Song | Linda Chubbuck

July 4, 2015 Empowerment, Harmony, Intention, Song Post a Comment

Why You Should Ask Your Angels for Help Getting Your Groove Back

I know divine help is available. I’ve had my share of miracles and interventions. And I never forget to ask in crisis situations. “Help, God!” is an intuitive reaction in me – I’d say it in a milli-second if I was sliding on ice into a semi, or if I was being mugged, or worse.

But you know, I have a lot of trouble with to-do lists, computer problems, housecleaning, problem solving, etc. This stuff wrecks my peace on a regular basis. I probably had a past life as a monk meditating on a mountain top. I didn’t HAVE to-do lists and email and phones ringing and text messages coming in.

So the last few weeks I’ve been practicing bringing these two worlds together – divine intervention with ordinary life challenges.

I forget a lot. But today I remembered. Here’s the story.

Last week I connected with a client who wants me to photograph his place of business. On one condition – that his duplicate Google+Local pages be corrected and the old one deleted.

Well, that’s easier said than done. I know how it is supposed to work, but…

So, we’ll call him Greg. Greg told me when he called Google Support for the last year, he was repeatedly disconnected – “hundreds of times!” he says.

Strangely, when I called on his behalf, so was I. Four times in a row. Next I was unable to complete the form, asking for support to call me – the blank-to-fill-in wouldn’t fill.

I put out a call for help from other Google photographers, and got a lot of great suggestions. The best one was “Go to the business, walk him through it, let HIM talk with support and you support him.”

I put it off for a week. Me? Solve a tech problem? For someone else? You’re kidding… I was afraid we’d get disconnected again, or they would deny his request.

But today, I set up a meeting with him, and prayed all throughout the 30 minute drive asking for divine help. I saw it going well, felt the satisfaction, and thanked God.

So together we filled out the form asking Google Tech Support to call us. Immediately his phone rang. I held my breath – would he be disconnected? I was praying.

The call held – from India, or somewhere exotic. Greg explained. The guy listened and they had a real conversation. I stood nearby while he talked, for nearly 30 minutes. Gradually, Greg became more and more verbally grateful, even chummy with the tech guy. The call held through all this. I was quietly elated! Problem solved.

Now he is ready to do the photoshoot, happy with me, with the situation and immensely grateful. We shake hands, and I walk out into the sunshine with that same gratitude.

My leather soles hit the tile walkway and send a vibration through my body. I am happy to be alive, to be me. I am thrilled that this client is happy, the problem is solved, and I have another job to do.

All things work together for good! I’m in a groove. And it was my angels who helped me get it back.

I’ll be asking for help with my accounting now. Oh, and housecleaning… and kitchen cleanup… and…

Maybe this is what Presence is all about?

April 7, 2015 Empowerment, Healing, Intention, Song 1 Comment

What Tatiana & Maxim Can Teach

You know how sometimes the Universe – or God or FP (as Pam Grout calls the Field of Potentiality) – points things out to us in a way that’s somewhere between funny and mind-blowing? I had one of those yesterday.

After hearing a transcendent and inspiring talk for Easter Sunday, inexplicably I fell into a pothole of anxiety around money … a favorite pothole of mine, which sometimes seems to have been around my whole life.

Anyway, I got a new angle on it… as a young wife, many years ago, I was in a situation where my partner let me down financially. I came out determined never to let that happen again. I became super-vigilant, with a bootstrap attitude: “If I want this done right, I’ll have to do it myself!”

Despite healing on many different levels in relationship, that one I must have missed.

My husband and I often work on healing issues together – a mixed blessing – ha! As we were driving home, I brought this issue up and he offered to help me process it. I agreed.

When we got home, he led me through a process around money that brought up tears and a longstanding sense of “I can’t trust my partner! I can’t trust God.. I can’t trust myself!”

You can imagine how far that has got me… lots of issues of mistrust arise in my life, lots of months and years of “doing it myself” and not being happy with the way that plays out (I can’t trust myself either, remember?).

So the work I did focused on trust. I want to be a woman who trusts her partner. Who trusts God/Unseen Divine Love. Who trusts herself – both to do the right thing and to let go and let others do their part.

I can – sort of – feel what this feels like. After the process and the tears, I felt a kind of openness to something new.

Within an hour, I was checking Facebook and came across a video. Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov figure-skating. I watched spell-bound at the beauty of their synchronized and unbelievable dance. Suddenly, he lifted and threw her in the air. High above his head, she spun 3 times, came back down and he caught her… all on ice skates. The dance continued.

