Hold your horses and I’ll come to both of those in a mo.

First, a short story to set the scene:

When I took my six month sabbatical from the merry world of banking back in the loopy lockdown days of 2021, I went on a full-blown personal development reading spree.

One book which became a firm favourite was “The Father of Motivation” Wayne Dyer’s 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace.

There was a short passage in the book which quite literally launched me from lying flat on my sofa to sitting bolt upright, my heart pounding and my chest vibrating. 

It was one of the most powerful passages I’d ever read. 

Like Wayno himself was gazing into my soul, talking directly to me. 

To this day, I see that passage as one of the two wake up calls which prompted me to get my act together and finally DO something about the fact that I wasn’t happy with the way my life was going. 

The passage was that electrifying.

Wait…what’s that? 

You want to read the passage? 

Well okay then. Don’t say I don’t look after you!

Buckle up. 

Here we go:

***

There's an intuitive, invisible presence that's always with you. I picture this presence as a nagging little creature who sits on your right shoulder and reminds you when you've lost your sense of purpose. 

This little fellow is you death, urging you to get on with what you showed up here for because you only have so many days to get it done, and then your body will be departing from this visit. 

Your invisible companion will prod you when you're spending another day doing what somebody else has dictated if it's not a part of your passion in life. 

You'll most likely know you're off purpose because of your thoughts of frustration. You might not always act on this knowledge, though, because your left brain has not mustered up the courage to do the bidding that your right brain knows is your destiny. Your intuitive inner voice keeps urging you to play the music that you hear so that you won't die with it inside you. But your left brains says "Wait a minute. Be careful, don't take risks, you might fail, you might disappoint all of those who have a different view of what you should be doing". 

Then your right-brain invisible companion (your death) speaks even louder. The volume gets turned up and up, trying to get you to follow your dream.

Listening exclusively to your left brain will turn you ultimately into a pretender, or even worse, a commuter - getting up every morning going with the crowd, doing that job that brings in the money and pays the bills; and getting up the next morning and doing it all over again, as a well-known song implies. 

Meanwhile, the music inside of you fades almost to the point of being inaudible. 

But your constant invisible companion always hears the music and continues tapping you on your shoulder.

The attempts to get your attention may take the form of an ulcer, or a fire to burn up your resistance, or being fired from a stifling job, or being brought to your knees with an accident. Usually, these accidents, illnesses and forms of bad luck finally get your attention. But not always. Some people end up like Tolstoy's character Ivan Ilyich, who anguished on his deathbed "What if my whole life has been wrong?". 

A fearsome scene, I must say.

You don't have to choose that fate. Listen to your invisible companion, express the music that you hear and ignore what everyone else around you thinks you should be doing. 

As Thoreau put it "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

Be willing to accept that others may even see you as having betrayed them, but you haven't betrayed your music, your purpose. Listen to your music and do what you know you have to do to feel whole, to feel complete and to feel as if you're fulfilling your destiny. 

You'll never be at peace if you don't get that music out and let it play. Let the world know why you're here, and do it with passion.

*** 

This was the passage that put a rocket up my backside.

I think, more than anything, I could feel in my gut the VERY voice that Wayne described when he said “Your intuitive inner voice keeps urging you to play your music” even though I was burying this voice over and over again.

The loving jolt of the deathbed scene shook me out of my comfy little bubble too.

Anyway, what I’ve come to see is that yes – there are activities we can all do that bring a smile to our face.

You might even think of these activities as a passion, a mission, a purpose or a calling.

But I think Wayne's describing something deeper.

I think Wayne’s pointing to the music inside us which IS us. It’s a music which represents our energy, peace and happiness all rolled into one. It’s a place we can always return to and such a bubbling, overflowing source of aliveness that it spills over into every corner of our lives.

Getting to know this place and living life from this place is the point of my new coaching program.

It’s also why, as a tribute to the beret-wearing big man himself, I’m calling my new program The Music Inside You.

This program is going to be so much fun and I genuinely can’t wait to get stuck in.

But I’ve said enough for today.

More to come soon.

In the meantime, if something in this email has stirred in you or if you have any questions about The Music Inside You, hit reply and let me know.

I’d love to hear.

Here’s to playing your music.

To fulfilment,

Tom