Ever had your wings clipped?

I just had an experience that I had to journal about. I was lying in bed, feeling the need to listen to some beautiful, soothing music to lull me to sleep. So I went onto SoundCloud and clicked on one of my songs. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. So I listened to another one. And another. And another. All in all, I think I listened to about eight or nine songs. It was a lovely concert, and the whole time I was listening, I was smiling the smile of victory and satisfaction. 

Demons with hateful eyes and scary faces kept popping into my mind's eye. I ignored them, kept smiling and kept listening. 

They were envious of me because long ago they had tried very hard to discourage me from composing and recording music. I didn't listen to them. I conquered them. I made up songs and instrumentals as they came to me, doing whatever I had to do to remember the melodies and the lyrics that I had heard in my mind. I saved up my allowances until I had enough money to buy an awesome keyboard and all the rest of the equipment I needed to make recordings. I even bought a sixteen-track CD recorder. It was super hard to figure out how to use it, but I persevered and figured it out. I won.

And now, my friends and family can listen to thirty-seven of my songs whenever they want to. And so can I.

So if you have a talent that you can share with the world, something that you love to do that could possibly be beneficial to others in some way, use it. Do what you love, and do it with love, so that you feel satisfied and so that others who benefit from your work feel satisfied as well. You will leave your legacy for the benefit of the world, and that will give you joy. The more you experience that joy, the more you will heal from the trauma of having had your wings clipped, of having been denied your right to share yourself and your talents with the world.

My dad used to say "Don't let the bastards get you down." If you've ever had your wings clipped and done what you had to do to grow them back , you know how it feels to conquer those demons who make it their business to cut people's wings. Those demons not only clipped my wings, but they also took away my voice. They made my hands shake so that I can't even play the piano anymore. In fact, I can hardly type. But while I still had about 80% of my voice left and before my hands succumbed to Essential Tremor, I fought to record four albums and upload them onto SoundCloud.

Now, I can assure you, it was totally worth it to fight the fight, defeat those demons, and grow my wings again.