Three “T’s”

“In all things give thanks.”

“Your spark can become a flame and change everything.”  
E.D. Nixon

It was like a light beam was coming from our table, and the energy surrounding the four of us sitting there was palpable. I was at Unity Village in Kansas City, Missouri, at the annual Posi conference (a yearly conference for songwriters and fans of positive message music) and having dinner with four of my friends. The spark that started the flame was my friend Gary mentioning that this upcoming weekend was his birthday. He said he wanted to do something special but didn’t have any ideas. That sparked my friend Rev. Paulette Pipe to light up like a Christmas Tree and tell us about her birthday adventures of this last year. She said for her birthday she wanted to celebrate for a full year and make each month special. The ritual she told us about was that every month she committed to her “Three T’s” – she had to either TREAT herself to something special, take a TRIP somewhere, or do a THRILLING adventure. 

As she told us of all her various adventures and experiences, she was so lit up from inside that everyone at our table was mesmerized. One of the main points that inspired me was how so many of her experiences were a giant leap of faith: booking the plane ticket for her TRIP before she knew if she could afford it, leaping out and committing to doing a THRILLING adventure although it scared her, or giving herself a TREAT that she might have waited for someone else to give her.  You could see the wheels turning for all of us at the table of what we would do if took up this idea of the “Three T’s.”

In December it will be my 65th birthday, and I am feeling the seed that Paulette planted in me take hold and start to grow. What thrills and adventures would I take if I gave myself this this year-long birthday gift? When I started to fantasize and make a list, I saw how hard it actually was for me to think outside the box and really dream big. My rational mind (or my inner critic) kept jumping in with facts and figures that seemed to squish any big dream bubble that would come up. But that’s my process right now – to move through the discomfort and come up with a list of things for this next year and just do it!And in this month of November where we take the time and space to acknowledge what we are grateful for – I thank you dear reader for reading my monthly newsletters, listening to my music, and supporting my dream of making a difference in the world with my music. For that I am so blessed and so grateful!!

I leave you with a final thought to contemplate: what might your “Three T’s” be in this next year??