I first met her in the midst of the pandemic.
A professional musician, she’d been singing her whole life. At the time, she was emerging from her own motherhood cocoon. Returning to the parts of herself that had gone untended during her early years of motherhood and trying to find her voice and her identity in her upturned and evolving world. Creative and deeply intuitive, she knew that she needed something—someone—to help her find her way back to her voice.
A few months ago, I sat across from her. As I listened, I heard in her words the same underlying theme coming through that I heard when we first met:
I just want to love my voice.
In her mind, she knew how she wanted to sound. She could hear her future voice, feel in her body the grip it would have on listeners as they soaked in every sultry, soulful, smoky crooning note.
What would it take for her to love her voice?
What would it take for her to see what is already there, to embrace her own unique voice in all its beauty?
How do we love what we’re constantly trying to change?
Intuition told me there must be something there—a moment, a song, a memory—that her voice had given her. A gift.
"I wonder what your voice has given you over the years,” I pondered.
She looked at me questioningly, waited.
“What would it be like to say 'Thank you' to your voice? What would it be like to just list all of the beauty, everything she's given you?"
She sat with these questions for a bit. She carried them with her after our lesson, and the next time I saw her, she thanked me.
Answering these questions had given her a chance to love on her voice. To actively love her voice in a new way. It had given her the space to see what was there, not just what she wished was there or thought should be there.
In sitting with these questions, she had tapped into a deeper appreciation for her voice. She was seeing her voice in a new light.
She thought about the songs she sings with her kiddos and how they will sing along now too.
She thought about the opportunities her voice has given her, to make music with other people, to travel, to live her deeper purpose.
And there was a lightness, a lifting in her tone. A certain sense of fullness, of acceptance, of gratitude.
I was so moved by the clarity and love she had stumbled upon that I decided to write my very own love letter to my voice. What a gift! Truly. I’ve never done something like this, and I’m amazed at the warm fuzzy feelings this practice gave me toward my voice. To come to my voice with a heart full of gratitude, rather than a list of everything that needs to be fixed or refined was a breath of fresh air.
Now, many might ((understandably)) think that writing a love letter to your voice is conceited and full of ego. On the contrary. This process was an act of letting the ego rest. It was an act of saying, “This simply is what is." No pride or sense of self-worth attached. Only a knowing that the words are true and full of love.
So powerful was this practice for me ((and my dear friend)) that I would be remiss if I didn’t invite you to try it for yourself.
So here. Give yourself the gift of 10 minutes to just love on your voice.
Light a candle.
Grab your notebook.
Brew a cup of your favorite tea.
Take a deep breath ((and let it go)).
Say ‘thank you’ and let the rest flow…
Whatever you write, you can't go wrong.
The love is there. Let it shine through.✨
Love you, friend.
xoxo
Audrey
A Love Letter to My Voice
Audrey Voon
My voice is sacred.
She soothes and heals.
She makes songs out of
syllables and patterns of
pitches and rhythm,
interwoven with my deepest
knowings, the words I cannot find.
She is something special.
She reassures and asserts.
She knows when to bellow
and when to ease back;
when to rise above
and when to harmonize.
She glides and soars,
howls and coos.
When I’m with her I feel full.
My whole being resonates
with her joy and her deepest sorrow;
the choked back tears
and the morsels of love waiting on the
tip of my tongue.
Oh, beauty!
Oh, voice!
Thank you for every song I sing to my child
as she drifts off to sleep.
Thank you for being the love I feel
within me and the love I seek to
send out, out, out,
out into the world!
Without you, I would be empty.
For how else could I say a thousand
words with a single sigh?
Or, “I love you,” merely by the utterance of my lover’s name?
Oh, voice,
Oh, sacred voice,
Let me return to you again and again.
Let me remember what you have given me.
You are a gift.
You are my gift.