Rise & Resonate: 7 Reasons to Free Your Voice
Your Voice Carries Medicine the World Needs Now
Dear Brave Soul, thank you for being here. In times that call for courage, let's fuel the small acts of everyday bravery that can change everything. Your authentic voice matters now more than ever. Let’s see how👇🏼
#1. Your Brave Voice is Anti-Fear
I’m a toddler in a highchair, singing “lalalala!” cause I adore the squishy banana in my fist.
“No singing at the table!” Dad says with a fierce face.
I freeze, wimper, and eat my banana in silence.
I won’t sing with that much pure radiant freedom and joy for fifty years.
Does this resonate? Our voices often get silenced early. Without meaning to harm us, our caregivers teach social rules to keep the peace. Our tender brains imprint these moments, forever.
We wonder why it's so hard to speak our truth. Yet we must. Imagine a world where MLK shrank from public speaking, Beyoncé stayed small and safe, and Greta Thunberg was too shy to put her sign on the street.
Your brave voice is medicine for a world running on fear. You CAN overcome the legacy of fear to show up with your full, authentic voice.
#2. We sing because it feels good.
I’m at preschool in my plaid jumper, and we get to sing! “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it SHIIIIINE…”
“Shhh! You’re too loud, Chrissy!” says my beloved teacher.
I crumple, frown, look down. I don’t know yet what shame means, but this is it.
I’ve heard this story so often: we’re told we’re too loud, off-key, not good enough. Some are even told to “shut up.” Our voice becomes a source of shame and fear.
Yet singing is our birthright. Research suggests singing evolved our species into humans.1 Every pre-colonized culture sings together. Singing opens hearts, calms nervous systems, and establishes connection.2
It feels amazing, once you get over yourself. Still, I bet you don't sing (much). It’s too scary, in a culture that prefers us to be silent.
#3. Singing is Soul-fulfilling.
Age 5, in Grandma’s basement with my cousins, the Beatles on the radio: “She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” I sing loud and bossy. We all dance around, wild and free.
“Settle DOWN, down there!” My uncle yells down the steps.
We sit at the kiddie table and stuff our faces with chips. Lots of chips.
When did you last feel the joy of full, open-hearted expression?
When we’re told our joy is too much, that we are too much, we shut down. We lose connection to our soul, the creative force inside us. This loss becomes intolerable.
Enter self-soothing behaviors: food, smoking, drugs, booze, sex, and workaholism. Hello, addiction. Hello, culture of excessive consumption—a root cause of climate chaos and capitalist injustices. It's not our fault (we inherited trauma and bad habits). But it's our problem to face.
Sharing your heart expands your joy, so you don’t have to binge yourself happy.
#4. Voices Unify
Age 8, my sisters and I are stuck in the car waiting for our mom, so we make up a song: “Mama’s in there, cashing check. Cashing check, Mama!”
But when Mom comes back, the magic spell breaks. We get right back to sibling rivalry.
Singing creates unity and bridges differences. Every religion worldwide sings. Remember mandatory school songs? "My Country 'Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liver and Tea…" Singing helps us settle down so we can learn together.
In the sustainable Colombian village of Gaviotas,3 citizens sing before every meeting—a practice borrowed from local indigenous custom.
Singing and storytelling help us drop our monkey aggressions and come together.
#5. Open Hearts Are Powerful
Age 11: I rush home for lunch and put the Hair soundtrack on the turntable. I sing every song, while I dance around the dining room table. My heart beats fast and wonderful.
I’d never do this if anyone is within earshot.
In our culture, singing is reserved for perfect voices with perfect faces and bodies, auto-tuned to the top of the charts. We've lost its true value.
Sound carries our hearts' real emotions. That's why opening your throat to sing feels terrifying—you cannot hide your truth. But hiding from others also means hiding from your own heart, losing access to what truly matters.
Our world needs people who can express the urgency and grief of our times, as well as the loving-kindness around us. We know the value of vulnerability.
#6. Resist Oppression
As I hit 50, seven friends die of cancer. Imagine: seven favorite, vibrant humans, gone.
Death changes you. My soul knew: my heart must lead, and my voice must wake up, while I’m still alive on this planet. What matters most?
Hint: It’s not making corporate sales videos.
I left a successful career as a creative producer, to write, sing, and coach women on the midlife voyage back to the heart.
The Monkeys of Fear whispered: “nobody’s gonna like it, you’re too old, too weird.” It takes courage to move through one’s internalized oppression, to speak or sing in public. The Nike slogan, “Just Do It,” didn’t work. I’m no warrior; I’m a conflict-averse wimp. But I could name, claim, and befriend my fears.
You don’t have to preach on Tiktok, but you can stop being ‘nice.’ Speak up when someone makes a casually racist or misogynist remark. Follow the whispers of intuition that tell you where you’re needed most.
To share your brave voice is to face down social norms, and use your privilege to speak for those with less.
#7: We Can Feed the Sad Places in the World
At 65, I sing every day, for the sky, the earth, our interconnectedness, and life itself. Halleluja! Free at last.
Now I most want to encourage - and hear - your brave voice.
I LOVE the naked human voice. Not just winners of The Voice. YOUR voice.
I love the goofy animal and monster sounds of parents playing with kids. My grandmother’s quivering voice at age 99, singing all ten verses of “Silent Night.”
We love a singer’s voice breaking with emotion. It’s the crack where the light gets in. Your unique voice, the imperfections and funk, is gorgeous.
When we sing together, there’s hope for humanity. Could we create more harmony in the difficulties, the dissonance? As we share our voices, we learn to listen more deeply.
Singing is more than a metaphor.
To share your voice, openly and strongly, with your whole being, feels like you’re alive. Like you belong. You belong to this Earth. And she needs us to sing.
Here’s your challenge: sing a little each day. Start now. Let me know how it feels!
5 Ways to Open Your Voice
1. Hum Start with simple humming in private —your shower, your car. Just one tone. Notice how your body responds to the vibration. It's medicine for stress, exhaustion.
2. Try Toning Explore vocal toning exercises (find them on YouTube) to build vocal strength and confidence.
3. Sing Together Join a chorus or song circle. People gather in living rooms and church basements to sing—it’s especially powerful for processing grief together.
4. Speak Melodically When sharing something important, let a hint of melody lift your words. Speaking with musicality helps messages flow from your heart.
5. Listen for Resonance In speaking and writing, tune into the frequency beneath the words. The tone carries as much meaning as the content.
🗣️ Comments: Was your voice shut down early in life? Do you enjoy singing (in the car or shower or with others?) How does it feel to share, speak or sing what’s true?
Thank you for being (Mostly) Brave, and for being You. 💗 Please like this post, comment, or share it so more of us will share our brave voices in these times.
More to come,
The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body
Inspiring Gaviotas social experiment
I am truly grateful for your words.
I love to sing, but have never sung in public without a choir around me. I think that working on my singing voice could help me in my effort to not silence myself, and learn to speak up. I am going to turn 67 in March, and I realized the other day that I may only have 20 years left to do the things that bring me joy. This is the time to expand with LOVE.
I loved this so much. I resonate so much with knowing there are stories of my childhood when I learned to be quiet. Finding my voice is fun and scary!