The Human Voice Project

Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.   Samuel Johnson 

Yesterday, I attended the launch of a brand new project by the Calgary Centre for Global Community (CGCC).  The Human Voice Project

Last October (2010), Alexis, my eldest daughter nominated me to be one of the story-tellers in the project. I was selected and a few months later the amazing Julie Hdrilcka, Project Coordinator of the Human Voice Project, dropped by for an evening to engage Alexis and me in appreciative inquiry. Julie recorded the 2 hours of conversation and... my voice was added to the project mix. 

Distilling 2+ hours of conversation from each of 13 story-tellers is a herculean task, and yet, Julie has done so. And in her doing, has created memorable and inspiring stories from ordinary people living, what the projects describes as, extraordinary lives. For the next two weeks, the stories can only be heard at Endeavor Arts Gallery and Event Space in Calgary. After December 2 when the exhibit ends, the stories can be heard online at CGCC.

I am honoured to be one of the 13. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to have lived through dark times so that through living my life with a grateful and loving heart, I can be for my daughters a light of hope, of truth, of inspiration.

My heart is grateful.

Eight+ years ago, when I awoke from the horror of a relationship that was killing me, I was broken. In my brokenness, I found my heart. 

A broken heart is an open heart and an open heart is a loving heart.

Life is filled with turmoil. It is filled with bliss. It is filled with sorrow and joy, hardship and good times, challenges and grace.

Life is a series of exquisite moments linked together like pearls on a string, each one reflecting the beauty of the next. One pearl has a soft glow. Strung together, each pearl casts a beautiful radiance filled with grace upon the next.

I am blessed.

I have experienced good times. I have experienced hard times. Hard times are like a grain of sand. In a bitter heart hard times calcify and become deformed. In a loving heart, they become transformed into pearls of wonder.

Hard times are not meant to be left to grate upon our hearts, they are meant to be consumed in love. 

With my heart full of gratitude and love, my life radiates like a string of pearls. Each moment casting a glow of love and joy and laughter and beauty onto the next.

I am grateful for the hard times that have transformed my heart into a place of love.

Yesterday, I was honoured to be part of the launch of The Human Voices Project. C.C., my daughter Liseanne (Alexis is in Vancouver) and her boyfriend Ryan stood with me and celebrated this amazing project and the people who created it. They have added grace and light to our city.  

I am grateful to include my voice with the stories of others. Together, we become a living necklace of people celebrating life in the wonder of our human condition, sharing our stories so that others can share theirs too.

Namaste.

This is the video that explains the Human Voice Project