Playlist | On Writing Love|Balms as "The Work My Soul Must Have"

Ditto as with sis Carrie on the sharing. I don’t know how Ms. Alison makes it sound like she captured every tear you’ve ever cried, and gave it back in a beautiful, sultry song that invites you back to life. And yet…#AmenAxe.

___________________

Disney’s Moana | I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)

“The singer could press on despite who wasn’t listening, pausing to chat between songs, and returning always to singing and playing, singing and playing so genuinely and beautifully—not because she had a captive and enamored audience, but because she embraced and lived that her life and soul couldn’t. not. do it.”

___________________

Derek Sivers | First Follower

“Most people begin with NO ONE following them. People eventually begin following because the person is so persistent in their passion that similarly interested folks eventually recognize and are like—“Hey, that matters, and we’d like to join in, too!”

[You can watch Derek Sivers’ original video here. I shared the version, not his, which has much greater clarity and vantage point. You can also find his transcript here.]

___________________

James Cleveland | I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired

On Ms. Fannie Lou being a leader before she was a leader:

“Her refusal to withdraw her intention to vote, as well as actively advocating for black women’s bodies and the right for black folks to for real get to vote—even after being kicked off her land for doing so—led to SNCC seeking her out to become one of their organizers.”

___________________

Fannie Lou Hamer | Fannie Lou Hamer’s Powerful Testimony ~ Freedom Summer

Leader who wasn’t originally a leader #2.

For those unfamiliar with Ms. Hamer, this short clip explains her power and pivotal role as a leader of the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party.

___________________

Fannie Lou Hamer | Audio of Full Testimony

Ms. Hamer’s full testimony on behalf of the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party.

___________________

Martin Luther King, Jr. | I’ve Been to the Mountaintop

Leader who wasn’t originally a leader #3.

This is considered one of the most poignant excerpts from Dr. King’s final sermon, given the day before he was murdered. It’s received as particularly moving because he speaks, as he had several times, of his concern that he may be murdered—and yet that will not deter him from what he believes he must live.

You can watch the full sermon here: Martin Luther King, Jr. | Last Sunday Sermon of Martin Luther King, Jr. – ‘Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution’.

___________________

India.Arie | Just Do You

“I feel lifted. I feel called to remember, every moment, every breath, every day: The very purpose of my being here, is to be Me. If I’m not living that, I’m not affording my Self the opportunity or gift of genuine life, or relationship with one another.”

___________________

Clubland feat. Quartz | Let’s Get Busy

“So let do this right. Let’s do this well. Let’s do this real.

Let’s begin.”

___________________

Backstreet Boys | Incomplete

Close your eyes, and while listening to the lyrics:

Breathe. Release…release….release…the idea that this is to another person

And instead, imagine your Self standing before you

And breathe.

And receive…receive…receive…(as we should with many love songs) that this is about receiving and living the whole of our own life and being, the work that our souls must have,

because this:

“There is something that we each and all desire to live, which we feel incomplete without, no matter what else we may have. We must find it. We must live it.”

___________________

India.Arie | What If

“The greatest accomplishment we can live is our Selves. If we’re not showing up as and sharing our Selves, we’re not truly present. As Dr. Kirk Byron Jones says in his book Soul Talk, “Attendance is not presence.”