STRONG ENOUGH
songs of grief and joy
Sunday, November 18th @ 2PM
Schroeder Hall, in the Green Music Center
1801 E Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park, CA 94928
Schroeder Hall, in the Green Music Center
1801 E Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park, CA 94928
"Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love and wisdom."
~Jalal al-Din Rumi
Life:
A crazy, beautiful, painful, exhilarating journey.
So many moments of joy and of sadness. The complexity of managing to stay in the present, yet honor the past, and plan for the future. Billions of people all over the world experiencing the same emotions at different time, enacting the same dozen or so stories that play them selves out over and over again.
It has been said that the more we invest in life, invest in being part of people's lives, and in caring about causes, the more fulfillment we get out of life. But, it is also true that caring, being invested comes at great risk. To really care, is to be vulnerable. If we put up too many protective barriers, we miss out on life, relationships, and true joy. If we are vulnerable, we really live, but it comes with risk. Risk that those people can leave, and those causes can fail.
And that is where we step into the process of grief.
The journey in grief and through grief is different for every person. Sure, there are commonalities, commons emotions, common expressions, but we all process in our own time.
Sadness
Anger
Resignation
Depression
Anxiety
Agony
Healing
Understanding
Joy
Compassion
Sympathy
Empathy
Release
The journey through grief is not a straight line, or a predictable time table. Emotions well up at inconvenient times, and places. they leak out as slow or as fast as you can process them. They paralyze you, and exhilarate you.
Ignoring it, bottling it up only closes you off to life.
Working through it leads to living more vibrantly than you have ever lived before.
A crazy, beautiful, painful, exhilarating journey.
So many moments of joy and of sadness. The complexity of managing to stay in the present, yet honor the past, and plan for the future. Billions of people all over the world experiencing the same emotions at different time, enacting the same dozen or so stories that play them selves out over and over again.
It has been said that the more we invest in life, invest in being part of people's lives, and in caring about causes, the more fulfillment we get out of life. But, it is also true that caring, being invested comes at great risk. To really care, is to be vulnerable. If we put up too many protective barriers, we miss out on life, relationships, and true joy. If we are vulnerable, we really live, but it comes with risk. Risk that those people can leave, and those causes can fail.
And that is where we step into the process of grief.
The journey in grief and through grief is different for every person. Sure, there are commonalities, commons emotions, common expressions, but we all process in our own time.
Sadness
Anger
Resignation
Depression
Anxiety
Agony
Healing
Understanding
Joy
Compassion
Sympathy
Empathy
Release
The journey through grief is not a straight line, or a predictable time table. Emotions well up at inconvenient times, and places. they leak out as slow or as fast as you can process them. They paralyze you, and exhilarate you.
Ignoring it, bottling it up only closes you off to life.
Working through it leads to living more vibrantly than you have ever lived before.
On November 18th I want to explore with you.
In a world that seemingly has so much division, I want to explore this terrible and beautiful process that every person who has ever been vulnerable has been through. I am interested in exploring all the things that connect us to each other.
Lat year was an especially difficult time for our community.
There was so much loss and pain, but also so much beauty, love and generosity.
Through the anguish, beauty bloomed.
2017 seemed to be a year of breaking for many people, and 2018 a year of grieving and healing. I am hoping that 2019 will be a year of action, renewal, and healing.
A little over three decades on this earth, and many thousands of hours of therapy later, I'm beginning to realize that if you can do the inner work, and the outer work. If you can go through the pain without closing your heart, then you will be able to be more fully present for yourself and for others.
You will get through this.
You will find joy again.
In a world that seemingly has so much division, I want to explore this terrible and beautiful process that every person who has ever been vulnerable has been through. I am interested in exploring all the things that connect us to each other.
Lat year was an especially difficult time for our community.
There was so much loss and pain, but also so much beauty, love and generosity.
Through the anguish, beauty bloomed.
2017 seemed to be a year of breaking for many people, and 2018 a year of grieving and healing. I am hoping that 2019 will be a year of action, renewal, and healing.
A little over three decades on this earth, and many thousands of hours of therapy later, I'm beginning to realize that if you can do the inner work, and the outer work. If you can go through the pain without closing your heart, then you will be able to be more fully present for yourself and for others.
You will get through this.
You will find joy again.
~ Christa
If you missed the concert, or would like to view it again, here it is:
|
Featuring:
Christa Durand, Soprano Matthew Arnerich, Piano Joshua Bluegreen-Cripps, Trumpet Michael Fecskes, Cello Anwen Lin, Cello |
You can download and view our program below:
| performer_biographies_for_strong_enough_nov_18_2018-2.pdf |
| strong_enough_-_program_text.pdf |
| strong_enough.pptx |