Courage; to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.

The original definition of courage according to Brene Brown



Music moves people unimaginably. It is a versatile friend. It can tear open old wounds, lift you to fantastic highs, chill you to your centre, grate viciously in your ear canals and evoke any emotion known to humankind. People with severe disabilities, otherwise lost to communication almost entirely, light up and dance when music penetrates their ears. The deaf can tune into the ebb and flow of music’s vibrations and disappear into their own world. The sad and the downcast fall headlong into its warm embrace, the down trodden rise under its banner and the offbeat sing loudly in the streets knowing well the other-worldlyness of a sweet tune.

I feel like I have recently rediscovered the inherent joy of music. On the weekend I went to the Fremantle Blues and Roots festival, an expensive day long affair that featured a diverse range of music that could loosely be linked to blues or roots. It’s the kind of day were you run around with a crazy mix of people, feel the earth beneath your bare feet and hear the music reverberate into your soul. Listening to Gurrumul Yunupingu  and Michael Franti unlocked in me the kind of elation I haven’t felt since I was a 17 year old whose entire being seemed to be summed up by a few lines of lyrics. Gurrumul, a Yolungu man (from Cape York in far north Australia) has a voice that carries listeners away into the clouds. A sightless man full of vision, black like night and shining brighter than day, his music leads me to words in my head that I never knew were there.

At home I’ve been rediscovering old CDs in the small windows of time that my girlfriend is not around to complain about the type of music I like best. (We agree to disagree) I stand in our house, surrounded by all that is joyous in my life and feel my heart growing strong, growing sure of itself. The wrong type of music just wears me down but the music that resonates with me takes me back to a place where I knew who I was, and felt that deep, liberating connection with the universe. And thus inspiration, if only momentarily, re-enters my life. The time of courage dawns within me again.

Which leads me to something else that is inspiring me at the moment, wonderful people. The TED website, bursting with ‘ideas worth spreading’ has re-acquainted me with something I usually tend to stumble on without – hope. Below are links to just some of the wonderful speeches I’ve watched recently which I just want to share with everyone. Take the time, you won't regret it.

Probably my favourite - "If I should have a daughter..."

Showing the world its true face - JR's street art

On being legally blind and yet limitless

On building houses out of reclaimed waste