Chills came over me. “I could never do that. I’d have to trust that he wouldn’t drop me! She could be injured, paralyzed for life even if he dropped her! I could never do that!” As those thoughts spun through my mind the word Trust surfaced. She trusts him implicitly. She does her part. He does his.

Their entire dance is built on skill and trust. She must relax into his arms and allow herself to be thrown – and caught. Repeatedly.

Trust.

I’ve watched it three times now. They won Olympic Gold for this dance in 2014. Every time he throws her up I think “trust.” I see it in my mind. This is what Trust looks like.

I don’t know if the Universe could have given me anything that would better illustrate Trust than this. Along with the power, beauty, intention, and success in which Trust plays a part.

I’m lacing up my skates. Are you ready to skate with me?

Watch Tatiana and Maxim’s figure-skating program here.

February 17, 2015 Empowerment, Healing, Song 20 Comments

I Can See Again

Just before Christmas, after losing some sleep and other things I termed “stressful,” my vision – for the maybe 10th time in my life – went double. I was upset and afraid, because suddenly I could not drive… every person I was talking to became double… movies were impossible unless I covered one eye completely… and more.

Christmas night I cried with fear and frustration. Why was this happening to me again? What did I do wrong and what could I do about it?

As I caught my breath from crying, I heard the Voice that I hear… “you are terrorizing yourself with your thoughts about food, blood sugar, your body. You tell yourself that food is more powerful than your thoughts – but it is just the opposite.”

It was stunning and I could recognize the Truth in it. But I didn’t really know what to do about it.

So I began wearing my eyeglasses (instead of my contact lenses) so I could use the plastic (stick-on) prism that allows the images to come back together. I could drive again. But my view of the world was slightly blurred from the prisms, and I dislike wearing the glasses for many reasons.

January went by. At times I cried about my vision.. would it ever heal? What should I do? I visited my MD, who strongly encouraged an MRI – a brain scan. She also tested me for MS. I passed, so she did not push me to a specialist there. Each prospect triggered a touch of fear in me, though I remained convinced there was nothing seriously wrong with me.

I passed the MRI with no abnormalities. No dark diagnosis hung on the horizon.

Still, my vision remained double, and I wore my glasses from morning till night. I theorized that my blood sugar was so sensitive, my metabolism so touchy, that eating sugar or processed foods, or losing sleep… or getting too upset – all of those could put my system so out of balance that my eye muscles “snapped,” or “went out.” This process happens to diabetic patients sometimes with their vision, and that’s the best explanation I had ever had. To keep this all from happening, I have diligently managed my eating and stress.

Here, I could write a book. But I won’t.

Fast forward to February…. six weeks after it began.

I wrote this in my prayers the morning of February 4.

— You have terrorized yourself with your thoughts about your body and food, declaring that food is MORE powerful than your thoughts. It is exactly the opposite… but as with all things, your thoughts have “made it so.” Your body obediently overreacts to many foods now. And you hold the fear of that all the time.

Are you ready for an undoing?

YES! Please undo this for me. I have no wish to diminish my Trust by making small thoughts. Help me. Once again I give this fear to You.

My fear is this… that sugar and processed foods are like a toxin to my body and it goes into kind of a chemical shock-state when I eat very much sugar. I am afraid of that state and afraid of overdoing it. I am afraid of the power – the negative power – sugar has in my life. I am afraid of sugar’s poisoning effect.

******

That day I began to affirm – off and on throughout the day – “I have a strong and stable metabolism. I can handle anything.” And “my eyes are unified and stable – I see clearly.” After the fearful thoughts were outed, it became easier to state the affirmations and actually believe them.

During this time, I came to a line in A Course in Miracles: “Be sure of what you want, and doubt becomes impossible.”

I want clear Vision in all senses of the word. I want a Guided Life.

For two weeks or more, as best I can, I have just been peaceful with my eyes and my body. I have taken no extraordinary measures. I have eaten well, but not perfectly (some sugar, some processed food). I have refused to talk to myself in any way that is disempowering. I have done my best to resist going into fear or worry, or demands for timing/healing now. I have avoided “why?!” and “how soon?!”

Ten days went by. I refused to go into fear, however small or subtle. Last Saturday I even had 2 small pieces of cherry pie and ice cream – sugary! – at a birthday party. I could feel the fear of the consequences starting in my body/mind, but reiterated to myself.. I have a strong metabolism. I can handle all kinds of things! My body is strong and stable and my eyes work together perfectly.

Sunday I went to a gathering with a psychic. Everyone else asked questions and I could feel the impulse to ask “How do I heal my eyes? Why aren’t they healed yet? What should I do?” But it seemed somehow disrespectful. To myself. To the healing process already happening. By now, I could feel that healing was happening. I knew it. So I asked nothing.

