I spent the last two nights with an Indigenous education program. Something happened that made me stop and take a deep breath.
As I was about to tune my guitar with an app on my phone, I dropped my phone on the soft sand, and it broke, I thought "How strange it would break like that...?" As I performed my stories of struggle and change my capo snapped in half....I thought "Huh, I've never once had that happen in all the years of playing..." When I left the gathering the second night I noticed someone ran into my car and left, I thought "S**t, what's going on here?" I couldn't tune my guitar or play my songs in the keys I had felt were most comfortable and now I have to pay for someone else's mistake...
As a performer I have learned to disconnect from discomfort and be present in the moment, so that's what I did. As I performed in front of these children my songs of my journey, the wind blew my hair in my face, my voice was dry and cracking and out of breath from nerves, I had to decide on what my purpose was for that moment. I remember speaking of courage, I asked if they knew what the definition was? I regained focus on the fact that the reason I'm here today and not strung out on drugs, in jail or dead like many of my people, is because of the ones that came to me when I was broken and helped lift me up( Johnny Bear Contreras ). Now it's my turn. I promised to give back from all of which I had taken, to return the favor and so that's what I'm doing here. It's not about me and my things, it's about teaching these kids to care for this earth and for each other. #ItsAboutUs
"My heart is a flower. That blooms every hour. I believe in the power...of love." -Amos Lee
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