Practice Anytime

Songwriting as a spiritual practice can take place anytime.  We don't have to have our instrument with us, nor do we have to be sitting down in a quiet place with pen and paper.

In fact, when you're in the middle of "something else", your songwriting practice may be precisely the centering tool you need.

Some ways to do this:

- Notice your present experience so that it sounds like a lyric.  "One more day"..."if I only understood"..."peaceful street at night"--whatever arises.  As you notice that aspects of your life could be part of new songs (and you might write them!), you may also start to see a larger "song of life" surrounding all of your life experience. 

- Notice the song going through your head.  It will very likely contain a clue as to how to handle your current situation.

- Imagine elements of your life as part of a song.  For instance, how is your family like a chord? (Which one?)  How is your relationship like a melody (what kind?)  What tempo is your life moving at (and would you like to change it?)  

If these reflections turn into new songs...great!  If they don't, that's fine too.

Either way, you'll start to see your life in songwriting language...and use your life story in creative ways that make for meaningful songs.

A love song to life

Make every song a love song.

It need not be about a romantic relationship.  But it needs to be built on loving connection.

Your song needs to be intimately connected to something (or someone) you care about--something to which you belong.

Your song must be in love with itself.  Each line needs to love the one next to it.  Each chord must love the note it underscores.

The rhythm and style of your song must be devoted to your song's subject--must support it and care for it.

Your song must love its hearer. It must be written in such a way as to honour and bless its audience.

You need to love your song, and your song needs to love you.  Write the song that will care for you when you are sick, be present to you when you are lonely, delight you every day of your life.

Write the song you can commit to, that will commit itself to you.

Write the song that you love singing, that proclaims your love for the guitar, that speaks to your love of language. Write the song that testifies to the rhythm of life.

If your song is not a love song, it will not find its way into anyone's heart.  But if it is, it will live with you forever.

Even if your song is about loss, or longing, if it is written with love and reverence, it will reveal the underlying beauty of the world. 

Make every song a love song to life.

Write the Song You Need

I remember talking to another songwriter who said, "I don't want to write songs that will only be played in my bedroom!"

I know what she meant.  She wanted to write songs that were high-quality enough, other people would benefit from them, too.   We all want to do that.

But we have to meet our own needs first.  (It's like donning your own mask first when the aircraft suddenly depressurizes.)

Taking this approach can have big benefits down the road. 

This morning, as I started a new job, I had a few minutes to spare.  What to do?  Pray?  Meditate?  Fuss with my hair?

Suddenly I knew that the best thing I could do was to play one particular song.  It was the song I needed when I wrote it...and I needed it now.  I'm sure that in the years to come, I'll need it again.    (As it happens, it's also one of my most "commercially successful" songs...which is to say it's made some money and has been appreciated by many people.)

The point is: you matter.

When you open yourself up to the song you need (as opposed to the song you want or the song you think will impress others) the Creative Power is invited in.

Your own needs get met...and sometimes your song meets the needs of others, too.

Even if it doesn't, you will be strengthened by your song, so that you can serve the world in ways you may never have imagined.