Today, I woke up and my eyes are so together I was able to put on my contacts. I am celebrating! There’s only one house across the street… only one Stan… only one of the paintings on the wall.

I am elated. But also, I’m in awe.

I did not heal myself. I did not ask God to heal me and He did. I asked to release all the things that blocked Truth. And, that happened.

I can see again. Joy!!

December 2, 2013 Song, Sound, Welcome Post a Comment

Welcome to Radical Harmony

I love harmony. I love songs with harmony. I love singing them, listening to them, writing them. I love sharing them, teaching them. You can read about “why” in Meet Linda or the Harmony Manifesto (under Linda’s Wisdom).

But here, I’m just going to describe why I know music is more than just entertainment as I welcome you to Radical Harmony.

Everywhere we are exposed to music through headphones, elevator music, piped into the stores, car or office radios, iTunes playlists, internet radio… and of course, live music, concerts, and more. We are immersed in music – but often we are paying very little attention to it.

A few hundred years ago, cultures around the globe were immersed in music as they worked, as they came together around a fire, in ceremonies and folk dancing. Music was a natural part of life, and the people themselves were the music makers. The field songs of the American slaves were a heritage of the African tribal singing practices. Appalachian folk music developed from Irish and European traditions of making music together in family and community. These ancestors of ours were creators of music, not consumers.

Today, the balance has shifted. Many more cultures are predominantly consumers of music rather than creators. Our musical lives today often reflect an unconscious and passive use of music, instead of a conscious full participation in singing and song making. (Hmmm…. sounds a little like fast food in place of growing and preparing our own?)

So, I’m not proposing that we go back. In fact, recording technology combined with the internet has made a wealth of rich song material available to multitudes of us, and allowed small indie artists to create and share their work.

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What I am proposing however, is that each of us move out of the role of music-consumer-only, and into the practice of finding your own voice – your own singing voice, or musical instrument voice or both. Reclaim your inherent gift of song. Your own voice has the ability, when claimed and practiced, to center and empower you, to balance and delight you, to connect you to your higher self and to others.

Your own voice is a key to unlock your power and your joy. Radical harmony starts with harmonizing within, with your Self. Radical harmony teaches us to appreciate dissonance, in song and in life, and to stay strong and find the resolution. From there, we move into harmonizing with others, for that electrifying experience of connection and vibration. You don’t have to go for performance. Our ancestors made music for the joy of it, not because they wanted to win on American Idol. (Or….maybe you will!) Radical harmony helps you move from consumer to creator; from listener to songmaker; from a mumble to your very own own roar.

I can help you. This web site and my work are designed to support you in unlocking your voice and your joy. Explore the site and then contact me to work together.

Let’s come together in song!

December 2, 2013 Coaching, Healing, Song 1 Comment

Good Vibrations #1

I don’t know about you, but since my early 20’s, I’ve been intentionally healing and changing. What was familiar as a child becomes clearly unworkable, even painful. I come up against some new awareness, and have to find the way to heal from it, to grow out of it.

Whether that’s patterns of eating, ways of being in relationship, thoughts about myself, or my understanding of God, by now, actually, I’m pretty much a whole new person. And I’m pretty sure I will still need to change and grow more!

So, I have this healing thing kinda down…. I know a few processes that work for me. Sure, there’s always therapy. But I’ve been prosperity-challenged often in my life (that’s one of the issues I mentioned above), and have discovered other creative, powerful processes that don’t require professional help (or at least, not much).

One of these is the Inner Counselor process, developed by Ann Nunley, PhD, which uses our own inner guidance and symbols in a powerful healing process that may take an hour or less on a specific issue.

Another self-help process is journaling – journaling the questions, the desire for healing, for breakthrough, for understanding and solutions…. and listening for the answers – setting the intention for healing and growing. The Universe has a way of responding to a plea for help.

Then there’s also various support groups, which, if well-done, can be immensely healing.

But here’s the rub. Even after you go through this healing crisis and end up with new understanding and maybe a sense of freedom… you have to support yourself in this new place. This new and very unfamiliar place.

Sorta like having successful triple bypass surgery (thank God!), then coming home knowing you have to change your whole way of eating, exercising, maybe even thinking. OMG! How do I do all this?

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I call this the need to support ourselves at the new vibration. We are all, on this planet, at this time in the history of humankind, offered an opportunity to grow, to evolve – to become more loving, more empowered, intuitive, creative and alive – more connected to ourselves, to others, to nature. If we say YES, this will in itself trigger this healing and changing process I am describing.

