Find Your Voice

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The moment a person finds their voice... is the moment their life takes on grace.
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That quote is from Steve Errey, the Confidence Guy, in a post called Find Your Voice or Die a Slow Death.  It's a short post but it speaks volumes - here's a condensation of the post, a comment response by Steve and of course my own two cents' worth (hey, it's my blog):

Grace is simplicity, effortlessness and congruity.

Think about it.  What are you speaking with before you find your voice?  What are you saying?  And who are you being before you find grace?

Everything before you ‘find your voice‘ means that you’ll be struggling with things in and around your life, for the simple reason that you’re missing something fundamental.

Your life might be full of clutter and noise.  You might feel like you’re searching for something.  You might drift through much of your career, with no real plan or agenda.  You might feel, in those quiet moments, that something’s missing.

You’ll be dying a slow, safe death.

And all because you haven’t found your voice; that voice that gives you elegance, ease and a sense of wholeness.  That voice that gives you the confidence to do things your way, follow what matters and relax into yourself.

Find your voice, find grace, find confidence.

Asked what 'finding your voice' means, Steve replies:

Your voice is simply finding what matters to you, the things that have meaning and relevance to YOU, and then honoring those things in your life. Look at a moment in your life when you felt really alive, when you were buzzing, firing on all cylinders and feeling on top of the world. Then dig into that moment and ask yourself what was so important to you in that moment. What was it that made it stand out? What is it about that moment that resonated with you? That will give you clues about your personal values, and that will help you find your voice.

Finding and using your voice isn’t about finding answers, it’s singing simply because you have a song.

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That last sentence refers to a quote from Maya Angelou:
A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer: it sings because it has a song.
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As someone who has only recently found my own voice (and who is still learning to sing), I can say without reservation that everything Steve says above is absolutely true.  Once you even begin to realize what is important to you - what gives your life meaning and purpose - then you find your voice.  This is exactly why I blog, and the more I blog, the more I clarify my purpose and the more I recognize my song.

You don't need to wait for some huge epiphany or for some future time when you feel ready - right now start a journal, or a diary, or a blog, and write as if no one is going to read it.  Just speak your truth and don't worry about what anyone else thinks.  Keeping your gift locked inside yourself is, as Steve says, like dying a slow death.  Finding your voice makes you come alive, gives you confidence, and shows you like almost nothing else who you are and why you're here.

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the gift keeps on moving
never know where it's going to land
you must stand back and let it
keep on changing hands
- Bruce Cockburn
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