Valentine Shmalentine: Be Love

He was a martyr. One of many that we don't celebrate on this day. That's all I know about St. Valentine. But, not all I know about love.

It doesn't really bother me that this has become some sort of crazy superficial holiday that celebrates the idea that we should hold one person as special enough to be worthy of our love. It doesn't bother me but, that's not what I believe. I believe love should be shared universaly in as many expressions as possible. We should live for love. We should be love....in all our actions, words, thoughts, etc.

Am I love? Yes. Am I perfect in my expression? No. But it's my intention. An intention I have to remind myself of when that annoying person comes my way, my children do something that bothers me or that politician or pundit says something I don't agree with. 

So, if this is going to be a day that celebrates love, let it be a day of intention to love as perfectly as I can. Let me be love in situations that call for love. And, all situations call for love. Let me be patient with people in traffic. Let me be kind in my thoughts to that person who has been driving me crazy. Let me look beyond what annoys me, what disturbs me...let me leave some space for whatever love brings my way. 

 

 

I was going to post a new video but the song wasn't appropriate for this day. I'll do that on Monday now that my computer is fixed. <3

 

 -LM

 

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. - Rumi

 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

 

We cannot give what we do not have: We cannot bring peace to the world if we ourselves are not peaceful. We cannot bring love to the world if we ourselves are not loving. Our true gift to ourselves and others lies not in what we have but in who we are. - Marianne Williamson

 

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A song a week (the low down)

I made a public resolution on a Thursday night @GoGirlsMusic Twitter chat during the holidays. The intention is to write a song each and every week this year. 

I know full well that by publicly making the resolution I run the risk of disappointing someone. I might disappoint myself. I might disappoint others. I might disappoint both myself and others because, let's face it, not all of them are going to be "hits". But, here I go resolving myself to follow in the footsteps of songwriters I love and not let life distract me from the only "job" I've ever been passionate about.  

It's the second week of the year and I have just completed song number two. Yay! Ok, so, song number two was really finishing a song I started last year and had forgotten about. Still, it counts! I mean, I'll continue tweeking it and the other as time goes on. But, yeah, done! Now, all I have to do is decide how I'm going to share my progress...

I'm open to ideas. I was thinking of blogging a video of my favorite of the month and then having an online review of all the monthly songs via Stageit.com or Google+ Hangout. Hmmmm...

I'll decide by the end of the month for sure.

Happy new year!!! 

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Walk don't run (musing)

 

 

Walk don't run

You're always trying

It must be tiring

 

Slow down some

and let the world go by 

while you and I 

Walk don't run, don't run, don't run

 

Funny that you go where you don't want to go 

Funny you believe what you don't want to know

Funny what you do when no one's watching you

 

Walk don't run

You're always trying

It must be tiring

 

Slow down some

and let the world go by 

while you and I 

Walk don't run, don't run, don't run

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Posted via email from Laura Marie Blogs

It goes like this...

Up at 4am...can't sleep for about an hour. 

Fall back asleep. Wake again at 7. 

Get the equipment together. Make sure I have my t-shirts and merch organized. Print out merch sheets for  friends who have graciously volunteered to tend to the merch table. Grab dog food for Daphne so Pete can drop her off at the kennel so she doesn't eat the back porch while we're gone all day. Get the kids up, fed, dressed and packed with a change of clothes because they are going to Mom's and they'll need to change to attend a play. Forget to eat. Take a shower, get dressed, remember to eat, or rather, drink my breakfast - protein shake. Check and double check the car for guitars, guitar strings, pics, batteries, chords, etc. Pick up after the kids who have left their dishes all over the place. Post stuff on the internet for a few people I help promote. 

Chris arrives. Get in the car, drive to the bank and get change for the merch table. Drive to mom's to drop off the kids, get to St. Mary's, park the car and unload the gear. Get to the stage and answer phone calls. Forgot to leave a car seat. Forgot to tell Tim there was back line. Remembered I was glad that I remembered to tell Justin and Jake there was a back line. Jake arrives. There's back line? Crap. I thought I remembered. Confused. Call Pete. He takes care of the car seat situation. Forgot to eat again and there is nothing gluten free around here. Jake saves the day with a larabar. 