But we still have the default human tendency to say, inwardly, “Well, thank God, THAT’S over! Now I can go back to normal.”

We live in a time when “normal” is “change.” If you want to be part of the awakening, the evolutionary process at work in our world, you must get comfortable with change, even with deeply personal inner change. On a regular basis.

AAAAAGH!!

Have you noticed how fast and often your computer’s operating systems change and update? You can refuse to participate. But eventually you are unable to connect, at least, reliably. My theory is that upgrades just reflect what’s going on within us all.

Here’s the good news. These changes are leading us into ever greater freedom, compassion, connections, empowerment. Personal healing, when we don’t shy away from it or get stuck in the victim story, is a powerful doorway to transformation and greater brilliance and joy in our lives.

There are tools to support us in these inevitable changes. Ongoing support groups that you may find, or create yourself are one tool – such as a Twelve-step group, a writer’s or Artist’s Way Group, a women’s or men’s group, an inspirational book study group. A MasterMind group or a prayer partner are other options. The powerful spiritual text, A Course in Miracles, is another choice. Some people use the I Ching. Any daily spiritual practice is a support.

But throughout your day? How do you support yourself in this new place, this new vibration, all day long?

My favorite, most powerful and accessible tool is music. Songs you play in your iPod, your CD player, but mostly, songs you sing in your head, in your car, in your living room, in your shower. There is a growing world of powerful music to support healing and transformation, and these songs are empowering and healing. Songs – which, when you sing them, quite literally cause your entire body to vibrate – are a most potent tool to raise your own vibration.

The Beach Boys knew what they were talking about with Good Vibrations. Next week’s blog will be very specific about where to find powerful songs and why to use them.

November 5, 2013 Song Post a Comment

Saying No to 1000 Things

A couple of weeks ago I came across this quote from Steve Jobs.

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

I’m coming to the conclusion that we seriously underestimate the power of what we say NO to. We focus a lot of attention on trying to get better at one thing or another, meanwhile continuing on with distractions, activities we aren’t passionate about, people we don’t connect very deeply with, meetings we don’t want to be at, and more. Steve Jobs was talking about inventing, creating. But aren’t we all inventing and creating our lives all the time?

“You have to pick carefully,” he said – the creator-visionary behind Apple computers and all that followed. While he may have been divinely inspired, or had a “eureka” moment (or lots of ‘em), that isn’t what he was talking about. He was talking about the sorting process. The choosing process. Weeding the garden.

[custom_frame_left][/custom_frame_left]I believe this has relevance not only in major creative ventures (like Apple computers et al) but also in our daily lives, our weekly lives, the way our lives are coming together at this very moment.

Have you ever known someone who finally dumped a bad relationship and focused on themselves for awhile… and a few weeks later met “the one?” Saying no is powerful stuff.

In the garden, we have to do this all the time. When we don’t, aaagh! It’s no longer a garden but a creeping wilderness. A garden, by definition, is where humans and nature interact. Any gardener knows she/he is not in complete control in the garden – who knows what can happen next? And yet, without human intention, it is not a garden. It’s a wild spot. So we set the intention (a rose garden, a veggie garden, an herb garden) and then we interact with nature in varying degrees of effort, intuition, and things-beyond-our-control.

One of the biggest choices becomes what we say NO to. NO to the happy little weed seedlings mixed in with the spring lettuce. NO to the pigweed sprouting in the baby beets. NO to the clover and crab grass creeping in around the edges. NO to the bindweed and dandelions. Dandelions in the garden

If we fail to say NO, we soon have a deserted-lot-look instead of the garden we imagined. There’s nothing wrong with a deserted lot, but it’s definitely not a garden.

If Steve Jobs had not been diligent about saying NO to what didn’t fit with his vision, what would I be typing on this moment? What would the world be missing?

It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but right now, I have to say NO most vehemently to wasting time… meandering, distractions, too much Facebook or CNN.

Here’s what really brought it to my attention. For the first time in my life, I’m on a time-clock at a call center (Silent Unity). Not only do I punch in and out, but I also account for all my time during the day. “Available” for a call. “On scheduled break,” and more. It’s not as rigid as it sounds because we are totally in charge of keeping track and no one is breathing down our necks about any of it. But still, when I keep track of what I’m doing for 40 hours a week I come to acknowledge the value of each minute.

So back home… how easy is it to “waste” 30 minutes catching up reading on Facebook or following strange stories on CNN? Sure, I like to do both and I learn and feel connected. But how much is enough? I’ve watched whole evenings fly by with nothing except supper, cleanup, pack bag for tomorrow… and sitting at my computer.

