A Recipe for Smashing It

We Smashed It!
I just had the most extraordinary September - getting over the finish line for the jointAnthem For Peace & Festival of Peace Crowdfunder, co-directing 500 people at Sing for Water and the debut performance of a collaborative project with Croydon Composers atCroydon Mela - WOW! I feel so honoured to have been part of these immensely enriching projects which have stretched and grown me exponentially!
Huge thanks to all our crowdfunder supporters and pledgers, the amazing fundraising singers at Sing for Water and the Croydon Composers Team - we totally smashed it -people power in action! 
So here's a fun recipe for smashing it this October.... just a few flavoursome ingredients to add to your pot... :)

 

1.  Daring Dreaming

Dare to Dream, for in the daring there is defiance to live beyond your circumstances
- Su Williams

Yes you can have that big one. That big juicy, delicious dream that you only occasionally admit to yourself.  The really mad one that will wake you up in a cold sweat when it starts coming true.  That's the dream that will catalyse your greatness into embodiment.  Following that dream will have you cooking up a storm, burning the midnight oil, chasing rainbows, having kittens, butterflies and collywobbles - the works!  And it will be absolutely worth it because it will totally smash through your limiting beliefs and enable you to feast on the flavours of self-fulfilment.


Dream Team - Croydon Composers at Croydon Mela - Photo Vipul Sangoi

2. Dream Team

“Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.” - Edmund Lee

I am so full of gratitude for all the people in my life who call me out and grow me up.  We all need smashing dreamcatchers who remind us to catch hold of our greatest dreams.  This is not about having too many cooks in the brew, it's about precisely combining skills, talents and actions to make nourishing collaborative connections.  Sometimes these will take the form of angel-helpers who sweeten the way with a tender guiding hand, other times teachers will appear to chop through excuses and give us an almighty kick up the proverbial.  Welcome the friends who don't buy the 'I'm too small' stories and inspire you to play all out.

3. Practice Makes Presence

“Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect" - Brene Brown

My early education featured phrases like 'practice makes perfect' which exerts unnecessary and unattainable pressure.  If perfection is the goal, we may need to go and live on another planet.  More honestly, practice means accepting that every time you sing a song, perform a play or bake a cake - even when using the same recipe - it will be different.   Practice means giving yourself the time to repeatedly embody and experience something until smashing it becomes a gloriously human, imperfect, spontaneous and joyful reality.   In the face of mega-nerves, I've found that practice is grounding, reassuring and informative - it helps me measure what I flavours I need more or less of, what is working and what needs work.  It is where I develop presence via the precious process of allowing dreams to land safely with me before taking them out into the big wide world.  It is a place full of constructive, present-moment, supportive action. And most importantly it is a place I can be utterly imperfect, make mistakes, recover, try again and sing bum notes to my hearts content.   

4. Upgrade to Action

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. - William James

If you are smashing pumpkins this October a large baseball bat is a great utensil.  Often we are sold and told we need the upgraded baseball bat with flashing lights and an instant pumpkin corer gadget.  Sometimes we use this as a get-out clause to say - 'I'm not ready, I need this amazing upgrade before I can do this dream.'  The most important upgrade we can make is from states of fearful inaction to fruitful creativity.  Many of the worlds greatest artists turned up with whatever they had and got on with it.  The Beatles are just one example of mega artists who made it without ever learning how to read music.  Richard Branson, whose motto is 'Screw it, just do it' dropped out of school at 16 with dyslexia and started his first mini-business running a student magazine which evolved into a record label that signed the Sex Pistols.  One of the principles of this month'sCreative Sprint is 'Perfection is Overrated' - people around the world are creating spontaneously from their immediate inner and outer resources in response to a daily prompt.  So if you want to smash pumpkins, that old baseball bat at the back of the shed will do just fine.

Smashing events this October - You are warmly invited to come along to all the wonderful events this month - there's a feast of choirs to sing with plus delicious events including the Launch of Compassionate Neighbours with St Christopher's Hospice & London Mozart Players on 21st October and an innovative performance cooked up with Croydon Composers at Scream Lounge on 27th October. 

Wishing you a smashing October

At Sing for Water London - Photo with thanks to Fluid4Sight

Back to Singing There's a waft of autumn crunch riding the breeze and the feeling of the city cranking up again after holiday times... it's definitely back to school and back to singing with sharpened pencil tops and a satchel full of harmonies...  Here's some thoughts about making learning a tip-top adventure...   1. Permission We need to give ourselves permission to act out our dreams and visions, not look for more sensations, more phenomena, but live our strongest dreams - even if it takes a lifetime - Vijali Hamilton Every time we want to learn we have to actually allow it to happen - to give ourselves permission to grow, learn, change and take risks as part of that process.  We need to be willing to get out of our own way to enable learning to happen.  We need to be willing to make plenty of mistakes and backward steps as we move towards new ideas, schemes and projects.. and we need to give ourselves time to grow. 2. Clear Intent A true intention or belief does not need to be spoken. It is revealed through one's action. Having a clear intent is like putting an address on the envelope - it gets things places.   Intention requires tuning in to deeper motivations - our WHY -  so we can direct ourselves with clarity and elbow grease to the journey ahead.  Taking time to set clear intentions can save enormous amounts of time and energy, as it acts like a internal sat nav enabling us to be clear about what we are doing, where and with whom. 3. Space  The story goes that a Zen Master, when a rich man demanded that he teach him the way of Zen, filled a tea cup to overflowing and said    “You are like this tea cup, so full that nothing more can be added. Come back to me when the cup is empty. Come back to me with an empty mind.”   All learning requires emptying - the making of space in the our mind, heart and habits for new adventures.  To learn to sing requires a setting aside of daily distractions so we can to listen fully - both inwardly and outwardly.  Often where we are most full up is in our mental stories - the things we have been told and told ourselves about our own capacities. Learning to sing allows us to let go of the voice of that old music teacher who sent us to the back of the room when we were only 4 and couldn't get our heads round Mozart. As adults we can learn to tune ourselves up with the sweet harmonies around and within us that help us remember that everything is made of sound - from the beat of our heart to the music of the spheres and that singing is as natural as birds tweeting in trees... 4. Inner and Outer Resources Human resources are like the earth’s natural resources. They are highly diverse and often buried deep beneath the surface. They need to be discovered, refined and applied - Ken Robinson New adventures require equipment - whether its a folder for your song lyrics or a backpack for the round-the-world tour, getting the kit is all part of the process.  We also have to pack our inner knapsack with helpful qualities - patience, kindness, enthusiasm - and don't forget a bit of razzle-dazzle to keep spirits high :) Join a Global Singing Adventure Travel's promise is that tomorrow is not going to be like today - Samantha Brown I'm very excited to be setting off on autumn singing adventures with a new set of songs which will enable me sing with wonderful friends new and old at choirs, celebrate World Peace Day with One Day One Choir friends across the globe and make a splash for WaterAid at Sing for Water London.  All welcome to join me at choirs, events and singing sessions.  Whatever way you find to share your voice this September, I hope it fills your cup with fresh inspiration and allows you an outpouring of creative expression. Wishing you a spacious voyage of discovery this singing September Singing One Day One Choir with Tom Morley, Gill Manly & Jane Hanson at Black Tie White Lie Photo Jason Purple Photography