Get on stage. Breathe. Play music <3 <3 <3

(iPhone capture by Jennifer Coffey)

Get off stage. Be happy though sweaty, sticky and starving. Pack up and load the car. Drive to the first restaurant with gluten free options I can think of. Eat (a lot) with Margaret and Chris. Laugh and laugh. Pick up the kids, pick up the dog, come home. 

Breathe. Shower. Breathe again. 

Who says you can't have it all?

This day made possible by the following: Pete, Berto Torres, my Mom, Chris Taylor, Jake Owen, Tim Phillips, Onel Jimenez, Margaret Vasquez, Teri Irvin and Michelle Fuentes. Also, Matt the sound guy and his crew, the stage manager and stage hands and my alma mater St. Mary's University. Oh, and thank you, Larabar, for existing. 

 

P.S. All this to say I am incredibly grateful for the friends and family who make it possible for me to do things I love to do. You are appreciated. 

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Time to breathe...

I've been very touched by some of the messages I've received regarding my health issues mentioned in the last blog post. So much has happened in such a short amount of time that I really must apologize for not getting to this post sooner. The first thing I want to say is that things are much, much better. The acoustic neuroma that showed up on my MRI disappeared on the second MRI. WHAT ?!??! Sounds crazy, right? I can't even begin to explain how amazing this news was. I didn't even realize how depressed I'd been until that weight was lifted off my shoulders. 

I'm not sure how this happened and, right now, I don't care. I'm just so incredibly grateful that that nightmare is over. My doc says my hearing loss could have been due to a virus that ran it's course and the acoustic neuroma could have been a mistake on the MRI. I also use alternative methods of healing and, since I've had some amazing experiences before, I'm not ruling out the effect this might have had on a small tumor. Or, even a big one for that matter. I'm a believer in what energy medicine can do. I know, not everyone gets it and a good portion of the medical community discounts it but, whatever. A good portion of the medical community also supported the prescription drugs that did me more harm than good so, whatever....we have to go with what works for our bodies. I also had the benefit of another kind of energy medicine: prayer and meditation. At this time I want to thank all of you who sent well wishes, said prayers and appealed to that great force of love on my behalf. To me, it all comes back to that. Love is what changes everything and, no doubt in my mind, love changed this. 

So, thank you so very, very much. <3

 

 

 

Posted via email from Laura Marie Blogs

Mind over Matter (LM blog)

I think some people might wonder why I'm a bit of a health nut, why physical exercise and diet seems to be such a big deal to me, why I'm always looking for the new solution to a healthier me...it's times like these. 

Times like these when my body just quits. It's had enough. It doesn't want to move. Every joint and muscle hurts and walking, running, doing things seems like too much of an effort. If it were just that, I wouldn't be too concerned. I would just rest and wait it out. After all, I had a long week. Folk Alliance veterans will tell you it takes time to recover. But, I've been through this before and I know when my system decides to shut down, there's no reasoning with it. It gets to work on my mind  and starts telling me that it's not worth the trouble. If I persist, it insists, "What the hell are doing? You're not going anywhere." 

And right about then is when I get angry. 

Ask anyone who knows me. I have issues with the word "no". Tell me I can't do something and you've pushed the wrong button. So, it's the worst betrayal in the world to hear myself say, "I give up". But, I do. I give up fighting it. I give up crying over it. I give up. I'm telling my body right here and now, I trust you. I trust you to find your balance, heal and recover because I need you for something more important than a number on a scale or a certain dress size. 

This past year, after years and years of searching for reasons why, I found some answers. An autoimmune disorder. My body fighting itself. Exactly. What I've always done in spirit depicted in physical form....viola! There it is.  And I welcomed the diagnosis because this was something I could do something about. Eat the right things (bye-bye gluten), exercise, rest and take my meds. Yay! This I can do! Then, boom, another diagnosis. This time about something I can do absolutely nothing about. An acoustic neuroma. Just have to live with it. Accept "no" and that I can't do anything because there's nothing to do. Not now, anyway. And, be grateful that I'm really in the best case scenario as such things are concerned. Still, I wish it were gone.

