About Rowena

Hello, my name is Ro, and I believe that it is possible for you to turn your ordinary life into an extraordinary life - to find true happiness, while remaining, selfless, mindful and compassionate towards other living beings. Here at my blog, I interview and post articles by musicians, writers, world travelers, humanitarians and other amazing individuals who are doing just that. I also share with you various anecdotes about my own totally awesome existence as a musician, composer, journalist, environmentalist, and compassionati. My hope is to connect with you, enlighten you, inspire you and lead you down the path to true happiness. Compassion is always in fashion and it starts with you loving that most important of people, yourself.


June 1, 2011

Bring Your Own Sunshine, Sunshine - by: Terry Christopher

Like a plant that starts up in showers and sunshine and does not know which has best helped it to grow, it is difficult to say whether the hard things or the pleasant things did me the most good.

 Lucy Larcom


I saw a friend of mine post on Facebook that he had it up to here with what was consistently the gray, rainy, sky of  NYC/NJ and yet another heavy day ahead without any sunshine. Now, I coming from Las Vegas, NV am a sunlight must-having type of person so I get where my friend was coming from. One time living in Guam while working as a singer/dancer, we had a tropical depression that made all of us want to climb into full bathtub of water with every electrical appliance close enough to the outlet because it was 6 weeks of never ending, non-stop endless grey, rainy weather…no sunshine, baby!

So the day I saw this post on Facebook, I wrote to my friend and said bring your own sunshine, Sunshine! I meant it as no need to let weather affect your mood, though the lack of sunlight truly does have that effect on many people. I was really thinking along the lines of a state of mind more than anything else. However, the more I thought about what “bring your own sunshine, Sunshine” really represented, I was aware that I could take a bit of my own medicine as I very often do.

This journey of life, man, can it be the most incredibly uplifting, exciting, thrill-ride that one can imagine. Then there are the times that it feels like nails on the chalk board for miles and miles along the path. I know at times I have gotten so wrapped up in the minute and smallness of a situation or condition I was currently experiencing, that it seemed while in that place that is all I saw. I didn’t see all the other stuff that was right about my life and how many good things were around me. I instead seemed to only focus or rather allow my focus to see and be fixed with one error of judgment, one flaw, one aspect of my day to day and was missing the bigger picture entirely.

I bring my own sunshine as much as I possibly can. I try to stay at a height of awareness and make a focused effort not to just drill down into an issue losing sight of the horizon even as serious as it may be to me or to my world, without being cognitive of trying to take the visual balance with me in the view finder of my life. I remind myself to not lose sight of the path just because of one bend or one unexpected curve. Don’t give up the light of your sunshine for the darkness that might be found in one situation, one experience or even a string of them. In my situations, I lean sometimes on a few good, tried and true friends. They are my support and they are my sunshine when I feel I can’t bring my own.

We each have the ability to create out of this life the life experience we ourselves masterfully seek by design. If there is something, someone, or some place that is not reflective of the positive and uplifting sunshine for you and your life’s journey, then release that, let it go and move in the direction where you feel your own sunshine is welcomed, received and appreciated. Bring your own sunshine, Sunshine and when you do, you’ll be around a lot more people who enjoy the sun as well!

Dream.  Reach.  Live.  Do.

Terry Christopher

 
Ro's Notes:

Terry Christopher
Terry, a regular guest blogger for Rousing Rowena, is a New York based, award winning singer-songwriter, and I am a fan of his as well as a friend.   I love his contributions to this blog as they are always from the heart, very positive and extremely inspiring!    For more information about Terry and his music please click on Terry Christopher.
 


Now go out and live your extraordinary life, knowing that I want you to be happy and that I love you!   Keep your eyes on the horizon . . . it is always a beautiful day when - as Terry so eloquently puts it - you bring your own sunshine!

Ro

1 comment:

Eric Pinckney said...

This post breaks it down in so many ways! I'm the one who you gave that sage advice to, my good friend. Just wanted to make sure you know how inspirational and uplifting your soul and words are to me, as well as countless others! I'm going to do my best to bring my own sunshine - I have a bucket load of friends (thank goodness) and I haven't wanted to burden them with my troubles. When my mother passed away a few months ago, I let people help me and be there for me. But I still have some issues over it, and that has caused a lot of unhappy days. But it's getting better. Thanks again Terry for your inspirational words! Love you for it! Eric