From the desk of Natalie Hughes:

In a flash of clarity, I recently got a small glimpse of the road ahead. And it is so much better than I could have dreamed for myself in younger days.

In my teens and twenties, there was a fog of self-serving thoughts that kept me from understanding my usefulness on the planet. I couldn’t connect up my gifts and talents to a higher purpose; I could only perceive how these abilities might serve my own self in smallish ways, like hoping people would approve of me if I was “good enough.”

I spent the first part of my thirties as a new mother, mourning the loss of my youth and thinking I was already “washed up.” What room was there for a thirty-something singer/songwriter in the music industry, where being young and sexually charged is prized over being wise and perceptive?
Feeling more than a little stuck, I retreated into my home and my babies and put music on the back burner for a spell.

Motherhood is an incredible thing, and I’m sure all of you parents out there understand. Maybe it’s a fringe benefit of raging hormones, sleep deprivation and extended time away from society, but the birth of my babies only deepened my cravings for a meaningful life. I knew they would need an example of how to live. I had to step it up if I was going to provide a place of growth for them.
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From the desk of Natalie Hughes:

Since becoming what some might call a “grown-up,” I’ve had such a difficult time accepting the transition of fall to winter. I don’t want to have cold toes, don’t want the trees to become bare and brown, and definitely don’t want to scrape ice and snow off my car. Give me a hot sun and a cute skirt and I am one happy girl. It has felt like my happiness fell off the trees with the leaves when it was time to tolerate another frigid season.

But change is indeed coming. Oh, yes it is, because that is the natural order of life. We  live on a planet which passes through four seasons, and our lives flow in much the same way… we have rest (mine borders on hibernation) in the winter and new life in the spring, then glorious summer days followed by transitions in fall. Even if we will with all our might for summer to remain, we cannot stop change from coming. In fact, the more we try to force our will to resist what is inevitable, the more painful the changes are.
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From the desk of Natalie Hughes:

Although I am now in full recovery from being passive, in my history I have struggled with getting the best from myself and the people around me. It’s easy to see why.. I’m female. I have been programmed for niceness, sweetness, goodness and gratefulness. I’ve been warned against being bitchy, aggressive, demanding and bossy. Nobody likes a woman who behaves like a man, right? There are many stories to be told of divas who stop at nothing to get what they want, barking mercilessly at those around them and crushing helpless souls in their wakes.

But what if there is another way.. an in-between? I’m discovering that there IS a way to emanate love while not compromising my vision for a project, business idea or even a relationship. I’m working on a huge project personally–an album of original music–and I’ve had to tap into a kind of ‘love-leadership’ to get all of my team working alongside me.

The problem is that very few of us have seen this kind of love-leadership in action. What we have seen are generations of mothers buttoning their lips for centuries to keep the peace, because it was simply necessary for survival. In those same households were fathers who used a more aggressive kind of power to push forward in work, in the battlefields and even with their own children. We either witnessed the ego in fear or in anger, but rarely saw the great works that love can do.

One of my favorite passages that is often read at weddings and religious services is: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” I don’t know if anyone else has ever tied this scripture into achievement, but be warned, I am about to.

Think along with me:

Love bears all things. Love in itself is the creative force. Love wants nothing more than to be of service and to make things happen!

Love believes all things. Truly that must mean that whatever your mind has conceived is possible to be done. Doubting your innate ability or compromising what your heart desires just does not jive with love.

Love hopes all things. This is faith… in yourself and in the people you are entrusting with helping to carry out your vision. Know that if you continue to communicate, update, redirect and validate that people are capable of more than they ever knew… including you!

Love endures all things. It does not give up. It does not. Ever. Love tells us to keep going and to stay strong in the path we are setting for out lives.

Love never fails. We’ve heard extremely driven people say, “Failure is not an option.” Well, love agrees with this statement. We may as well adopt this philosophy!

I know this: love has vision, clear boundaries, and gentle assertiveness. It does not speak from the need to be right or the need to rise above other people, but instead speaks clearly and without judgement.

Where can you use this gentle strength as you move through your day? In business dealings? In parenting? In your relationships with your friends and spouse? Being that love never fails, I’m suggesting using it everywhere.

Peace,
Natalie Hughes
Singer/songwriter
Musical Director, Crystal Andrus Productions
www.nataliehughes.com
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“Strength” is one of 6 songs featured on the upcoming EP, “Beauty,” written, co-produced and performed by Natalie Hughes, available on iTunes December 2011.

From the desk of Natalie Hughes:

“The amount of love people give us is never a measure of our worth, it is only a measure of what they are able to give.
Forgive them.
Expand your own love into the spaces they have not filled.”Awhile back, I posted this as my Facebook status, written after one of my “shower-aha-moments.” (Everyone finds a peaceful place where they are in the flow.. mine apparently is the shower. Many a song was conceived under running water.) Thanks to my dear friend Julie, I’m reminded of the quote and inspired to dig into this idea a little deeper.

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