Either way, it's still a matter of how I feel. And, right now, I'm a little unsettled. Over the last few months, I've witnessed people I admire in the music industry express their distaste for it, their animosity, their hopelessness in continuing the "fight" to make it. It unsettles me because I see these people as successful. They are doing what they want for a living and actually making a living doing it. I mean, they aren't financially dependent on anything but their music and, if that's a problem, I think I wouldn't mind having it. Which makes me think that there are probably plenty of people out there who wish they had my problems instead of their own. I get to make music. It doesn't feed me. It doesn't support my family. It just makes me happy and I hope it makes someone else happy too because it's times like this, when I'm tired and in physical pain, that I could see it as a fight too. And, fighting is something I can't do anymore. Besides, I have to believe that in some ways, because I get to do this, I've already made it. I've made it as far as the past me wanted to be and I'll take it as far as the future me really wants to go.

 

Cartoon pic of me gives the appearance of alertness. Yay!

 

 

 

 

Posted via email from Laura Marie Blogs

What the heck happened?

Sometimes things happen and sometimes things happen all at once. The beginning of 2011 has been eventful and I haven't really been sharing a lot of it because most of it is intensely personal and I needed a chance to get my head and heart in the right place before talking/writing about it. In truth, I've been waiting for things to subside but it seems like some things plan on being around a while so, I'm going to have to just get on with gettin' on. In answer to some of your questions:

 

I traveled to the midwest to spend time with family for the holidays. My husband is from Nebraska and that is where we spent Christmas and did not return until New Year's Eve. I usually get back to performing mid-January so, lack of shows does not mean I'm not performing. In fact, I have a show this week :)

 

Laura Marie @ Candlelight Coffeehouse

8pm, 3011 N. St. Mary's Street - SA, Tx.

More shows will be in announced in February including a trip to Memphis for the Folk Alliance conference with the GoGirls and shows with my friend and fellow songwriter, Vanessa Lively, along the way. 

Tah-dah!!! The only change in my regular performance schedule is that I'll only be performing at Candlelight once a month as opposed to twice and it will be on the second Wed. of the month. This means I'll be booking more weekend shows and likely spending more time performing outside of San Antonio. This also accommodates a new teaching schedule as I've accepted a position teaching voice and guitar for performance at Bulverde Academy of Music. Wow. That's a big one for me but I love that my students are interested in doing the same thing I do. It's actually thrilling to mentor someone in this way. 

Also, you may have noticed that I've announced a songwriting clinic with Chris Taylor at the Musicology LLC. I'm very excited about this and we may be doing more of them so be on the lookout. I love working with Chris and I love working with my friend Julian Escobedo who is both owner and bass instructor. We've known each other since kinder and he's accomplished a lot since then. Check out his bio. :)

Teaching is not something I planned on doing again but these were both opportunities that not only worked with my performance schedule, they offered me an experience to grow in areas that I've been wanting to develop. Yay, me! 

*************

On a personal note. Pete and I lost members on each side of our family over the last month. We each lost an uncle and our concerns have been for our family members.This has been another reason I've been kind of out of touch and I think it's self explanatory. I wrote a song for one of the memorial services and will be posting it to my mailing list this week. If you are not signed up, you can do so by hitting the link below and will also receive a free download of Love You Like Me.

Some friends and followers already know that I was ill for a while and that the symptoms have been attributed to an "autoimmune disorder". My diet has changed quite drastically. Again. I have now been gluten free for about 3 months and have seen a huge decrease in symptoms which is great. I am no longer vegetarian but, being a vegetarian DID NOT make me ill.  I was on a path to discover how I could help my body through diet. It turns out that meat wasn't a huge factor and, now that I know protein deficiency did not play a role, I'm giving my body time to adjust and heal before making any further changes. 

Lastly, this is a call for your love and support. For the last month I've had a significant loss of hearing in my right ear accompanied by a loud ringing. This is not due to loud music and it's also been confirmed that it is not due to fluid in my ear. It's a nerve thing. The cause is unknown at this point and, really, the only thing I care about is that it gets resolved and that my hearing returns. 

The doc says, "30% completely recover, 30% partially recover and 30% don't recover at all. " Thems the odds. So, I ask for your good energy, prayers, vibes, meditations. Whatever ya got! Send them my way. The next month or so, according to at least one doc, will be telling and I'm shooting for "full recovery". :)

 

click here

Much love, Laura Marie

P.S.

Stay tuned for commentaries on violence, body image and such and so forth...

 

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Posted via email from Laura Marie Blogs