sessions this summer, you can do that now. I will not be teaching the month of July but will be back in August for lessons. Watch out for an email this month to register for the spring concert!
And as always, please reach out with any questions!
💜Mj
