Patience

In this episode:

Alanis Morissette ‘Smiling’, Inner Resilience, Letting Go, Mercy Bell ‘Always’.

As the Covid 19 pandemic seems to have reached its peak in Australia, I think we are at the most challenging time. We’re all dying to get out and businesses are dying to restart to stop the personal, social, emotional and economic bleeding. The stress in the home, the financial stresses, the inequalities and the livelihood of our children, who may not understand why they have to be cooped up at home all day long with parents – parents who’d probably give an arm and a leg to have a good night’s sleep.

But we are being asked for just a bit more patience. To resist the tantalising temptation.

The brutally honest Alanis Morissette has just released a couple of new songs. We begin the program with one of them, ‘Smiling’. Taken together, her three new songs are a stunning personal revelation.

I have chosen ‘Smiling’ because it’s what I do, even though, like the illusory smooth gliding of the duck on the lake surface, underneath, the feet are going flat out.

To develop our own personal resilience, I suggest we have to get down below the smile to what our ‘duck’s feet’ are doing. That’s really the point of The World Service. Inspiration – YES! But resilience to maintain it, as well.

I have asked a good friend of mine to share three steps she takes to grow her inner resilience.  Then I have included a ‘Let Go’, chant to continue this mood of inner contemplation. I hope you find this helpful.

Finally, I have dug up a song by some dear friends of mine, who had a band called Eat the Menu in the 1990’s. But with a new recording contract, they changed their name to The Mercy Bell in 1996. This song, ‘Always’ was their first new single under the new label.

I’m sure they would all be horrified if they knew I had dug this up from a recording of one of those Saturday morning TV shows – that one hosted by the crazy Dylan – if you go back that far! But even though we don’t get the benefit of the beautiful lush strings on the CD and the official video, I think those who remember Mercy Bell’s stunning live performances will appreciate this live version. I think the message comes through. “It’s all going to be OK”. 

But first, as is our custom in Australia, I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I live. I pay my respect to elders of the Kaurna people, past, present and emerging. 
May we walk together in harmony.