Wait a minute?! What happened to my singing practice time? What about playing my accordion which I’m loving to learn? What about the amazing book I’m reading?

I think I forgot to pick carefully.

So today, I’m writing my blog first (before I start in on the all-consuming bookkeeping and bill-paying). I’ve closed my email program so I’m not distracted by incoming notices. I’m paying attention to the precious value of each moment, whatever I may choose to do.

I have writing projects I want to bring into the world. I want to improve as a singer/songwriter/performer. I want to write songs. I want to be with my family, and totally be present and enjoy them. I want to stay connected to my community and my dear friends. I want to make a difference for good in the world.

What do I need to say NO to? Do I have the vision and clarity and fortitude to do so?

While I do believe in the eternalness of the soul and in more than one lifetime (you don’t have to agree, I won’t argue with you)… it’s pretty obvious that this individual lifetime as ME-LINDA will eventually end.

But at the moment, I’m blessed with health, energy, vitality, inspiration, my loving husband and family. I choose to honor the inspiration I’m being given by saying NO.

NO to all the ideas and activities that are not true to the highest vision…to make room for the greatest, most love-filled dreams to come true.

“Innovation is saying NO to 1000 things.” Today I’m intensely aware of that. And that’s a good thing.

November 5, 2013 Coaching, Healing, Song, Sound Post a Comment

Feeling in the middle…In a good way

The Course in Miracles says that, even though we think we have ten thousand problems to solve, we have only one problem: we believe we are separate – from each other and from God.

[custom_frame_left][/custom_frame_left]When I was a child, my dad (and mom) ran the grain elevator – a country grain elevator where we took in the farmers’ wheat every June and July at harvest time. I loved being part of harvest… the excitement as the hot Kansas wind ripened the green wheat into gold and Dad’s pace of preparation (and stress level) increased. That first day would soon come and he had to be ready for the first truck of wheat. Somehow he always was.

The number of trucks would steadily increase rolling onto the country scales to be weighed, driving into the elevator and dumping the fresh warm grain into the dump, then coming back around for an empty weight and a scale ticket. The bustle of our lives (us kids) included staying out of the way, running errands, eating sandwiches, picking the cherries back up the hill at our house (they always ripened right around harvest time). And using the outhouse. Grain Elevator in Kansas

As I grew older and had friends in the community, sometimes one of the families would invite me back to the fields with them, to ride the truck, wait for the combine to bring the wheat to fill the truck, one pass at a time, and eventually ride the truck back to the elevator. Those trips to the fields were novel and I enjoyed them. But I always had the feeling I was missing something back at the elevator.

The scale office and the elevator had a Grand-Central-Station feeling – “here’s where it’s happening!” – that I loved. I felt in the middle of things, connected, alive.

Yesterday, my day off from my prayer ministry job, it flashed across my mind that “oh, I won’t be connected today!” to all the callers.

WOW! Did I really have that thought on my day off?

Yep. And the best parallel I can make is to being in the center at the elevator at harvest time.

This week we prayed with callers in the advancing path of Hurricane Sandy, call after call. Then as the storm hit, it became quiet. The next 2-3 days we prayed with people from the West Coast and around the country asking for prayers for people who had been hit by the storm.

I felt the love of humans for each other, the awakening compassion. Sure, I know CNN featured a story about a man who refused help to a woman with two sons in the midst of the storm and I can feel that pain. But I also know of the many people who were helping each other, praying for each other. On Silent Unity’s Facebook page, following a beautiful prayer for people, animals and everything in the path of the storm (Nov. 2), there are posts from across the country and around the world, saying AMEN.

I could feel the interconnection.

Honeybee on blossomsI feel that way in my garden often, and the time I feel it most often is in mid-summer when the honeybees and other tiny beneficial insects are filling my herb garden humming and zipping all around me as I sit and watch them. Amazing – there is no other word for it! Again, it’s a Grand-Central-Station feeling and I love it. Oblivious to my presence, the honeybees, the tiny brachnid wasps, and others go about their busy lives, connecting plant to plant (pollinating), plant to insect (pollen for food) and plant to human (enhancing the plants). Interconnection.

I am blessed with being a witness to the process.

Just as in the prayer room. I am a conduit, with affirmative prayers that help each caller remember the truth of their connection to God and to each other.

If we really have only one problem – that we believe we are separate – then there must be only one answer. To remember that we are connected… interconnected.

It’s been a great week for that. I am remembering – even on my day off – that I am connected to all of Life. And I love that.