Putting My Bears Out on the Table

Teddy bears seem to personify whimsy.  They are benevolent creatures who just exude vulnerability and fuzzy love. They stare out at the world through those glossy, black button eyes,  revealing nothing and everything all at once……… I’m pretty sure they have souls............

I kind of have a thing for teddy bears. I’ve been known to go through periods of teddy bear acquisition, in which I add unnecessary ones to my stable the way others acquire guitars or power tools.  Some of my bears  live freely, uncaged, in my house,  and they’re pretty quiet. They don’t really run amok or anything. But  I’m sad to say that not all of them are this lucky. I have some other teddy bears who have been packed away in a plastic bin marked “TEDDY BEARS” for years. Oh, the guilt I carry around with me.  I can only imagine the conversations that are going on inside that bin.

Perhaps this borders on teddy bear abuse, but what am I supposed to do – put them all out on display? I don’t have room in my life for all those bears – all at one time. I don’t want to deal with them all, so I keep some of them in that plastic bin. What does it mean when we pack our teddy bears away in a box -- when we put away our whimsy, our vulnerability, our fuzzy love?  If I don’t put all my bears out there, am I holding back something important?

 I don’t know but I think I’ve hit upon a new favorite idiom:

“Lay all your teddy bears on the table.”

“She decided it was best to come clean and lay all of her teddy bears out on the table.”

“All right, let’s lay all our teddy bears on the table and discuss this matter.” 

“He brought no teddy bears to the table.”

“But Mary treasured up all of these teddy bears in her bin, and pondered them in her heart…..”

Oops! Sorry, I got carried away for a second there.

Be brave.

Bring it.

Bring all your teddy bears to the table.

What’s the worst that can happen?

Some bears I know...........



Bear-on-stairs

 

Navy Bear

KU Bear - someone has taken his pants

Bear-in-car

Overloved bear

Say It Out Loud

Do you want some advice?  

All you have to do is ask. Or maybe don’t even ask. You’ll probably get it anyway.  There’s more advice out there than you can shake a stick at, these days.

The question, really, is whether to ask or not. Does sharing your dreams with someone run you the risk of short-circuiting the end result in some cosmic way? It can sometimes feel that way.

For the most part, I’m a firm believer in putting requests out there to the Universe. Saying things out loud seems to help make them happen. On the flip side, it feels risky to share dreams and aspirations with people and ask for help or advice.

Several years ago,  when I was just really starting to play my songs in public, people started asking if I had a CD for sale.  Well, of course I wanted to have one, but I didn’t know anything at all about it! I had no idea where to start. However, the idea was planted in my brain. A good friend told me, "Stop saying you want to make a CD and start saying you're doing it. You're going  to make a CD." So  I began to say it out loud as if it were going to happen.

It sounds like such a simple thing, but it was scary.  What if I didn't make it happen?  Even so, I took that one small step in the direction  of my goal.

Some time passed, and I was a fortunate enough to be a guest on a local radio program. A friend of mine heard the show, and mentioned it to me. Following my recent resolution, I bravely told him that I was planning to record a CD of my songs.  But, I explained, I had no idea where to start. He told me that he knew Ian Byrne – the endlessly charming Irish front man of the KC-based Irish rock band, the Elders -- quite well. He said, “A couple of the Elders have recording studios in their homes - I’ll talk to Ian and have him call you.”



The Elders



And sure enough, Ian did call me. What a sweetheart he was, with his lovely Irish accent, throwing around the words “Luv” and “Darlin” and “Lass” and what-have-you, as I was fairly swooning on the other end (I realize this has nothing to do with the overall point of this blog-story, but I felt it was worth mentioning). He talked to me a bit about my music, and then recommended that I work with Steve Phillips, who had recorded singer/songwriter types like me. He gave me Steve’s number, and told me to call him.

And I did call Steve, and set up a meeting. We talked about what I wanted to accomplish  and I could tell he was the right person to record my songs. He said, “Okay when you’re ready to get started let me know.” 

But I didn’t let him know. I’m not a fast mover when it comes to such things. I let months go by and I didn't move forward. Life, however, grew impatient with me. Once you set your toe and punt that great Kickball of Fate, you put things in motion. Out of the blue one day, Steve gave me a call and basically said, “are you ready to get started?” And so, I knew it was time. That's how my first CD, "Hit the Ground Running" - recorded at Steve Phillips' Big Time Music Productions  - became a reality.

Now, of course, I can look back on it and see how an entire chain of events unfolded that I could never have planned or predicted, all because I decided to talk about it. 

I only needed to say it out loud.

To find "Hit The Ground Running and other Laura Lisbeth music, go to www.lauralisbeth.com

Little Leaps

"The moment I jumped off of it was

the moment I touched down"

- from Thank You by Glen Ballard and Alanis Morissette

Listen. I want to tell you something. I want to talk about leaping. I have been thinking about it a lot this month because, of course, it's Leap Year and this is the month with one extra day. I want to talk about it because I’m not as brave as I’d like to be. But let’s just talk about it. We don't have to do anything drastic. Let’s get some coffee and discuss:     

The concept of leaping - making the leap, taking the chance - is something that sounds soo noble. So worthy. Soo…….I wanna do it.


After Steve Jobs passed away, I started reading all these great, inspiring quotes of things he had said - about just this sort of thing.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Steve Jobs

The longer I live, the more I feel a sense of urgency about making those leaps and taking risks.
I aspire to Leap. I want to be a Risk Taker.
But in truth, I am a Dreamer of Leaps.
In these dreams I am brave.  I have vision. I have clarity.


Making a leap sounds like making a big change. A risky, big change. You don’t really know how it’s going to turn out so you have to just go for it. On the other hand, you don’t want to be stupid about it and go off the deep end. Or so the voice in my head keeps telling me. Take for example,  that woman who calls herself the Naked Cowgirl and plays her guitar in Times Square. Now, what happened there? Did she just wake up one day and say, ‘I am CHUCKing it all to become the Naked Cowgirl! I have found my life’s calling!”  

photo by james messerschmidt, ny times

Naked Cowboy vs. Naked Cowgirl in Times Square - NYPOST.com

It would be nice to get some clear signs – like a telephone call or “Leap Notice” but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that. I think the key lies in listening to that inner voice, and really trusting what your heart wants. “Stand in your truth” a friend used to say to me. I guess if that means your truth is becoming a naked cowgirl, then who am I to argue?


In case you – like me - find it hard to make a daring leap, I have devised a compromise.  I take little leaps. Even with little leaps, after a time, I can look back over my shoulder and see that I have put distance between where I was and where I am. And maybe someday, I’ll make the Big One………….
More coffee, please.